Insights from Filmmaking in the Arctic
The northernmost reaches of the Brooks Range as seen from the Alaskan Coastal Plains.
Over the past few years, my career has taken me to some of the most incredible arctic landscapes in Alaska, Svalbard, Greenland, and Iceland. Even when I’m traveling for pleasure, I keep finding myself being pulled back to these harsh environments and I really don’t know what it is about them.
If I had to try to put a finger on it, I think it’s because it’s hard. You have to earn it. Simply put, the arctic is inhospitable and only the strongest life can survive there. I’ve sort of found an obsession with getting out of my comfort zone and pushing the limits — and that brings me, time and time again, to the arctic. It just so happens that I’ve learned a few things along the way about keeping up with pro athletes, managing gear, and communicating as a team. And here, I’ll share some of those insights in an attempt to set you up for success should you find yourself behind the camera dangling off the side of the mountain or traversing a glacier somewhere north of the arctic circle.
Personal Fitness and Keeping up with Pro Athletes
Back in 2022, Nate Luebbe and I found ourselves in Telluride, Colorado screening the North Face film we made in Alaska “Beyond the Summit.” We were chatting about those busy seasons in life where you can barely keep your head above water and I was expressing my frustrations with not being able to make time to get into the gym regularly enough. Nate put it well when he said that since our jobs involve climbing mountains, spending weeks in the backcountry, and chasing professional athletes around — going to the gym and dedicating time to personal fitness is work. I’m not sure why I hadn’t thought about it like that before but thanks to this new perspective, the first few hours of my day are spent at the gym or skinning up the local resort or backcountry zone, making sure to get a sweat in before I sit down at my desk for the day.
Ice climbers top out on a challenging route, ending their day later than expected.
So you’ve made it onto the expedition. Now how do you work with these people who’s skillsets in the alpine dwarf your own? I’ve found that when documenting pro athletes, it’s best to take a “fly on the wall” approach and let them do their thing without slowing them down. Because as soon as you become the weak link in the group, the vibe shifts and you can begin to feel the team’s frustrations. This happened to me in Alaska when both of my ski bindings broke on the steepest climb up a glacier in the Brooks Range. We were on a tight schedule to tag a summit and ski back down to camp before dark and my equipment failure caused me to fall way behind. A couple ski straps eventually fixed my problem and I was able to catch up but that was probably the most stressed I’ve ever been in the mountains! Equipment failures aside, the most important thing is to keep up and be so dialed with your camera that no time is wasted. It’s things like these that will continue to get you hired in the future.
Communication and a Positive Attitude
Speaking of getting hired again, if I had to place one attribute at the top of that list, it would be your attitude. Sure, by the 14th day in a tent in the middle of the arctic, things pretty much suck. But your attitude doesn’t have to. Staying positive, having fun, and making sure the client or the athletes are doing the same is always great for morale and will leave them with a lasting memory of you once the trip is over. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with amazing people about 98% of the time, but everyone has a handful of people on their “never hire again” list all because they showed up to set with a negative attitude.
Communication is key out in the field, not only to direct a film, but for everyone’s safety as well. For this I’ve found it is essential to have a set of radios for the team. On our recent ice climbing documentary production for the film Ephemeral, Josiah Jones and I were a two man team. Each morning when we’d arrive at the day’s objective, we would decide where each of us should be positioned to capture the athlete’s climb and then would use radios to communicate the shots. In the mountains, you’re often too far away to hear anyone without screaming, so again, radios are your friend. We use the Mountain Radio from Rocky Talkies which has sort of become an industry standard in the backcountry community.
Ice climber, Jeff Mercier, straddles a waterfall inside an Icelandic moulin on set for Ephemeral. Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, Iceland
Filmmaker Josiah Jones and guide Ágúst Atli Atlason head towards home after a long production day on the ice. Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier, Iceland
Gear, Batteries, and Media
The arctic is cold, and usually wet. It will be tough on you and your gear. Deep snow, relentless wind, and bone chilling cold are all things that don’t mesh well with technology. When you’re looking to buy or rent camera gear for these endeavors, make sure it says “weather sealed” or something similar. Most modern cameras are pretty burly these days and can take a good soaking without damaging the internals.
Filmmaker Josiah Jones getting the shot in front of Svínafellsjökull Glacier in Iceland.
Once you’ve picked up a weather sealed camera body, you’ll need to think about what lenses you want to document the project on. Back at home you might opt for a set of cine primes. But out here, zoom lenses and autofocus are your friends. Consider the conditions you might be facing when trying to swap lenses, it might just be better to keep a 24-70 on your camera the whole day. You also might be wearing two, sometimes three layers of gloves and mittens. Good luck trying to pull focus. The Sony FX3, FX6, or Canon C70 have all been good options for me when I need a small cinema camera with fast autofocus.
Batteries are another issue. You need to start by bringing as many as you own, and consider renting a few more. This will be most of the weight you carry in your pack. In the coldest weather, any charged battery not in your camera needs to be in a chest or thigh pocket, close to your body where it can hold onto its precious juice. Then at night, keep them inside your sleeping bag next to your ski boot liners, water bottle, and everything else you can’t afford to let freeze. It really is a pain trying to manage batteries in the arctic, but it must be done. The last item I’d recommend always carrying is a portable battery bank. You can use that to keep everything topped off until it dies, and if you’re planning on being out even longer than that, you’ll need a solar panel.
Finally we have my least favorite task on any arctic production, media backup. The last thing you want to bring on an expedition is a laptop, but sometimes it must be done. In Alaska, we were lucky to have a small gas generator dropped off by the ski plane which we used to power the laptop and back up our media onto 2 or 3 different hard drives. In Svalbard and Greenland, we had a sailboat which was even more luxurious. A sailboat pretty much eliminates the stress of batteries and media backup since you’ll usually have a reliable source of power. But in these harsh environments where literally anything can go wrong, you cannot skip a nightly media backup. Keeping your footage safe and organized will make your life a million times easier when you get home and dive into post production.
Our sailboat Alyonka exploring the end of Tasermiut Fjord, South Greenland.
That’s all for now. I’m sure I’m missing plenty of notes so if you think of something I didn’t mention, shoot me an email and I’ll look forward to hearing your questions.
Stay warm out there!
- Nate
