A frame from the video assist of Andy West coming right at our camera's.
This is our way to and from location - here the heli is bringing us the 1000mm lens - which was a perfect fit for this kind of action.
Here on the edge of the North Face of the Eiger - a stunning view of the village of Grindelwald below.
Dave Barlia suspended for our Visual FX shots - he's just resting here before we roll.
I'm on the West face of the Eiger.
Dave in flight for some marketing photos for print ads. They shot a print ad when we finished our work with the film camera's.
Here our crew of guides and camera's on the East Flank of the Eiger, 3500 feet above the glacier below.
After I spent a few days Munich meeting with Visual FX supervisors, the ad agency and the client Adelholzener Mineral Water our crew raced to Switzerland to take advantage of a promising weather forecast. We arrived at midnight on the 5th of October and fired up the helicopters and camera's by 6am the next day. We had 4 perfect sunny days, no wind and ideal wing suit jumping conditions. The local Swiss crew was fantastic, Line Producer Stefan Zurcker put together a team of great guides, helicopter pilots and a stream lined camera department that was so efficient and successful. We moved fast and safe through some super gnarly terrain to get the camera's positioned for Andy West and Dave Barlia to do their thing in the air. The shots are amazing, it's just totally mind blowing watching these guys fly, I've seen it many times and I still can't get over how wild it looks to see a guy fly past you at 130 mph. Day 1 - we spent the morning shooting background plates from the helicopter for the visual fx shots, then in the afternoon we had 3 jumps under the Jungfrau - it was great to finally roll the camera's and see the boys take flight. Day 2 - we spent in an Swiss Army hanger shooting Dave on rig against a green screen for more FX shots. Day 3 - was a big action day all staged on the world famous Eiger, 3 jumps with Andy yielded some stunning footage of him flying low over the snowy slopes of the west flank. Then Dave ski based jumped off a ramp (actually a 50 foot ramp) installed by the mountain guides and flew down the North Face of the Eiger - it was amazing - the shots are spectacular with the Eiger north face as the background. Day 4 was spent on the East Flank of the Eiger and Dave and Andy performed "Barrell Rolls" and low fly over shots for the camera's. A total success and not a scratch on anyone. I still have a day of shooting skiing, at the moment I'm waiting for new snow. In the meantime I'm going to head to Munich to get started on the edit and visual fx composite shots. More to come... Thanks for your interest.
Chris
