Local BASE film

[silence]

I'm not sure where exactly to post this .. Washington, Utah or Arizona? ... originally the plan was to include most of the jumps in the PNW since that's where we're all from, but mother nature didn't cooperate ... and we had a deadline. So, most are in Moab, with some stuff in Eastern Washington and a few earlier shots from helmet cams filmed in Arizona. We are Crest Pictures, local filmmakers, who just by luck witnessed local climber and jumper Tom Dancs after he did an amazing gig in the Cascades. It was short, but sweet (almost too short imo – after climbing a steep icy couloir and then a thin rock spire, he had to set a static line to pull his chute so it would open the moment he jumped – that's cutting it close) -- he was in the air only seconds ... and we just by good fortune happened to look up and see this guy flying in the middle of nowhere and then disappear. Anyhow, totally intrigued by wilderness BASE after watching and talking with Tom (he showed up in our camp afterwards) ... we thought ... wow we want to make a film about this. So, we asked him if he'd be interested, and he said sure. But, he also insisted that it had to be something different from most BASE films out there ... it had to be more about the Zen of the sport ... and the logistics involved (this is what really motivates him), and the ongoing efforts towards getting BASE permitted back into the National Park system and other wilderness areas. A worthy message we felt ... and since we are basically nature filmmakers it was right up our alley. Anyhow, long story short, we set to work almost immediately, and followed him around with cameras while he climbed cliffs and such, explained what all goes into the sport, and did some awesome jumps. Originally, we used music by Joe Satriani, but the rights were limited to strictly film festival use. That being over now ... we recently set it to new tunes and have been able to post it to the Internet for more to see. Thought some of you might enjoy watching it – the title is Right Here, Right Now (it's about about 17 minutes long):

 

http://vimeo.com/channels/crestpictures#18336864

 

Here's some stills I took of our Moab shoot too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33792231@N00/sets/72157610363059694/detail

 

BTW .. Tom is a skilled climber, backcountry skier, sky diver and BASE jumper .. he has guided professionally for American Alpine Institute and Mountain Madness. While on location we had the good fortune to receive a few climbing lessons from him. He's now a good friend, too.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2011 by silence