Where the Woodwose Are: Inside Shane McFalls’ 16mm Ski Film

Shot entirely on 16mm and built around animation, analog process, and original music, the new short from director Shane McFalls captures skiing in its rawest, most playful form. Featuring Dane Kirk, Pontus Penttilä, Sämi Ortlieb, and Erik Olson, the project blends home-movie energy with a deep creative ethos tied to the Salomon Depart movement; an athlete-driven vision of freestyle skiing rooted in style, natural terrain, and expression over competition. We caught up with McFalls to talk about shooting on film, collaborating with the Depart crew, and chasing creativity purely for the love of it.

I’ve made ski videos of my friends since I was 15, that turned into a “job” for most of my 20s and now I’m back to filming for fun again at 39. At this point in my life, these are home-movies.

I have many real-world responsibilities (i.e. 2 children) but I always need to have a project going that is a pure, creative outlet. I think it’s important to model that for my kids too. Keep playing and exploring the things you are interested in, even when you grow up. 

12 rolls, about a roll per day for the whole trip. 

I made an all 16mm ski video two winters ago called Space Junk, which was the proof of concept - shoot only film and make all the music. Build the whole thing from soup to nuts.

A lot of the ski movies I watched as a teenager had 16mm footage, so there’s absolutely a nostalgic connection to the format.

16mm feels like the real deal. It’s hands-on and tangible. I like not knowing if the film is going to work or how it might turn out - did I mess something up? Is the camera supposed to sound like that? The process can be exciting and stressful at the same time. You can get addicted to that combination.

Sämi and I wanted to meet up so I could film him for Space Junk at Level 1’s Superunknown but he got so sick before the event he couldn't travel. That missed opportunity was the spark to try and rebate something for the following winter.

I’ve done different stop-motion projects before but never built a puppet from scratch, so that was a cool and time-consuming challenge.

Sämi has a Masters degree in animation so he is very much a pro. That is motivating to make sure my stuff is up to par.

Over the summer, Sämi and Erik spent a week with me here in Vermont and we worked through my rough edits together, messed around with music and brainstormed how both our animations could fit into the full thing.

I like the collaborative process of working with people on different elements of the project too, so it’s not just me alone at a computer. 

I took a variety of filmstocks that I thought would be good for different things - 50D for big slow-motion sunny days shots, or black and white ISO 10 film to shoot 24p, quicker, smaller things. You’re also very conscious of “is this worth filming” and that can be a challenging headspace for everyone involved.

After going down several dead-ends looking for a second layer to this video, I did a reverse google image search of the characters painted on the old house we stayed in. One of them turned out to be this medieval mythical creature called the Woodwose. That felt like an obvious rabbit-hole and theme to run with. 

Meeting Pontus and Dane on this trip was so rad and it felt super comfortable from the jump. Awesome people, great skiers and I tried really hard not to kook it whenever I had an idea or wanted to try something. I think we were all on the same page.

I had not seen Sämi in ten years, so obviously that was really nice. He is one of my favourites. 

It changes the process completely. The viewfinder on the 16mm is really small and most of the time I can only see shapes moving through the frame. If we rolled film on something, someone else would shoot an iphone angle too, and we would review that to see if the shot worked. 

It can feel really lame if a skier does something that’s extra scary, or something they are super stoked on and I blew the shot because I’m using a dumb analog arty format with a wide margin for error.

That’s sorta always in your head and a motivator to pay attention to what you’re doing. Adding to the stress and the fun of it. 

We wanted to film everything outside of terrain parks, but also not need huge extravagant builds. Lots of side-hit sorta things that you stumble across naturally.

That resort is so large and has so many different zones, it was a good place to find natural features. I think this is the first video I’ve ever made without a rail in it too. 

I know the music I make is silly - but that’s sorta the vibe, and very fun for me to make. Technically, I don’t know what I’m doing and Erik would probably say he doesn't either - but he actually does.

Erik plays real instruments (guitar, bass, etc.). He knows real music theory stuff, he can mix, master, and improve all my synth bullshit so it sounds way better.

I will often get a song or an idea about 70% of the way there and then Erik will take it from there.

We wanted to do a cover of the New Order song “Dreams Never End” - a song we used in a video that I made 13 years ago, which Erik and Sämi are both in - a little easter-egg for ourselves.

I’m making ski videos with my friends in the Swiss Alps for fun - and I’m almost 40. Dreams never end!

I always have a list of ideas running but try not to get overly committed to any of them and keep my expectations loose. Hopefully I will make another video this winter, and I’m sure at least some of it will be on film.

No big production machine. No chase for perfection. Just film, friends, and an idea worth following. This one feels exactly like that; and that’s the point.

Watch the full film below for some vintage vibes: