Here and There: Behind the Film with Harper Mallett & Zach McKee

Here and There is a video by Zach McKee documenting a season of skiing for Harper Mallett, filmed in the gaps between school, work, and variable conditions across the West. With no production plan and no guaranteed shooting days, the project came together piece by piece, shaped entirely by timing and weather. It’s a straightforward look at how the two approached their winter, and what they were able to make from it.

We sat down with Zach and Harper to talk about how the film came together, what they learned from it, and where they want to take things next.

Harper: Yo yo, my name is Harper Mallett. I’m originally from Ketchum, Idaho, now living in Bozeman, Montana, attending my senior year at Montana State. I’m a marketing major. I’m really looking forward to where skiing is going to take me. I want to continue skiing as much as I can, enjoying my passion with family and friends, continually pushing myself to become a better skier. Obviously the goal is to make it professionally and be able to be paid to live my dream.

I feel so fortunate to have grown up in the place I did, with the family I have, constantly allowing me to chase my goals. I have met my best friends through this sport, have my best memories skiing, and I am excited to see where this sport takes me in the future.

Zach: What up, thanks for thinking of us! I’m Zach McKee from Littleton, Colorado originally, now living in Bozeman to finish up my last year of college at MSU. At this point in my super young filmmaking journey, I’m chasing a career path that allows me to make art with my friends.

I never really got into skiing until around my senior year of high school when I started having way more fun skiing than playing sports. I was a baseball player dealing with back issues, and one of my tasks while I was injured was to film my teammates’ at-bats; and I kinda suck at skiing. That’s really all there is to it, the rest is history. I’m super stoked on how the last four years have turned out for me. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Zach: Harper is the easiest and chillest athlete to film I’ve ever come across. The way he skis and carries himself on hill is so effortless and carefree. Whether we’re cruising resort or deep in the backcountry, his mission is to have a good time and make the most of every day. Our first cut of the film was cool, but it felt like six minutes of Harper hitting clean lines; basically what we see every day while cruising. That pushed me to add more flavor and personal moments to show a vulnerable side of us as a duo.

Until our Big Sky premiere with Entourage, I was the only person on the planet who had seen the new edit. Seeing the boys’ reactions was electric.

I take a ton of inspiration from snowboarding. Modern snowboard videos are the best in the industry right now. A few filmmakers I look up to and am lucky to be connected to are Jack Price, Owen Dahlberg, and Cal Aamodt. Love you guys.

Harper: I think I was in California this summer, working, and I had been going over names but didn’t really love any of them. I finally started thinking about what we did and realized we traveled over most of the West to capture these shots. From Canada to Montana, Idaho, Utah, and California; we went from place to place living the dream. The name Here and There summed up what we did to achieve this film.

Zach: There isn’t much of a story. I got a random text from Harper saying, “Here and There for the movie name,” and I remember thinking, “Sweet, sounds good to me!” We weren’t overly concerned with naming it; but it feels fitting since this project was something we worked on here and there whenever we had time between being full-time students with jobs.

Zach: We honestly struck out way more than we succeeded due to weather and conditions. We don’t have sleds, we don’t live in a place with a ton of sunny days. A lot of the time, all we had was a cloudy resort and an avy shovel.

We had a Canada trip where the last five days we could barely go outside because it was -50°F. We had a Utah trip where it rained nonstop. A Jackson trip where Harper had a brutal cold. With this being my first movie and Harper’s first real project, we learned that so many factors have to line up; and in the northern Rockies, those days are rare. But all the chaos created awesome memories.

Fun fact: those Kicking Horse cat-track clips where Harper does the big 3 and the cork 7 blunt; he was wearing my boots.

Harper: Zach summed it up perfectly. We had a ton of challenges. We counted five sunny shooting days all winter. Being entirely resort and touring-based meant we constantly needed fresh snow and visibility, and we rarely had both.

On day one in Canada, I ripped my boot shell in half and skied the rest of the trip with broken boots. School was another huge factor; watching storms hit while I had to sit in class taking tests was brutal. But in some ways, the challenges made it more fun. They forced us to be creative, see new places, meet new people, and look at skiing differently.

Harper: Having Zach behind the camera didn’t really change the way I approached features. Just like any other day, I see what I want to hit, think of the trick, and execute. We operate on a similar wavelength, which makes planning and filming easy. We wake up early, ski all day, après a bit, then repeat.

Zach: The ender. Harper takes the biggest hit at Fernie Resort to absolute bolts; completely flat, straight onto a busy traverse. Kyle Simms, Drew Jungbluth, and I were down there and we’ve never been so scared watching someone in the air. When he stomped, none of us even spoke. We just went straight to get a beer afterwards, which is exactly what Here and There is about.

Harper: Every day in the mountains with your best friends is a standout day.

Zach: Honestly, footage wasn’t something we had an abundance of. It was a reach to get a full project done. We missed entire trips, like our Hood trip, because Harper fell off a wheel and had to get stitches the day before. The only clips cut were shots of our boys. Shoutout Ridge Dirksmeier and Kyan Smit; expect a separate cut from me soon. Love you guys.

Zach: Loose. Most things didn’t go our way, and we were tied down with school schedules, but we still made it happen. It was rewarding, fun, and full of memories; dinners, beers, new places, and good friends.

Zach: Early in our careers, most of our viewers are friends and family, and we love that. We made this for you guys, and we’ve felt so supported. I hope people see our video and know it’s not about who had the sickest part or hit the biggest feature. It’s about making things you’re proud of with your friends. The level of skiing and filmmaking today is insane, and I love it. But, even the top dogs are just out there doing what they love with their crew. That’s what it’s all about.

Harper: What I want people to take away is that anyone can do it. With dedication and work ethic, you can make anything happen. Most of the time it was just me and Zach — filming, skiing, building, planning — very low-budget, grassroots. But we woke up stoked every day. Slowly, the project came to life. The ski community helped us so much along the way; places to stay, meals, passes, good times. Premiering it was the best feeling ever. We’re just two 22-year-olds following our passion, and I hope people realize they can do the same.

Huge shoutout to Zach; the man behind all the magic. And thank you to my family, Zach’s family, all our homies, and my sponsors: Helly Hansen (who made this whole thing possible), Rossignol, Reflex Ski Poles, Sun Valley Resort, and 43 North 114 West.

I can’t wait to keep chasing this dream.

Watch the full film linked below and keep an eye out for what Harper and Zach create next.