Video: The Making of Nico Vuignier’s ‘Heatseeker’
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Backcountry night-skiing is tough. On top of the ever-present dangers presented by avalanche terrain, routefinding and group management become significant concerns at night. Filming backcountry night-skiing is more than tough—it's a multi-dimensional nightmare. Historically, night-skiing shoots have either been plagued by sub-par lighting or required vast and costly infrastructure. When it works, though, it's surreal. Have you seen Afterglow by Sweetgrass Productions? If you have, you know exactly what we're talking about. If you haven't, watch it:
Pretty nuts. Unfortunately for your average filmmaker, setting up spotlights sufficient to light an entire mountainside is a logistical disaster.
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Enter Nico Vuignier. The Swiss skier and filmmaker has experimented with night-skiing edits in the past, using road flares or powerful LEDs for illumination. His most recent release, Heatseeker, was more of a mystery. Lit by a single unidentified-flying-bonfire, the edit was lent a spooky, mysterious atmosphere:
If you, like us, were curious about the making of Vuignier's enigmatic edit, his new "Making Of" video is both the exhaustive behind-the-scenes look we've been waiting for, as well as a compelling argument against trying to emulate his obviously-laborious process.
