Brain Farm and Travis Rice are still getting the filming done up in Revelstoke, BC. The crew rigged up Brain Farm’s Cinema Tank to get some crazy shots. We put some Mattracks on our Ford F350 so it could move in the snow. A 12 foot Intelli-Jib was mounted in the back with the Cineflex getting the new angles.
By Aaron Orlando – Revelstoke Times Review
In Revelstoke, a winter’s day doesn’t go by without at least some filming for some kind of ski or snowboard production. Maybe it’s helmet cam shots of your glade line, some pocket HD of jumps off a booter or even something with a director and a budget.
But when they are dropping tens of thousands to fly specialists in from California to wrap your helicopter with Red Bull graphics, you know it’s in a different league.
Scott Newsome of Revelstoke’s Eagle Pass Heli-Skiing invited the Times Review up to Selkirk Mountain Helicopters’ facility on Mar. 16. We witnessed the unveiling of an A-Star helicopter newly-decorated with a full Red Bull logo package, and a helicopter safety briefing for the upcoming snowboard production The Art of Flight.
The Art of Flight follows snowboarders Travis Rice, John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Scotty Lago, Jake Blauvelt, Nicolas Muller, Gigi Ruf, DCP and Pat Moore as they travel the globe and push the limits of the sport.
Travis Rice was on hand for the safety briefing. He’s been in town for about 10 days and has done some filming in the snowcat terrain at Revelstoke Mountain Resort and some sled-accessed riding. It’s his first time to Revelstoke. “It’s everything I’ve always heard it would be,” Rice told the Times Review. “A little more actually. I always heard good things ever since the resort opened.”
For those who follow snowboarding, Rice needs no introduction. Rice is firmly amongst the biggest names in the sport. He’s been Transworld Snowboarding rider of the year, won many big air and halfpipe competitions over the past decade, amongst many other awards, wins and video parts.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people how insane it is,” Rice said of the snow and terrain around Revelstoke. “It was great getting up here finally to see for myself.”
The above-average snow season looks like it will keep the production in Revelstoke longer than planned. “We were going to be going to [Alaska], but you guys are having the best season since the late ’70s and AK is having one of the worst seasons of all time, so we’re thinking of maybe just hanging out and finishing off … the project,” Rice said.
So, is it all work and no play? “I like to think that our business is spiked with pleasure,” Rice said, saying the riders and crew will be out and about town in the next few weeks.
The Art of Flight is being produced by Brain Farm Digital Cinema. Company president Curt Morgan, who was behind the 2008 snowboard epic That’s It, That’s All was also on hand at the heli-pad.
“It’s the story of Travis Rice and friends basically going out in search of the best terrain in the world, and this is going to be one of the spots in the movie,” said Morgan.
Morgan and Brain Farm are also producing an eight-part TV series that focuses on the production of The Art of Flight. It’ll follow the crew through locations including Patagonia, Jackson Hole, Alaska and here in Revelstoke. One of the one-hour episodes will feature their stay here.
Morgan said he worked with Scott Newsome on a production near Nelson, B.C., and he convinced Morgan to bring the production up here.
In addition to filming with Eagle Pass Heli-Skiing, they were also filming up at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Morgan said they’ve had a great few days at RMR. “Everyone up at RMR have been awesome, super helpful.” They did some pioneering use of a specialized stabilized camera mounted atop a cat, he said.
Brain Farm is known for their pioneering digital filming techniques and innovating new camera mounting techniques for action sports genres. “It’s just the next level of cinematography and just an epic adventure story of travelling the world and dealing with all of the variables that come into play while trying to make a film about snowboarding,” Morgan said of the production and the TV series.
He says Red Bull is one of the sponsors of the TV episodes, and he’s currently shopping the series, saying he’s got interest from “really, really large” networks bidding on it.
He said Revelstoke has been a great host so far. “The people are so welcoming to us, and so friendly,” he said. “On top of that, of course you’re sitting on some of the best terrain in the world and some of the best snow.”
Morgan adds: “It’s shaping up to be a real good film shoot for us – if we ever see the sun.”
For Eagle Pass Heli-Skiing’s Scott Newsome, the production is a big boost for the company.
“For us, it’s a real big deal,” Newsome told the Times Review. “For Eagle Pass, it’s awesome. It’s amazing.”
Ownership of the Eagle Pass changed in December of 2010. It is now operated by Scott Newsome, Matt Pinto, Michael Wood and Andy Freeland. Freeland was with the company since before the ownership change.
Newsome notes the talent in the film and the production company behind it. “Nothing really compares to this film,” Newsome said. “It’s a real production.”
“It’s really stunning that we can showcase our terrain here and the town of Revelstoke,” he said. “It’s a real big thing for the community, as well as us at Eagle Pass.”
by Tim Zimmerman (on ESPN.com)
Two-year movie projects are all the rage, and Travis Rice’s next one is surely going to set more than a couple new standards. Since the snowfall tallies in Rice and Brain Farm Cinema’s Jackson Hole home…. READ MORE
Huge claims. Even with Travis Rice, John Jackson, and Mark Landvik on the trip, photographer Scott Serfas came back from a month shooting in Alaska’s remote Tordrillo Range for Rice’s forthcoming film, Flight, claiming it like a freshman after his first college kegger. Everything was the “craziest, biggest, sickest, heaviest ever…” The thing is, Serfas ain’t no freshman, he’s more of a “Frank The Tank” in snowboard media, He’s been here for years. He’s seen and shot it all and yet we could only scratch our heads at his giddy e-mails, claiming that “this trip was the best snowboarding trip in history.” Too bad they couldn’t smuggle a writer along on the trip. We were stuck with a secondhand account from our key photographer with a vocabulary limited to just three adjectives: best, biggest, and greatest. READ MORE
- Joel Muzzey
Scott Serfas talks about Travis Rice and the Movie Flight
Scott Serfas talks about Travis Rice and the Movie Fligth from BuoLoco on Vimeo.
We recently shot with Grizzly Creek Films for an episode of their Nat Geo TV series, Expedition Wild. We got out the Phantom Gold and Cineflex for a day to shoot some great shots of captive wolves in Idaho for their latest episode showcasing the wolves of Yellowstone.
We used the Cineflex on our Cinema Truck for some fast tracking shots of the wolves running thru the snow as well as the Phantom for incredible slow mo detail shots of the wolves in action. Our crew also rigged up a cable cam shot high in the trees for the birds eye view of wolves ripping thru the forest. Check it out…
Expedition Wild: Inside the Wolf Pack : Premieres Monday, October 4, at 9 p.m. ET/PT
In 1927, government hunters killed the last wild gray wolf in Yellowstone National Park. Considered a threat to settlers and livestock, the wolves were systematically exterminated with no thought to the ecological consequences. Eighty-three years later, the wolves have been reintroduced and are thriving within and beyond the park’s borders. Join Casey for a breathtaking look at the magnificent gray wolf, shot in high definition and with the aid of advanced slow-motion cameras. See for yourself why this “apex” predator plays such a critical role in restoring the health of the entire ecosystem in which it lives.
Update from Chile 2. The making of Brain Farm’s movie “Flight”.
It was a long month in Chile shooting along side with the Brain Farm Digital Cinema crew searching for pow in the Andes. We started in Farellones, near the ski resort of Valle Nevado. With a way less than average snow pack we decided to fly south to Termas de Chillan. There was more snow but finding good snow was impossible. If it was sunny the snow was wind hammered and if… READ MORE
About 10 days ago I left Canada for Chile to shoot with Brain Farm for the making of their feature film “Flight”. The snowboarders for this portion of the film will be Jake Blauvelt, Scotty Lago and Travis Rice.
We landed in Santiago and stayed in the city to shoot……. Click to read more
Noah Kadner did a nice piece in American Cinematographer about Brain Farm’s push to innovate with todays digital cameras.
All shot with Brain Farm’s Cineflex V14 camera system and a custom made JH Tram mount. Take a ride…….
Brain Farm Digital Cinema – Jackson Hole Tram from Brain Farm on Vimeo.
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