NOVA Online | Everest Quest | The Making of an IMAX/IWERKS Film (4)

The Making of an IMAX/IWERKS Film
part 4 | back to part 3

Filming on Everest Continues
Breashears' reflective film "The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine," made in partnership with the BBC, re-examined evidence from 1924 in conversation with survivors and other experts. It won the Best Mountaineering Film award at the Telluride festival, and was indicative of a trend away from the standard expedition film with its inevitable cliches. Around this time one also began to see portraits of big name Everest climbers like Sir Edmund Hillary, Chris Bonnington, Eric Iscoffier, Reinhold Messner, Naomi Uemura—with varying degrees of objectivity and frankness.

young monk with camera

Clearly there are still new angles and aspects to be explored, but the introduction of an IMAX/IWERKS large format camera onto Everest promises the latest leap forward. With an image ten times larger than on a conventional screen, it is possible for the viewer to be transported into the mountains as never before. Click here to hear David describe what making this film means for him (RealAudio).

In the meantime, the day to day trials and tribulations of directing a film and leading an expedition take their subtle toll. "I can say from experience," says David, "that filming on Everest is 3 or 4 times harder than climbing on Everest. filming imax

Your job is never done, you're up in the evenings talking about shots, downloading film, preparing for the next day. All throughout the day one's looking for good shots, trying to make proper decisions: Do we stop here? Is this good light? If we stop here to get this shot do we lose the good light up higher? Do you demoralize the team by stopping too many times? Is it safe to stop here? Will we reach camp in time if we take another shot? In a way, it's hard to find any time to relax because there just simply is no room, no space in an expedition for the film makers to relax. There's always something to do: repair the camera, clean the camera, write shot lists, do some more voice over recordings. I say that I expect to do what we've set out to do but I think it'll be one of the more epic and incredible achievements in Himalayan filmmaking if we actually succeed."

Liesl Clark, NOVA Online's producer and writer, joined the expedition up to Base Camp. Audrey Salkeld of Clevedon, England is one of the world's premier Everest historians and photo researchers. Her photo editing credits include Everest: The Ultimate Book of the Ultimate Mountain and Everest: The Best Writing and Pictures from Seventy Years of Human Endeavour. She is currently with the expedition at Base Camp.

Photo Credits: (1) courtesy Sumiyo Tsuzuki; (2) coutesy Jenny Dubin; (3) courtesy Robert Schauer.

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