IMAX NEWS

Mountain climber John Harlin III is in town THIS WEEK to help us celebrate the launch of the newest IMAX film to hit the world's biggest screen, THE ALPS. With spectacular mountain scenery and an edge-of-your-seat story about one man's personal journey to reach the summit of the Eiger, THE ALPS is a classic IMAX experience reminscent of Everest, also by the same expert giant screen filmmakers MacGillivray Freeman Films.

THE ALPS has some of the most incredible footage of any IMAX film you'll ever experience and we'd like to share some of the shots taken behind-the-scenes during the filming on location in Switzerland....



John Harlin III will be here in Sydney on 1 and 2 June and will tell his incredible story at the Theatre.



Filmmaker Greg MacGillivray says: “We knew that while shooting on the Eiger we would encounter rock fall, ice fall and extreme cold. A cameraman who had worked on The Eiger Sanction even warned us that it would be way too risky. But we felt that by using proper planning and the very best cameramen and guides, we could do it with a reasonable degree of safety. And we knew it was the only way to bring audiences closer to what we always hoped and believed would be John Harlin’s stirring triumph on the mountain. His story gets to the heart of not only why people love the Alps but how individual drive can lead to amazing accomplishments.”



Fortunately, MacGillivray Freeman Films had assembled a crack team of aerial and mountain photographers who were used to doing creative work at the very edges of the earth – including mountain cinematographer Michael Brown and SpaceCam inventor and operator Ron Goodman.



Just wielding IMAX cameras in these famously brutal mountains required bravery, climbing skills and vast stores of patience. “While digital video cameras keep getting lighter and lighter, IMAX camera equipment, because of its oversized nature, remains heavy and cumbersome, so our talented team did quite a dance working with it in such raw conditions,” comments Director of Photography, Brad Ohlund.



Even with the helicopters and guides, conditions were frequently out of the filmmakers’ control and subject to the shifting whims of wind and weather. Recalls Director/Editor/Co-Writer Stephen Judson: “When we went to bed each night we always had three different shot lists: one for blue skies, one for cloudy skies and one for stormy skies. If it dawned sunny, we went with Plan A. If a storm came in, we would jump into action with Plan C. But this meant that different crews, different equipment packages and different talent had to be constantly juggled.



Helicopters were central to providing the filmmakers with unprecedented access and safety in the mountains. “Helicopters not only took the cameras place they couldn’t otherwise have gone, they also meant that if the weather suddenly took a turn for the worse, we could pluck our crew off the mountain in a matter of minutes,” explains Director of Photography Brad Ohlund.



Even while the crew was rolling with the changes, the mountains earned their deepest respect and reverence. “One thing that was important to us throughout the production was to leave the mountains cleaner than when we arrived,” producer Mark Krenzien explains. “We removed all the fixed ropes and hardware we placed and did as much as we could to make as little impact as possible.”

Are you one of the lucky ones to have a ticket to one of John's presentations at the Theatre?

THE ALPS STARTS ON 4 JUNE. TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW.