Mount Everest in Cinematic VR

De Mount Everest beklimmen is slechts voor een paar mensen weggelegd, maar ook voor de mindere goden is er hoop: binnenkort kan je de beklimming zelf ervaren in cinematic VR. Het Amsterdamse productiebedrijf VR Explorers beklom de hoogste berg ter wereld en filmde de gehele expeditie in virtual reality. In deze blog geeft Przemek Siemion een unieke kijk achter de schermen bij dit fenomenale avontuur.

Last May me and Zbigniew Wolny joined renowned Irish adventurers and guides Noel and Lynn Hanna on an epic quest to capture cinematic VR in one of the world’s most extreme environments. As one of the most difficult treks on the planet, not many are willing to climb to Mount Everest’s summit and face altitude sickness, high-speed winds, and the possibility of major avalanches. But now, thanks to new technology, you might not have to risk your life to experience the journey. We didn’t just set out to reach the top, we also became the film industry’s first-ever production team to capture virtual reality footage from the storied mountain’s peak at roughly 8,848 meters above sea level.

As Zbigniew described it “With this production, we want to let the viewer taste how it is to be a member of an Everest expedition. To share in climbers’ stories and tips along the way to the highest peak”.

Other VR companies had tried before but they failed. This was our big challenge. Luckily, our production company had experience from a previous film on Mount Everest so we knew what the climb would look like and what the conditions would be.

We started our expedition in Kathmandu, Nepal before flying to neighboring peak Lhotse and driving to their base camp at 5,000 meters. Once there, their group of 16 climbers and 30 Sherpas spent six weeks acclimating to the elevation by traveling up and down the trails from base camp – going a little further each time.

When you go above 7,000 meters, every breath counts. Your body can’t recover and it really begins to deteriorate. I would notice new scratches on my hands just from wearing gloves.

With the human body wearing down, our equipment had to be especially robust to perform at that kind of extreme elevation. In preparation we were playing around with many rigs and tried to create the perfect setting. Very early in the research and testing for finding our camera rig we had to abandon the idea of shooting stereo, which for me was a tough call because I believe that stereoscopic is the way to go with VR. After talking with many friends in our industry we opted for a GoPro based solution. This was also a reason why we didn’t want to shoot stereo, because the risk of failure was growing with a larger number of cameras. We wanted to use DSLR based rigs, thought about Nokia OZO, but they were either too complicated to use, not available to us, or simply too heavy. Weight was a huge factor. From two rigs we planned to send, only the top one was used. It was the climber’s last minute decision not to take it since it was too heavy (about 1700 grams). 

In general, we had 3 rigs, two custom rigs with GoPro cameras fitted with the Back-Bone Ribcage modification, plus wide angle lenses from Entaniya, and the last rig was our backup rig, Freedom 360. We powered all our components, cameras and audio gear with Anton Bauer Cine 90 batteries, which worked like a charm, and performed very well in those conditions. Many times other batteries lost their charge, and I frequently used Cine 90 to charge other batteries or even other cameras for other climbers.

Filming in Himalayas was an amazing experience. I have unlimited admiration for those mountains – every working day was like a gift. It was a challenge and a test for us. Every day I thought I reached the limit of my physical limits; each day after proved to me that I was wrong. Eventually I grew with the mountains, feeling my body adjusting to those extreme conditions and believing that I could do more. It was as if the mountain was allowing me to be there and challenging me at the same time. Having experience with filming there already (Milan Collin, our company co-founder, was filming there at 2008), we planned for our script, shooting scenarios, and gear to be as flexible as possible. In the process we learned a lot, and decided to be more open to ideas that we came up with during our expedition, even if we weren’t able to test all of them beforehand. It was a gamble, just like the whole idea of the production, but I think we managed it well.

The storytelling part is the biggest adventure of all. At the office, you can plan how to do something. You can even go and try with Noel and Lynne, but finally it all happens on the mountain and there you need to have the right setting. Sometimes it worked and sometimes we missed opportunities. You cannot do a retake as you do on sea level. Of course that is also the charm of this kind of producing, the purity and wildness. We thought about storylines and ideas beforehand, planned for certain outcomes and tried to chase storylines. The most important components for us were to create the first VR series from Everest, and to make it interactive so as to enhance the idea of audience participation and being a part of the whole expedition.

About production reality, I would give a voice to Zbigniew Wolny - “In short, it was very hard. This is a place not really suitable for humans to stay for a longer period of time. Starting from altitude that drastically limits your physical abilities – you are out of breath, way slower in movement, often with a headache. Harsh climate, extreme temperatures, strong winds – it all affects your body and at the same time the way of filming. Additionally, we had to listen to the expedition leader – he makes all decisions and plans regarding when and how the expedition will proceed to ensure all climbers will have a chance to reach the top and come down safely. Noel’s main mission was to guide and take care of his clients. All these factors affected the initial script and demanded a great deal of flexibility and some compromises on our side.” 

and about capturing the sound “As a very important part of the overall viewer’s experience, I tried to capture sound with proper attention. To provide immersion, audio was recorded on the Zoom F8 audio recorder with an ambisonic microphone which was supported by additional lavalier mics. I had to find a solution for how Noel could record himself on the mountain alone, with equipment that withstands extremely low temperatures and is very easy to operate. The wind was another issue that had to be solved. We captured a good number of interesting interviews and soundscapes”.

In all honesty I can say this is one of the most difficult places to produce something in VR. It’s important to keep in mind that we were just a 2 band crew, and the challenges we encountered were comparable with Olympic games at the highest level! You spend 20 hours some days completing the tasks that need to be done so you can start the next day with a clean sheet. Of course altitude takes a big toll on you and you hope you can keep up with those strong athletes. They are training every day for such a long time to go here and climb the mountain. Our training was preparing all the stuff we needed to take and dealing with the stress that goods will not be in time, like the cameras were coming in one day before departure. We were not able to do a proper test of all the equipment before we left, due to last minute deliveries, caused by delayed shipment.

One of the funny moments from our adventure was our experience with Entaniya fisheye lenses. They arrived late, so we assemble them with GoPros for the first time in Kathmandu, but later on in Base Camp I discovered that some of them were not in focus and I had to fix them. They got stuck, probably because of the pressure, and I had to open the lens from the camera. I asked the strongest guys around to do it, but no one could open the lens from the GoPros. The way I fixed it in the end was a gamble: I used a car wrench from a Toyota Land Cruiser to fix those small cameras. There was a chance of completely ruining the lens mount and camera itself by doing so, but it worked!

I was also amazed by how often those conditions made the cameras stop working. There was a television crew from Russia with some serious gear (Arri Alexa included), but most of their handheld cameras stopped working on the summit.

In general our equipment performed very well, and I was surprised how smooth it went. Regarding planning, many times we had to adjust to the situation on the mountain, so we had to make fast decisions: what to take and when, as carrying all the gear was not an option due to limited access to porters and the overall weight. In other words, our planning was changing a great deal – most of the time we found out only an hour beforehand, sometimes the night before, if we were lucky.

Budgetcam was also a part of our expedition, big thank you for trusting us with equipment for capturing amazing pictures and behind the scene material. We used trusted Canon 5D markII with Canon and Carl Zeiss lenses for that. I have to say, Canon was a solid partner in our journeys, everything performed well, even above 7000 meters. Only downside was a weight of manual Carl Zeiss lenses, as amazing pieces of glass they are, they weight a lot in Himalayas!

Thank you all for reading and Budgetcam for supporting our extreme production. I hope You enjoy the trailer, and series is coming soon in beginning of 2017 to your mobile and not only, devices.

Przemek Siemion VR Explorers