01

OVERVIEW

Our goal was to venture out into the beautiful frozen expanse of Svalbard, in the middle of the Arctic winter, to search and document polar bears in their natural habitat.

During the shoot we experienced temperatures that were never warmer than -20ºC and frequently plummeted down as low as -30ºC + wind chill factor.
Many days we drove over two hundred kilometres on our snow mobiles in very difficult terrain and conditions as we searched for wildlife. We experienced three cases of first and second degree frostbite during the filming as well as a lot of failed equipment as a result of the extreme cold. Each day involved 14-16 hours in the field.

We had batteries that would lose their charge in mere minutes, drones that wouldn’t power up and fly, cameras that wouldn’t turn on, steady-cams that would not remain steady, HDMI cables that became brittle and snapped in the cold, frozen audio equipment, broken LCD mounts, broken down snow mobiles and more. We existed on a diet of freeze dried cod and pasta washed down with tepid coffee and the occasional frozen mars bar.

But in spite of the conditions, it was one of the most rewarding shoots we have all been involved in. Abraham Joffe and Dom West suffered multiple camera deaths and frostbite to shoot ‘Ghosts of the Arctic.’

02

THE MOVIE

Together with cinematographer Dom West and photographer Joshua Holko of Untitled Film Works, Joffe trekked over 120 miles per day in the Arctic region of Svalbard to capture a glimpse of the elusive polar bear. They spent 16-hour days in the frozen tundras, braving -30º and enduring frostbite. Often, their equipment failed; they suffered the death of at least two cameras and had to find creative solutions to keep the others alive and running.

03

THE LOCATION

Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Situated north of mainland Europe, it is about midway between continental Norway and the North Pole. The archipelago features an Arctic climate, although with significantly higher temperatures than other areas at the same latitude.

04

BEHIND THE SCENES

The most frustrating issue we had was batteries losing their charge if exposed to the cold. Every morning, we would tape hand warmers to all our batteries and we would load up our snow suit pockets with them close to our bodies to keep them warm. This made it even harder to move around on top of the layers of clothing we had on already.

The first day of the shoot was actually the coldest—the still air temp was -29C. It was bitterly freezing. We soon realized we were going to need a lot more hand warmers. We found the best way to mitigate the damage was to tape hand warmers to much of the gear and keep things wrapped up until the moment you needed to use them. These temperatures are well beyond manufacturers’ operating range!

We experienced ghosting (no pun intended) and blackouts on the LCD screens. The drone failed to launch. Then, the LCD on the c300 blacked out. Oh, and on the last day, the 7-inch LCD stem on the EpicW shattered.

The biggest challenge was the effects of the cold on our bodies was the toughest challenge. We needed our fingers to operate the touch screens, yet we could only suffer for about 30 seconds without gloves before the frost bite started to set in. The cold worked its way onto my cheek, which was super painful. As anyone who shoots in the outdoors knows, it can be hard even at the best of times. This was next-level.

The terrain on the last day was rough, and this was coupled with very low visibility. What happened as a result was we rolled one of our snowmobile trailers and crushed the DJI Inspire. It was frustrating, but we accepted it as a hazard of the shoot. Thankfully, we had already shot all our aerials by that stage.