Eye Catcher ‚Freestyle‘– a glance behind the pictures of the Snowpark Alta Badia

Logo Eye Catcher ‚Freestyle‘– a glance behind the pictures of the Snowpark Alta Badia
20/01/2014, 14:31
Logo Eye Catcher ‚Freestyle‘– a glance behind the pictures of the Snowpark Alta Badia

A snowy mountain scenery, dressed all in white. The outlines of a kicker - which looks more like a launching pad - and suddenly, the only colorful spot you see is a freeskier or snowboarder in the air, ignoring gravity for a long time spinning on his own axis just to land on both feet again and keep going like nothing happened. Scenes like this have long found their way into mass media. Today, search queries for the terms snowboard or ski on YouTube won’t end up in movies about the world cup downhill, but in the newest freestyle videos. But how are these eye catchers made? Let’s take a glance at South Tyrol, behind the scenes of the first video and photo shooting of the season at Snowpark Alta Badia.

A rider passes by at full speed, close enough to hear his clothes fluttering in the air stream. Right behind him another one, with a camera in his hands. While the first rider is tossing himself recklessly over all kickers and jibs blocking his way, his chaser avoids them carefully, though giving the rider his undivided attention – because everything he wants is a perfect shot.

At the same time, someone is lurking in the snow nearby, waiting still since he’s not the one behind the moving images, yet everything around him is in motion. He’s a photographer – and he is waiting for the ultimate moment, ready to react at the split of a second - to get his perfect shot.

A few days ago in the early morning hours: Five shapers take a drowsy look at the fresh, sparkling snow and get ready for the upcoming days that will be dominated by hard work. One meter of fresh snow and only three days left until the scheduled video- and photo shooting. Time to roll up their sleeves and grab the scoops – a perfect shot needs a perfect park!

But not only the QParks Crew has a lot to do, operations manager Carlo Canins also knows that everything has to be reorganized now. Not only is he responsible for the slopes, but also for the snowpark, taking care that the snow guns running are when needed and overviewing the capacity of the machines grooming the slopes. He gladly supports the shape crew before the shooting because, in his opinion, “a ski area without a snowpark is like a good hotel without a spa. Nowadays, communication mainly happens via Facebook and the websites. The more images of the snowpark you can find there, the better known you get. Teenagers look at these media and are happy about the possibilities we offer.”

And now? Now the moment has arrived! A bunch of motivated snowboarders and freeskiers from Austria, Sweden and Italy take the gondola from San Cassiano up to the Snowpark. None of them noticed something of the uncertainties in the run-up and everybody starts the day in a good mood: ‘Actually, I had a lot of stress over the holidays and have just come back yesterday from Sweden to Innsbruck, where I live. This morning, when my alarm went off, I thought to myself – you must be crazy! Why are you doing this today – getting up so early and going to Alta Badia. However, now everything is just perfect. The weather is brilliant here in the Dolomites, we have the fresh snow … I´m really glad to be here now,’ the Swedish Charlotte Freyburger tells us in perfect German. She is accompanied by the snowboarder Daniela Kaindl, who knows the place well and, even after hours of shooting, is still up for another run: ‘ I just love the park so much’, she states– and is off again.

Filmmaker Balint Hambalko and Photographer Patrick Steiner radiate peace and relaxation. Just by taking a closer look, you can notice a little tension in them. Their main effort is not to waste any time. The bright sunshine at the lift exit offers perfect conditions for the first lifestyle shots of the day: happy faces and friends meeting up for a thrilling session – all the excitement has to be visible in the clip as well. “Our task is to present the park and to show as many ready obstacles as possible. The best way to do this is to do Follow Runs because that is how you can check out the obstacles, how much space you have between the different elements and what speed is needed for a jump. I also need several shots of each kicker, rail and box to show another perspective and lifestyle pictures to introduce the riders”, the 31-year-old professional filmmaker enthusiastically tells us about his work. "There are a lot of different snowboard edits at the moment and it is hard to produce something original and interesting. In the evening before the shooting, I already have a certain script in my head – an idea about what thing we could try and which shots we could possibly do differently. We have a forest here, for instance, that makes for a beautiful background for the images”, he explains and thus already reveals parts of his plan.

While Balint is already recording the follow runs with the freeskiers, photographer Patrick Steiner got caught up with the snowboarders and dedicates his attention systematically to the various rails. “What are you going to do?”, he shouts up to the snowboarder Klara Dinold while he is kneeling in the snow. “I’m going for a Frontside Lipslide 270 out!” Klara responds, focuses quickly and then starts her run. The Carinthian rider is not just followed by Patricks’ lens, but also by the looks of the other riders participating at the shooting, who are preparing for their own runs. Despite the crowd, there is silence and Klara sticks her trick over the tube without any problems, unstraps her board and promptly hikes back up for her next trick. And Patrick? He’s already moved on to the next motive.

Moving images also require more movement from the filmmaker and Balint Hambalko is not shunning about that. While Patrick is kneeling in the snow and busy taking snaps of the snowboarders, Balint is filming a group of local freeskiers. Jan Clemens Wieser, Alex Costamoling and Fabio Crazzolara know the lines inside out and are frequent participants in shootings. “It is always good to get a pic. I forward them to APO Skis, who provide my equipment”, Jan Clemens responds to why he is taking part in this shooting. While taking the lift back up, he goes into rhapsodies about the Snowpark Alta Badia: “We really have to compliment the shapers this season, because this was the first park which opened this year. Here, we can make the tricks which everybody else - everywhere else - is just dreaming about because in most places, it is not yet possible to create a park for those moves. That’s why people from Alleghe, Falcade and even further away – like Trento – are coming here.” While he looks at the setup he might already be thinking which stunt he will pull out next. Back at the top again, he talks to the filmmaker about which line and which trick is going to be the next one: “Communication is the most important thing in a shooting. If you’re turning right and the filmmaker is positioned in the wrong spot, he can only catch the rider from behind.” Balint rides next to him and skillfully leads the camera. It doesn’t seem to bother him that he has to control his own snowboard while he’s accompanying Jan and adjusts the height of the camera with his hands whenever he passes another element. “You know your camera, so you obviously know to hold and adjust it. If you’re doing a kicker shot, you should hold the camera at chest level. When jibbing over rails and boxes, I turn the camera around and record the action from further down”, explains the filmmaker. This way, he can capture the shot optimally and catches Jan Clemens’ Pretzel 270 out over the down tube, the 360 Tail Grab and the 360 Underflip over the kicker in just one ride through the park.

There’s not a chance of having a break on this day for Balint and Patrick – they have to use every sunny minute for getting the required footage. All the others, however, take a break in the “Rufugio Ciampai” - a chalet located directly below the park. Actually, “in” might not be the right word for it because the terrace of the chalet invites you to dwell in the sunshine while enjoying the view of the park and checking out the others’ freestyle action.

Are you curious about the final results of this shooting? At www.snowpark-altabadia.org you can find the snowboard and the freeski clip as well as the snowboard and freeski gallery, packed with the finest pictures of the day at the Snowpark Alta Badia.