Cruising glaciers and outrunning avalanches

Racing down North America’s longest vertical drop on Mount Mackenzie, cruising on the groomed pistes of Austria’s Stubai Glacier, and outrunning avalanches in New Zealand. The life of an international skier is pretty far removed from the scenic ski lifts and beginner routes that most of us picture when we think of hitting the slopes.

In fact, the only thing more difficult than outrunning an avalanche is trying to film someone doing it. This is exactly what David Peacock was tasked to do with Passenger, a thrill-seeking cinematic ride that follows the skiers known as Legs of Steel as they chase snow from the Alaskan back country to the ‘powder capital of the world’ in Hokkaido, Japan.

Made in partnership with Red Bull Media House, the film aims to completely immerse viewers in the experience. For David this meant finding gear that could work for hours in remote locations and extreme temperatures. He ended up choosing RED Epic-W and Scarlet-W cameras, a DEFY G12 gimbal and the Anton/Bauer CINE range of V-mount batteries.

Reliably powerful

With its 13.8 MP Super 35mm CMOS sensor, the Scarlet-W’s power draw is about 50-60W, under typical conditions. The V-Mount CINE150 batteries were able to power the RED camera in below-freezing temperatures thanks to 12 amps of continuous power. This meant that David could completely streamline his workflow.

“The CINE batteries in V-Mount from Anton/Bauer were perfect,” says David. “The form factor of the CINE cubes just fit the camera so well; even better that the actual RED batteries. They’re shorter, wider, and they pack a punch.”

Usually on a long-term international shoot like Passenger, the crew would need to bring a large number of batteries and then calculate how best to ration them in order to ensure a few days of continuous power. With the CINE on-board, this was no longer necessary, especially with the unit’s sensors measuring temperature and over-current in order to maintain optimal performance at all times.

Removing the guesswork

When the success of a shoot is dependent on the performance of your mobile power source, knowing exactly how much time you have to play with is hugely important.

With the Anton/Bauer CINE batteries, David was always able to clearly see the battery’s run-time on the LCD that displays in hours and minutes. When the battery was detached, the LCD screen displayed the battery life as a percentage, making tracking usage throughout the production effortless.

“Whether we were in the cold or in the back-country, having that digital readout on the battery’s life was really important because then we could tell right away how much power we had and the exact number of batteries to bring,” says David. “There was no guesswork involved.”

As well as having enough power to get the right results, the other major issue for a production like Passenger is experiencing gear failure out on some lonely mountainside. The CINE takes care of this too with Fuse Link technology that provides protection to surrounding battery cells, so they won’t fail. Having access to a lot of continuous power is one thing, being certain that it will perform no matter the conditions is another entirely.

“When you’re on set, especially in the middle of nowhere, things can get hectic and start to seem a little out of control sometimes. We sometimes see gear fail catastrophically and derail projects. So while all that’s going on, it’s huge for me to know that I have reliable power I can count on.”

Filmmaking that puts the viewer right in the middle of experiences like Passenger does, calls for dedication, stamina and determination. It also requires gear that can be counted on to provide the best performance in even the most demanding conditions. The Anton/Bauer CINE is designed to support your creativity, wherever it happens to take you.