An Epic West Coast Sailing Adventure

Pursuing the Grizzlies

We had set off sailing up the beautiful Knight Inlet on the northern end of our trip. We were making our way up the inner coast of Vancouver Island and had already seen some amazing sites. However I got really excited when I heard we might make our way up to this beautiful place. To me Knight Inlet has remained a place of magical memories. A place that seems straight out of an adventure book.

It was in this exact spot two years ago that I had seen my first and only Grizzly bear. That memory has stood above most as something I won't be forgetting anytime soon. Being in the presence of a powerful creature in it's natural place of life, is a crazy experience.

We paddled in on dories from the Swift in Knight Inlet

On this trip however our first scouting mission was completely silent. Nothing. We heard word that ten sub adult grizzly bears had been seen that day alone, and yet in our two hours of paddling around we saw nothing.

Paddling back to the Swift

Feeling deflated we packed it in for the night. Not to long after dinner we received radio that there were more bears out. So setting off again we paddled off to catch a glimpse of these elusive creatures. On that trip alone we manage to see five bears! How crazy is that.

A Grizzly bear

I was overjoyed with excitement. After a night of songs on the boat we settled in for the night. The next morning there was a buzz aboard the ship as we got news there was a mom and her cub near by

Such a Powerful and Beautiful Creature

We silently moved the zodiac in as gently as we could. Everyone was almost holding there breath as we made it towards the shore. Our view was obstructed from these large posts in the water by the shore. These pillars that used to hold up a dock of some sort. Someone said they saw something move and we all strained our sleepy eyes a little more. Sure enough as we got in just a little closer there in plain site was a mother and her cub prowling the shore line. I thought to myself, this is why I love sailing, this is why I love adventure, it's all about moments like this.

The Pacific Swift Sail Boat

This is a Film I Made With No Budget, Entirely For Free

What excuses do you make when you put of creating projects you are passionate about? I know that I have tended to make a lot of excuses over the years. I don't have enough time, I don't have a nice enough camera, or maybe the content wont be good enough. Avoiding making things your passionate about seems all too convenient these days. It seems that a lot of people in the video industry have become so accustomed to saying,

"I can't afford to work on videos I want to. You know, gotta make money from those corporate clients, it's boring but it pays the bills."

I don't think you can afford to not focus on your passions. I have caught myself thinking in a similar fashion and I am convinced it doesn't have to be this way. We can still be making films about the things that we love, even if we claim to not have time to.

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If you are not making time for projects your are passionate about now, I don't think you will ever make time them. It all starts with today.

On this trip it wasn't even my responsibility to make a video. I was volunteering as a Watch Leader and helping run the sail training program aboard the vessel. Video was definitely a back seat priority. Yet even though it was back seat to my actual responsibilities I still took it seriously enough to make something I am proud of from the trip.

Being Okay With Less than Perfect

This was all made possible from being okay with less than perfect. Is this the quality of videos I want to be making? Not necessarily, for me I know I am capable of creating films of a much higher caliber, but I don't think that means I should pass up on the opportunity to make something when the story is there. Not everything can be a 100% film. One thing I am noticing is that people pay attention to consistency far more than they pay attention to announcements.

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It is my Goal to be a 'Go To' Outdoor Adventure Storyteller in British Columbia

I don;t want to be the go to adventure film guy because I want to be better than others. I definitely don't want to in order to win some type of social media race of stats and numbers. This is my goal because I want to be making films like this all the time. It's that simple.

I come alive when I make films about adventure.

I want to say no to making anything less than what I am passionate about. It is so hard to do this, but it means when I am selective in picking my projects, it creates the potential for each project to be the best thing I have created. That is the type of work I want to be making. Capturing and sharing stories that make me come alive.

Swift and Dusk

Right Now I am Covering My Bills So I Can Make Films that I Want to Make

Currently I am doing a lot of freelance editing. I am doing this so I can pay my bills and not be forced to take on clients or projects that are not a good fit for my company. I am growing Leftcoast Media House to be a specialized production house that tells adventure stories with excellence in the Vancouver and greater British Columbia area. I believe that you can make the tough choices to enable yourself in doing this as well. You can be making what you love if you are willing to sacrifice and fight for it.

Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak

Levi Allen

A Mind Blowing World Record Jump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0DCBebgdUc

Hidden away in a small valley on the top of Sumas mountain in the quiet town of Abbotsford British Columbia, is the compound of a man named Al. This man is single handily making a loud statement about the quality of his craftsmanship for our viewing pleasure. Al is progressing the sport of UTV racing and… well…. UTV jumping more than anyone one else in the country.

Stock UTV Rzrs bought off the lot are definitely not equipped for this level of performance.

That’s where Al’s company Concept Distributing comes in and outfits these machines to be powerhouses that are actually safe to jump.

Al’s workmanship creates beautiful pieces of art, the chassis he builds for these machines are incredible.

What’s even more awesome, is he is willing to prove firsthand how much he trusts his work.

Shattering World Records

Working with Brad Friessen, we had a great opportunity to come out and document some serious record breaking take place.

On this project I was the Steadicam operator, Secondary Drone pilot, and also handled all the Post Production and Editing. The piece itself was put together and coordinated by Brad Friessen, who was also the amazing Helicopter Pilot. The video was made for Brad’s recently launched Helicopter Youtube Channel that you definitely need to subscribe to.

 

Shooting for the Edit

On a day like this there was a lot of downtime in between the different jumps and lots of prep time involved with pulling off a stunt of this size. Safety was a high concern and so nothing was rushed. It is so easy to over shoot and end up with a loads of footage you won’t need, and as a result potentially miss out on key moments. I find it is far better to instead of just roll your camera on every thing that is happening really look for those key moments that you know will actually end up in the edit. Your editor with thank you a thousand times over, trust me.

Getting Into Those Hard to Reach Spots

I love shooting with the GoPro cameras for stunts like this because it allows you to get into these hard to reach areas that provide an amazing perspective. With this video there is a lot of the same jump happening over and over and getting that visual diversity is key to help keep the viewer engaged.

The Gear

Josh Knepper was operating the Red Dragon out of the helicopter.

We had a slew of Hero 4’s mounted everywhere you could imagine.

There was a GH4, a canon 60d and a 7d.

For the multi rotors we had two quads from DJI brought and piloted by the team at Sugarshark productions.

I had a chance to shoot on their Phantom 3 while watching Mark and Anastasia shoot tandom with the Inspire. Watching them thread the needle with the inspire really impressed me with the amount of control they could have with this copter at high speeds. DJI is certainly doing something fantastic with their higher level drones.

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Beneath Jamaican Skies // The Story and Film

All of my being felt incredibly peacefully still. The cool morning breeze was dancing around me and I was readily breathing the fresh air. I watched in amazement as colors began to slowly dance over the mountain side before me. Chills crept over my body as I was overwhelmed with the beauty I was beholding.

I felt as though I was watching a master painter work on his next canvas before me. This nagging feeling came that I shouldn't be here, it told me I was intruding on his beautiful work and he wouldn't want me to watch and enjoy. Yet a stronger and;gentler voice broke through and knowingly beckoned me to experience the present. He seemed to be saying, look here, enjoy what I making.

I like to call these experiences forever memories. Those precious moments of our human experience that you know won't ever be forgotten. Moments in time where every sensor in your body is taking in everything it can. In times like this it truly does feel like you are writing a good story with your life. You can feel so insignificant in a vast expanse and yet still feel a unique and overwhelming sense of value. It is as if something, someone, is calling you to take part in something bigger than yourself. It's this deep-rooted feeling you have a part to play.

This is why I love timelapsing. It has brought me to places and given me experiences that I hope to never forget. Once you get the timelapsing bug it begins to change the way you see and experience everyday life. You start looking for patterns and motion in the landscapes around you. It gives you an entirely new perspective to the moving world.

https://instagram.com/p/PAzCTOSLT-/

FILMMAKING HAS DRAWN ME TO SEE THE WORLD FOR ALL IT HAS TO OFFER, IT HAS PUSHED ME TO PURSUE EXPERIENCES I WOULDN'T HAVE NORMALLY PURSUED.

If that's sitting on a mountain through the night watching the stars move by, or chasing the last fading rays of a beautiful sunset. Timelapsing has added a dimension to my life of such rich depth and beauty. The moment I was describing previously was an iconic moment for me and my journey as an aspiring filmmaker. It is one of the few moments in my life where I have felt spoken to so deeply.

BENEATH JAMAICAN SKIES

A FILM BY LEVI ALLEN

You can view more of my films on Vimeo

https://instagram.com/p/Or7qx3SLVs/

BEHIND THE SCENES

This project came about through an opportunity I had to travel to Jamaica with some friends. I had just graduated from High School and I was really keen to make some projects with opportunities to practice and grow. I had previously shot my Beautiful British Columbia Film and I wanted to implement some of the things I had learned from this project. At this point I had gotten the timelapsing bug and literally timelapsed almost anything that would move.

I shot almost every sequence in this film in RAW stills so I could push the settings in post and do exposure ramping. I shot a lot of the sunset and sunrise timelapses using the Holy Grail method. Having these sequences in .CR2 was certainly very helpful. I also shot a ton of glidcam footage on this trip. There are a lot of shots that made it into the film, but literally about 10 times that amount that ended up getting cut.

HOW DID YOU GET SO GOOD AT GLIDECAM?

When people ask me how I got so good at operating a glidcam, I always point back to this trip. It was literally two straight weeks of constant glidcam shooting all day every single day. I would set up a timelapse and then use another canon T2i to shoot moving shots. I put in a lot of hours which helped slowly take my skills to the next level.

THE GEAR

The gear I used to shoot this piece is actually really simple

• Modified Flycam Nano ( I extended the middle column so it could hold more weight • Canon t2i (still an excellent very useable camera) • Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC (awesome run and gun lens) (one of my favourite lenses) • Rokinon 35mm f1.4 lens (one of my favourite lenses) • Borrowed sigma 10–20mm (I wouldn't recommend purchasing this) • Manfrotto Monopod (MVM500A) (absolute favourite tool for run and gun shooting)

For my intervalometer I used Magic Lantern.

THE SOFTWARE

I edited this film on my mid 2012 Mac Book Pro, it only has 8gb of memory, but the i7 intel chip handles things fairly well and is still my main editing machine.

• Premiere Pro
• Adobe After Affects
• Lightroom
• LrTimelapse
• Panolapse

https://instagram.com/p/O7kkX5yLQU/

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY IN THE FUTURE

I learned a lot on this project as you would expect when you spend so much time shooting and editing. I now know that when I create pieces like this I really need to be fighting to find a story that helps tie the whole piece together. This film for me was an amazing accomplishment of a visual display, yet there wasn't a driving story. There isn't a component that grabs someones attention and drives them to watch the entire thing. The only reason the average viewer would watch it all the way through, is if I managed to enthrall and entice them with the visuals. You need more of a grab than just something pretty. With this in mind I would have tried to capture the culture and the people. I would have tried to integrate a human element that viewers could relate to.

Another thing I learned on this project is that next time I am not going to shoot near as many GoPro timelapses. I have hundreds of gigs of .jpg timelapses all GoPro shot. None of them made the cut into the film.

Thanks so much for reading about one of my films. It is my goal to create more in-depth posts on my future projects, both in storytelling and in the technical production side. You can send me any questions or feedback through email directly by joining the Leftcoast Collective.

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Written by: Levi Allen VanderKwaak