Sometimes you just need to get away from everything and frankly this last week can get right in the bin. Then the bin can be locked up with chains and hurled into the sea. Preferably above the Mariana Trench. So, I’m not going to be about this next week. Were only I able to take a short break to see somewhere new, I think things might feel a heck of a lot better – and looking at where today’s Li360 lands us what a sight that would be to see in reality.
tional geograBut we don’t deal in reality round here, so we’ll have to make do with a 360 degree video from two names we’re pretty familiar with: Framestore and National Geographic Documentary Films.
Called Free Solo 360°, the short film follows Alex Honnold as he gets ready to achieve a lifelong dream: climbing Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan. A 3,200ft climb and since Honnold is a free soloist climber he’s doing the entire thing without a rope or safety equipment. Just his skill, experience, preparation and mental and physical toughness separating him from the sky and then the ground in short order. The climb, which was a record breaker, was the subject of a full documentary of the same name (though minus the 360°, obviously).
“It can be tricky in traditional filmmaking to portray a good sense of scale and context, but it’s all there in the 360° footage.” Explains Framestore’s Executive Creative Director Aron Hjartarson. “You are transported thousands of feet above the ground, hanging out with Alex as he weaves his way upwards, with the beauty of Yosemite National Park spread out below and reaching to the horizon. It was also a great project to play with the emergent art of 360° cinematography, using camera moves to add drama to the piece and lead the point of interest around the environment.”
You can follow this frankly amazing climb in the video below. Life in 360° will return next week.