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The (Virtual) Reality of Dog Sledding
Our latest shoot of the week will absolutely “sleigh” you. It comes to us courtesy of Ketchum.
Just an hour out of Salt Lake City, Utah, Chad Horn and his crew met and filmed a bunch of dog sledding hounds for a unique 360/VR shoot with Young Living on February 6.
Young Living reached out to Ketchum to help produce this pet-project of a virtual reality video of dog sledding in support of dog racing.
About 70,000 feet up in the mountains and with light snow coating the team, hours of spectacular footage were captured which is sure to wag some tails. The various camera angles used to represent the point of view of the musher (and even the dogs) truly made this shoot one of a kind.
“There were like nine dogs connected to a mini version of Santa’s sleigh,” said Josh Francis, executive producer at Ketchum. “The dogs were so energetic that it was a challenge to get a still shot of them going through the woods.”
Around eight or nine angles were shot to truly make this virtual reality come to life. Cameras were rigged onto the handles of the sled and on a three-foot monopod that was clamped to the front of the sled. A smaller camera was even strapped onto a few dogs to show the point of view of the dogs as they ran, which made for a really awesome shot.
“The most unexpected thing was that these dogs were intense,” Horn said. “They want to pull ALL of the time. They also don’t like turns too much. I envisioned putting the camera on the sled, sending them off for a bit, and having them come back—but that wasn’t possible.”
Keeping up with and filming these fierce canines may have been a little “ruff” to say the least. Josh, Chad, and his team had to follow these passionate pups in snowmobiles just to be able to move the camera around to different positions. Even when the snowmobile stopped, the dogs didn’t—and they kept pulling until a metal brake jammed into the snow.
“I swear at these times all of their barking was directed at me, telling me to hurry up, Horn said. “It was an extremely fun time. though, and we got some beautiful footage.”
A big shout out to Josh, Chad, and his crew for yet another extraordinary shoot!
Looking to shoot an interesting 360 virtual reality shoot? Visit our website for a free quote!
(All pictures courtesy of Josh Francis)
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