Antarctica, 7 days out
One of my favorite one-season shows on Netflix is 7 Days Out. Each episode follows a big event – everything from grand openings to fashions shows and space probe missions – and explores the behind-the-scenes work and organized chaos that goes into pulling it off. I pretty much inhale behind-the-scenes documentaries and am trigger-happy on the pause button. Every time there's a shot of camera gear? Pause! What's that spreadsheet that they're using? Pause! Messy studio shot? Pause! I'm obsessed with the making-of details behind big visions and the people who flourish in their dedication to perfecting every element.
I'm now seven days out from deploying to Antarctica. I hope this newsletter can serve as a behind-the-scenes peek into my journey. It's my second expedition to Antarctica. I led my first expedition on the NSF Antarctic Artists and Writers program, journeying for five weeks to film the microscopic animals and other creatures that live under the ice so that the world could get to know them. This time, I'm headed to Antarctica for two months as a researcher and filmmaker, working with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER) team to investigate the soils and microorganisms in an extremely unique part of the continent, and filming a nature docu-series supported by National Geographic. You'll hear a lot more about both of those efforts in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday night, I'll fly to New Zealand where I'll pick up my "ECW" – extreme cold weather gear – before flying on to McMurdo Station. Anything I don't put in my luggage by Wednesday will be dead to me for 10 weeks. There's no Amazon delivery to send me extra drone propeller blades if mine break. I can't run to a hardware store to grab a specific Allen wrench size for fixing my microscope. The challenge lies in packing everything I'll need within strict weight limitations that make it impossible to pack everything I'll need. Last night I halved a bottle of hairspray just to cut down a few ounces wherever I could.
These seven days are going to be a bit of a blur. My to-do list is loaded with everything from buying a calling card to be able to make phone calls from Antarctica, to doing a full gear shakedown. Today I was over in the former Naval Air Station in Alameda conducting my last drone flights before my DJI Mavic 3 gets packed up into a Pelican Air case. While there, I was also debugging autofocus issues with my Canon R5C and testing out polarizer and ND filters for my iPhone. Each day I am finding fixes to critical bugs that threaten the entire production (hot mics, polarizers turning my footage dark green, apps crashing) and each day brings new technical challenges! There's a lot to do, and I should probably get back to it.
💌 Ariel
P.S. A huge shoutout to my amazing husband who has been by my side for every step during this crunch period and the months and years leading up to it. He is the absolute best person and I'm 100% going to be missing him.
P.P.S. I posted a behind-the-scenes pre-production snippet on my Patreon in case you'd like to check out a few of my test shots and a storyboard teaser.