Freeskiing
Nico Porteous’s new Blank Canvas video project is freeskiing perfection
It may look effortless, but months of hard work went into this new project from Nico Porteous. Check out Blank Canvas and learn how the New Zealand freeskier did it here.
Blank Canvas has some impressive triumphant firsts from Nico Porteous. It represents the first time CGI surreal animation has been used in the world of skiing and the first time someone has freeskiied in the middle of a rural Southland farm in New Zealand.
But what was it really like to create? We went behind the scenes with Porteous to hear more about the production, how art and music play a role in what he calls his "creative process", and how the project unleashed a new passion for him.
Watch the project in the player above and scroll down to hear Porteous describe Blank Canvas in his own words.
The mountain is like a canvas for Nico Porteous
© Miles Holden/Red Bull Content Pool
Blank Canvas is about me and how I look at the mountain as my canvas
You know, every day I go up skiing and I pull up to the car park and I see the mountain in front of me, I think, 'Alright, what can I do in this playground I've been given.' I think of skiing as more of a creative process, you know? The same as how an artist looks at their canvas when they start painting. It’s my creative outlet.
That's how the base of the idea for Blank Canvas came about. Alongside the Hunt Cinema boys, we came up with this idea to bring CGI into skiing. Full proper CGI hasn't been done in skiing before, so I think that will shock people. The fact that there's snow forming out of the ground and I'm skiing pretty much in a grass field in the middle of a Southland farm I think will trip people out.
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The challenges we faced in the process of doing it were pretty intense
When you're shooting something in one location and then going 200km away and filming not even on snow, there are challenges you face, like light, for example. We had to make sure the light was perfect on the mountain, so that it would match the light on the farm. We had about an hour window for each shot and it had to be perfect. It became quite stressful, especially in some of the halfpipe shots, when you're pretty nervous – you're doing some big tricks and you have to do it now, within this hour window, to make sure that it lines up perfectly.
A new passion formed in the process
© Miles Holden/Red Bull Content Pool
It's crazy when you see the work that went on behind the scenes, especially from the camera guys
It was really mind blowing. You know, they had to take down every single little minor detail of the shot. How far away they were from the object, the height off the ground, what angle they were on, everything. It was a massive piece of work from all sides and everybody involved dedicated a lot.
Working with Fat Freddy's Drop was incredible
You know Fat Freddy's Drop are New Zealand icons and they're legends in the musical area that they’ve produced. To be able to work with them and use one of their songs in the final edit I think sort of ties this up as the ultimate kiwi project – with the farming, skiing and then also using someone like Fat Freddy's Drop and their iconic music. It really just complimented it all.
Nico Porteous hopes fans will be inspired by the piece
© Miles Holden/Red Bull Content Pool
Music is a massive part of my daily life
I'm always skiing with music in my headphones and I like to think I'm pretty good at picking the music that matches my mood on the day. I use it as a bit of a tool to help me ski. I take inspiration from the music and then implement it into how I want to ski that day. I think it's super super cool and I couldn't really imagine a life without it.
The one thing that I want people to take away
I think the one thing that I want people to take away is really just to give them a bit of an idea about how I look at skiing, you know? I look at it like it's my blank canvas and it's my form of creative expression. I think it would be amazing if we could help the general public understand why we ski and a bit more about freestyle skiing – the fact that there are no rules and you can do whatever you want. You go out there, be yourself and express that in your skiing.
