OZYMANDIAS - KING OF KINGS
Celebrate the 50th aniversary of a classic Australian big wall climb on Mt Buffalo
In a film first, we plan to take our audience up the 280m iconic big wall climb Ozymandias, letting them share the experience of the climb and even spend a night on the portaledge. We are a group of dedicated adventurers and film-makers, based in Bright Victoria and this year we aiming to taking it to the next level. We are self-funding this film, with our own time, experience and equipment , as well as local volunteers and supporting businesses. Raising a film budget would allow us to pay our camera crew, safety team, parks permits, editing time and most importantly, give us a bigger weather window to get this film done. We are currently looking for Outdoor Adventure Brands, who would like to support and feature in our Australian adventure short film. Details below.
The adventure begins here
Our short adventure film will follow three local adventurers as they tackle one of Australia’s great 'big wall' climbs, Ozymandias. Located on the north wall of the Mount Buffalo gorge, Ozymandias(280m) was first climbed by Chris Baxtor and Chris Dewhirst in 1969 and this year marks the 50th anniversary of that first ascent. Our film plans to take the audience up this iconic route and pay homage to these early groundbreaking Australian climbers.
Why make this film:
Given the recent success of climbing films such as, 'Free Solo' and 'The Dawn Wall' we feel that now would be the perfect time for people experience a big wall climb here in Australia. Although it's not the hardest route or even a first ascent, Mount Buffalo attracts over 180,000 visitors each year who all come to stand on the edge of the gorge. We would like to take their experience one step further by taking them up the north wall.
Why support us:
Your Australian customers, who love to support a brands and products which they have a connection with, are used to seeing outdoor brands supporting films from North America and Europe. By supporting 'us', local adventure film-makers, you are instantly placing your brand in a local Australian context, which is quite unique.
For more detail about the climb, click here.
MEET THE CLIMBING TEAM
Stan Meissner
With a growing list of outdoor achievements, across multiple disciplines, Stan personifies what outdoor adventure is all about – tough, determined, curious, fun-loving, and a little bit wild.
At 25 Stan's passion for the outdoors and human performance has lead him around Australia as an obstacle course racing athlete and adventure guide. He now calls Bright, Victoria home, where he divides daylight hours between guiding on Mt Buffalo, trail running and fitness training at the local gym Bright Bootcamp.
In 2018, Stan successfully led a group of four young adventurers to sea kayaking Bass Strait with a bigger goal of establishing some first ascents on the remote islands. Click here to learn more about 'Strait Up'
Samantha Mcmahon
Samantha McMahon is a courageous Mountaineer who has faced physical adversity on her inspiring quest to become the first Australian woman to conquer 14 peaks in the Himalayan ‘Death Zone’.
Samantha now calls Bright, Victoria home and spends her days hiking and building fitness, learning to paraglide, mountain biking and planning her next adventure in to the Himalayas.
Although her time on high altitude summits is vast, Sammy has limited experience on big wall climbs and is looking forward the challenge of climbing Ozymandias.
Her list of Himalayan mountain summits include Lobuche, Island Peak, Mera Peak, Ama Dablam, Manaslu, Everest.
Jarmila Tyrril
When not working as a nurse, Jarmilla spends her time undertaking epic feats of endurance. In 2018 she completed an ‘Everesting’ Run at Falls Creek, running the height of Mount Everest in 16hr and 16 minutes, with an average gradient of 21.90% and a total distance covered of 78kms.
Recently in the winter of 2019 she completed a solo the grand traverse from Mountain Creek to MountHotham.
THE STORY
All great adventure films are tied to a story. The backbone of this story with include:
- the history of Ozymandais
- the climbers - who and why
- the beauty and sheer size of Mount Buffalo's north wall
THE PLAN
We are planning for this to be a spring climbing adventure and to take place sometime late September to early October 2019. We have choose this period for two reasons. Firstly, for the weather. We are hoping to get two crisp, cool bluebird days during which to film with the aim of capturing the beauty of the mountain and with a bit of luck a beautiful sunrise with inverted clouds in the Ovens Valley below.
An advantage we have is the climbing team and majority of the film crew are based locally, so waiting for a weather window will be easier.
When the decision is made to 'GO' ...
The climbing team plus a member of the film crew will drive to the gorge and hike to the base of the North Wall and the start of Ozymandias. The rest of the film crew will reach designated positions to film the climb.
During the course of the day and climb, all members of the production team will be contact video UHF radio and mobile phone.
As the climbing team reaches certain milestones of the climb, camera crew will shift and move accordingly to capture the best angles and moments.
As part of the films story, we would like the audience to experience a night tethered to the wall and the feeling of waking up, to an incredible sunrise, 200metres in the air.
In the morning will capture the moment when the climbing team 'tops out' on Ozymandias and film their satisfaction, having completed the climb. Although this moment will essentially mark the end of the film, it is at this stage all members of the production team with make sure Mt Buffalo is left totally untouched by our production before returning to Bright.-
A BRIEF HISTORY OF OZYMANDIAS
In late 1968, John Ewbank and Chris Baxter went to climb what was later to become Ozymandias, starting at the base of the proudest and tallest section of the wall. After three pitches and with the hardest climbing behind them John was keen to continue but Chris was adamant that discretion was the better part of valour. One can only speculate on how he felt later on when he heard that Chris Baxter had returned with the talented Chris Dewhirst to claim the first ascent of Ozymandias(M5) in October. 1969.
Ozymandias Original
Ozymandias Direct
FILM CREW
Ric Williamson - Director/Camera
Ric spent the first ten years of his career in a post production edit suite, learning the subtle craft of editing, colour grading and sound mixing. Cutting all types of videos, from a national motorsports series, government and corporate videos, TV commercials.
He moved to Bright, Vic in 2013 to start his own business, Hand Cut Productions. HCP specialises in creating \engaging stories and has worked with all the regional tourism boards across North East Victoria, including the Alpine Shire and Falls Creek Ski Resort.
In 2018, he produced a backcountry ski film called 'Destroy My Sweater', which was filmed out the back of Falls Creek, near Tawonga Huts.
Nic Wilke - Drone Operator
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Nic grew up in Falls Creek, where he lived for 23 years. The area is where he works and plays. He has been an aerial videographer and cinematographer for over 8 years.
Nic is an accomplished remote pilot with thousands of hours airtime matched with in-depth technical knowledge. This combined with an expert understanding of cameras, commercial photography and post production, gives him the capability of capturing high quality footage every time.
In 2018, Nic worked as the DOP on a major tourism campaign for Tourism North East. The Ride High Campaign captured the spirit of the region and showcased bike riding across Victoria's High Country.
Matt Rousu - Photographer
Since graduating from University (BA Photography) in 2004 Matt has been travelling the globe in search of adventure. Photographing and competing in the world Highest Mountain Bike Race The Yak Attack in the Nepal Himalaya, Matt learnt how to think fast, travel light and capture the essence of riding.
He has gone on to photograph cycling for various Mountain Bike Magazines, Newspapers and Websites. Matt is currently in Canada for a World Cup MTB event, photographing for a variety of magazines.
SAFETY & PARKS PERMITS
SAFETY will be a top priority this during production, next to the story and capturing some amazing shots.
Rather than leaving safety in the hands of the film crew, who might put 'getting the shot' ahead of their own safety, we will be partnering with Bright Adventure Company(BAC). BAC are currently one of two adventure ropes companies who work on Mount Buffalo year round and they have agreed to work with the production crew to maintain safety throughout the shoot.
As always PARKS PERMITS will be obtained through the proper Parks Victoria channels before the commencement of the shoot.
WHAT YOU GET IF YOU PARTNER WITH US
We want to give you lots of great ORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN CONTENT.
Our aim would be to produce a film and social media content that would benefit your brand as much as it benefits our film. We certainly don't intend or want to produce an 'informercial' for your brand and don't think these types of films, with the over use of logos and product placement, really connect with the audience.
With that said, we are open to suggestions and would really like to work with a brand(s) who want to work with us. In our regular jobs we are professional content producers for several Victorian and NSW shires. We know how to work under pressure and we always deliver on time and budget. We would definitely love to over deliver for you, if you are the right brand and into this project as much as we are.
Let's talk.
BALLPARK BUDGET
This climbing adventure is going to be filmed over the course of several days and involve a team of approximately 10 people, including several film crew and drone pilot, a photographer, a high ropes safety crew and various volunteers. Below is a ballpark budget of what some of our costs are, to produce a film like this. By opening the film to sponsorship and raising a budget, it will allow us to pay key film crew, a safety team and add more edit time. This will have a great influence on the final film we are able to produce, especially if we are paying the film crew. It will enable us to widen the weather window and contract additional crew and gear, not to mention the extra time in the edit suite. Unfortunately, passion projects are the first to get push to the bottom of the pile.
FILM CREW
$10000
PARKS VIC PERMITS
$500
POST PRODUCTION / EDITING
$4000
SAFETY / CLIMBING (Bright Adventure Company)
$2000
CATERING /TRAVEL
$2000
TOTAL
$18,500