WILCO DEKKERS: EVEREST EXPEDITION
For Doctors Without Borders
Onesize teamed up with MassiveMusic and Kaaps to support Dutch climber Wilco Dekker on his journey to the top of the world, Mt. Everest.
Wilco wished to use this expedition to raise money for Doctors without Borders, and he approached us to create a promotional video that would raise awareness for his cause and attract new donors. We jumped on the opportunity, and together with Kaaps and Massive Music we made a video featuring the peaks Wilco has already conquered, and the hardships he would endure on the world's tallest mountain.
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
Our initial inspirations were rooted in traditional Himalayan imagery: mountains, ice, prayer flags, wildlife and all the climbing gear brought and left behind by the scores of climbers who attempt to conquer Mt. Everest every year. Early in the process, we also decided to use topographical maps as an important visual element. This would help locate the viewer and shed light on Wilco’s past achievements across the world.
STYLEFRAME'S
We used some of this iconic imagery to build styleframes which made use of additional typography, the aim being to convey vital information without overpowering the images on screen.
SHOT DEVELOPMENT
The fact that we didn’t have the means to shoot in the environment of Mt. Everest itself meant that many of the shots we used were constructed in 3D by our team of CG artists. This also afforded us a greater control over camera angles and allowed us to make changes until late in the production process. Images of tents, carabiners, and falling ice - to name a few - were all digitally created.
BEHIND THE SHOOT
In collaboration with Kaaps, we conducted a short in-house shoot featuring Wilco Dekker himself. We used fog machines and fake snow to emulate sub-zero temperatures and captured various close-up shots of Wilco and his climbing gear.
