In January of 2016 I made the decision to move from the picturesque Pacific Northwest to New York City. Living in New York had long been a dream of mine, but doing so meant leaving the beauty of Seattle and the wilderness that surrounds it. During the summer, fall and winter leading up to the move I chose to create a film as my way of giving back the PNW for all it had given to me… and thus, Muir Song was born.
The inspiration for this film came from my time living and being active in the PNW. My goal was to capture the energy and attitude of exploring Washington through the eyes of people who do so religiously. The film is set to a quote by legendary conservationist John Muir, and narrated by infamous mountain climber, Lou Whittaker.
We were extremely resourceful in shooting this film due to challenging locations, and chose to backpack all of our gear into remote areas in order to find unique angles of the PNW. Our kit was small and mobile, but shooting on the Dragon with an anamorphic adapter enabled us to achieve a cinematic aesthetic without compromising portability.
I’m excited to release Muir Song on April 21st, what would have been John Muir’s 178th birthday. If you’re unfamiliar Muir and his work check out his bio on the Sierra Club here: vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit
Director: Janssen Powers
DOP: Janssen Powers, Caleb Babcock
Creative Development: Mckinzy Powers, Janssen Powers
Producer: Mckinzy Powers
Quote: John Muir
Narrator: Lou Whittaker
Music: Ryan Taubert- Revival, Imagine (Licensed via TheMusicBed.com)
Sound Design: Defacto Sound
Camera:
-Red Scarlet Dragon
Lenses:
-Leica 50mm r mount lens (almost everything was shot on this lens + anamorphic adapter)
-Tokina 11-16mm
-Isco Ultra Star 2.0x anamorphic adapter (shooting 4×3 in camera to correct for anamorphic squeeze)
Other Gear:
-Freefly Systems Movi M10 gimbal
-DJI Inspire 1
