Written by on Jan 30, 2012. Posted in Production News

Hafzoo navigates alpine snow and ice for Garmin on location in Austria

Production company Hafzoo has followed French cycling star Christophe LeMèvel on a punishing alpine training session in a new spot for GPS specialist Garmin. The Climb shows LeMèvel cycling a remote Austrian highway as his Garmin device measures his performance.

Places like the lower-altitude Passo Pordoi in Italy’s Dolomites were considered as filming locations but the team preferred Timmelsjoch in Oetztal, Austria, which Hafzoo already knew as a good place to shoot. Timmelsjoch is privately owned and closed down completely for the winter from about November through to March.

Since the road was not open to the public it was covered with up to one and a half metres of snow and we had to bring out the ‘big boys’ toys’ to clear it. Then it turned into solid ice for our technical recce, which was only possible in a fully snow-chained plough.

Andreas Hafele, Director

Andreas Hafele directed the spot for Hafzoo: “Since the road was not open to the public it was covered with up to one and a half metres of snow and we had to bring out the ‘big boys’ toys’ to clear it. Then it turned into solid ice for our technical recce, which was only possible in a fully snow-chained plough.

“It took a few tons of salt and a couple of days for it to dry up and provide a safe shooting environment. Both a pro cyclist and his race bike rely on clean tarmac to perform, which took great effort from our crew and hats off to the amazing road maintenance team at Timmelsjoch alpine road - they were on it!”

Timmelsjoch is 2,500 metres above sea level - an altitude that makes electricity generators pretty inefficient - so the team used sun bouncers, diffuse reflectors and mirrors to sort out the lighting. A combination of car rigs and static camera set ups were used to follow LeMèvel.

Chris Bainbridge was Art Director for Make Studio: “Andreas knew the area already and knew the locals so he was able to go through the right channels to sort out the location. Timmelsjoch is popular for commercial filming and there was in fact a Mercedes spot filming on another stretch of the road while Garmin was around.”

Timmelsjoch is popular for commercial filming and there was in fact a Mercedes spot filming on another stretch of the road while Garmin was around.

Chris Bainbridge, Art Director

There was also help and advice available from the local tourist board when it came to hour-by-hour weather forecasts; crucial given the altitude and the rate at which alpine weather can change.

Hafele concludes: “Apart from the occasional astonished hunter, who accessed the road in four-by-fours, the only other creatures around were mountain goats following our shoot curiously. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather and team up with local mountain experts who know the region and its weather.”

The Climb is part of a series Hafzoo has produced for Garmin’s Winter Training campaign.

Credits:
Client: Garmin
Agency: Make Studio, London
Art Director: Chris Bainbridge
Producion/Service Company: Hafzoo, Austria
Director: Andreas Hafele