Hacker News Reader

Comment by skilled | Hacker News Reader

The people who made the film did an exceptional job. My palms were producing buckets of sweat just from watching.

How they filmed "Free Solo"[0] was also pretty incredible. They had to assemble world class videographers who were also world class climbers. As you can imagine, it's a very small group of people!

0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtnjRoDa71Y

Today a bunch of drones would be sufficient I guess?

Way more disturbing for the climber. Also, it's not always just about the end result.

The movie is only a few years old, so drones were already a solution back then.

They did not use them because of the noise. Being filmed while climbing was already disturbing for Alex, so drones making a lot of noise was a no go.

Prohibited in Yosemite, maybe all National Parks. This doesn't stop everyone though.

It’s possible to get a filming permit for one. There is a drone shot near the end of Free Solo.

They talked about using drones for his free solo documentary, but Alex was concerned about the noise being a distraction and causing him to fall off.

Watching it, I always felt for the guys filming, less about Alex. He's on his own, and he is the only one in control of his fate. Yet, they're all scattered around at various angles, potentially filming their friend fall without having any chance to help or intervene. It must be such a tense time to help out filming there. Their risk aversion is much better calibrated to it all, but seeing how most of these breath-taking record-breaking attempts are covered on camera so widely now, it can only be a matter of time until it happens.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com