Ahead of ski season, The Meeting is returning to to Aspen for its 11th year. The event starts tomorrow and features the latest ski and snowboard films as well as big-picture discussions around the winter sports industry.
Josh Berman suffered a knee injury that would have ruined most professional skiers’ careers and turned it on its head. While healing on the sidelines, he picked up a camera and began to film his skiing friends at Dartmouth. Now he is the director of Level 1 Productions, a winter sports film company, based in Denver. Their most recent film, “Small World” will be playing at The Meeting this weekend.
The film takes place in Japan. Switzerland. Alaska. Even Minnesota. The list goes on. The globe-trotting was, in part, a theme Berman wanted to portray - just how small the world is. The crew doesn’t just film on big mountains, they also film skiing and riding on the streets, where skiers take on urban features, like stairs, playground slides and hand railings. No matter where they film, there are challenges, Berman says.
“You know we could spend hours and hours and hours on location between setting up, moving snow and dealing with lighting equipment and the camera equipment," says Berman. "Oftentimes we’ll be asked to leave. It’s a very guerilla film-making style.”
For smaller operations like Level 1, a lot of business is done without tons of legal work. No mountains of paperwork. The athletes in the films can throw their best tricks, and the cameras do the rest.
Deric Gunshor (DISCLOSURE: DericGunshor from the Aspen Skiing Company sits on Aspen Public Radio’s Citizens Advisory Board.) is senior event manager for the Aspen Skiing Company. He says the focus of The Meeting is not only to get people to discuss the snowsports industry, but to also to show films that have become a bigger marketing tool for skiing and snowboarding.
“There’s so many athletes and brands that use them as their primary platform to share their message and to document what they’re doing throughout the season that it’s really at a point at which every aspect of the industry is involved,” says Gunshor.
Though Level 1 is a Colorado company, Berman says it’s becoming harder to film in the state. The resorts have become more averse to filming on their mountains.
“They’re slightly less receptive to it now," says Berman. "I don’t know if it’s a question of marketing budgets being tighter and them having shallow snow years and other things like that. We haven’t had much luch with partnerships with Colorado resorts over the past few years”
Besides an entertaining way to spend a few hours, ski films act as marketing tools for athletes, retail shops and ski resorts. The Meeting continues until October 3rd. Patrick Fort, Aspen Public Radio News.
