We have all seen those shows on discovery that put “survivalists” in life threatening situations. We love to watch them as they fight their way out, but in addition to entraining us, these types of shows have actually taught some of us how to survive.
In honor of the Discovery Channel’s 25th anniversary, “Discovery saved my life” is an account of individuals who have found themselves placed in life threatening situations. In the midst of their trials these misfortunate people pull from the life-saving lessons they learned by watching discovery, and actually survived because of it.
Ron Hill Imagery was on the scene:
Day 1: For our first day of shooting we were heading into the mountains to film a recreation. A couple and their dog had been stranded in their truck for 9 days in a flash snowstorm. The location was accessed only by turning numerous lefts and rights marked by Google Maps as ‘unnamed road’. At one point in our out-of-bounds journey 1st AC Sara Mayer had to tell the driver, “when you see the fork in the road with a red post on the right fork, take a left.” Remote to say the least!
Day 2: For the second day of shooting we were on a closed-off run at Snowbird, creating our own mini-avalanche to simulate a Discovery Saved My Life story about a young boy who reacts quickly when an avalanche breaks. To create this avalanche we used a Snow Cat, Crafty telephoto angles and some unconventional ways of mountain a camera to a ball and then throwing it into the slide.
Day 3: For our last day our job was to recreate the story where a boy who had gone out on a lake and fallen through the thin ice. With firefighters on hand and equipped with chain saws. One poor stunt man took the dive into the icey lake so we could get our shots. Needless to say it was pretty cold, I can’t even imagine having to strip down and get in the water. All in all it took about 10 or so takes to get all the angles and shots, And at the end of the day everyone survived.
Discovery Saved my Life aired on June 18, there are some clips posted to Discovery.com.
Icy Struggle
Car Cushion Shoes
Behind the Scene Photos:
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