Two of Toronto’s most respected and mysterious photographers have just fallen a short film spinning on the head with four daredevils who, like themselves, have an appetite for aerial adventure – the kind of adventure that makes most people’s palms sweat at a glance.
Tom Ryaboi, also known as his Toronto Roof Topper, and Ernest Emmond, who lives off the grid, have been working on their new film since 2015. “The wind up there. ‘
The track includes two local base jumpers (anonymous, but infamous) and two “urban free climbers” whose actions are highlighted in the film with stunning shots of the city skyline from all angles. near, far, at sunrise, at sunset, when it is cold, when it is hot, when it is clear, when it is cloudy …
Toronto is breathtaking in gloomy weather when shot over the line of the cloud.
In just two minutes and 45 seconds, the movie is a must see (which you can really find time to watch) for fans of this beautiful city. And viewers will see a side of Toronto they have never seen before.
“We really wanted to connect the city through the visual arts, so we thought about how we could tell the story in a fluid way from one scene to another,” Ryaboi said. award-winning photographer and cinematographer, on blogTO on Tuesday.
“This city has so many wonderful corners and it can look so different overnight. We really left so much on the cutting floor.”
But it’s not the stunning Toronto Center shots from above that focus here: Instead, Ryaboi shifts the focus to the film’s human issues when asked about his latest work.
“I think the goal of any narrator is to make people feel something when they see their work. We are no different, we wanted to show the city to a people who have never seen it before, and perhaps appreciate it,” he told blogTO.
“Eventually we would like to make a longer narrative piece. As fascinating as the visuals are, we think the stories behind the people in the film are much more interesting.”
These guys are crazy, they have been watching their adventures for years.
The wind up there https://t.co/BNl4SsCDE0
– Ryan (@darklytetv) November 23, 2021
He is not wrong – the four brave souls that appear in the film are interesting in themselves. They do things that most people would never dream of doing. The kind of things that some people see in their nightmares.
Two of the themes jump from incredibly tall buildings with parachutes for fun. The other two industrial scale cranes for capturing unique images. Also for fun.
What they all have in common – along with Ryaboi himself and Emond – is the tendency to ascend to heaven with their own hands and feet.
To put it simply, these guys are all bad, and the fact that they do none of these things for influence makes this claim even more accurate.
“They do not do this for likes and reports,” he says Ryaboi of his anonymous subjects. “Most of them do not use social media and their motivations could not be further from them.”
“The air up there” will be released tomorrow, November 23.
Here are some screenshots pic.twitter.com/JseGEcOayM
– Tomryaboi.eth \ οροφή (@roof_topper) November 22, 2021
“When climbing, I always feel terrified and excited. The challenge is to find a balance between these extremes,” says one of the film’s urban climbers, a college student who points to Edward.
“On the most difficult ascents I sometimes talk to myself out loud, asking myself how I could be so reckless with my life. Overcoming this stress is part of the experience for me.”
The other climber, Brad, is a little more zen by climbing cranes and risking his life.
“You lean into this state of flow and your whole body gives you hand to hand, foot to foot,” he says. “A thought will pass through your mind occasionally, but I will just let it pass.”
Ryaboi and Emond say it was “refreshing to film people with very different motivations” in an age of “obsession” with “likes”, “shares” and “references”.
“When our lives are so preoccupied with the act of contemplation and the perspective of other people’s experiences, life at the moment has become almost ironic. It is romantic on social media, but so few people actually apply it,” the filmmakers say.
While the police may condemn the actions of the urban jumper, most Torontoans can only be impressed by their boldness and bravery. Image via The wind up there.
The piece was also inspired by the city itself and the idea of what urban environments mean to people both now and in the future.
“With The Air Up There we really wanted to explore the human relationship with the city, both physically and metaphysically. It is estimated that 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2040,” Ryaboi and Emonds told an artistic statement for their movie.
“How did we make this transition so quickly after spending tens of thousands of years living in rural and nomadic communities? We thought about what it means to be a product of the modern city and the impact this lifestyle has on our lives. Nature …
“Ultimately, we wonder if this monumental change in habitat has resulted in us losing something along the way or if it is still within us, waiting to wake up.”
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