Fluid Kayaks Team

The first week of August was spent shooting a DVD in the Hautes-Alpes, France. This DVD should be distributed widely accross Europe in spring 2009.

The readers of French Canoe-Kayak Mag had the chance last year to get a free DVD along with the mag, presenting some of the classic runs of the Hautes-Alpes in a 20-min movie. Those familiar with the Hautes-Alpes, and especially the Durance area between Briancon and Embrun, know how wonderful the place is for spring and summer paddling.

So once again I was hired by the Tourism Board to shoot a movie to be released next spring. Most likely the movie will be widely distributed: in France of course, but also in the Netherlands, the UK and Germany. More info about distribution in the coming months!

After the "road-movie" format of the first DVD, we decided to bring even more added-value to this second movie. So apart from neat action shots and fantastic scenery, viewers will also enjoy some instructional content. From flatwater to class V, the Hautes-Alpes will content any paddler and that's what we wanted to show. However the instructional sequences are mostly aimed at intermediate paddlers, covering the principles and skills needed to get your technique to the next level.

Fluid paddler Valentin Grollemund came to help me out with the shooting, and brought his young brother Gauthier too. They were very helpful over the week, even if most of the time bored while I was setting up cameras and stuff. This resulted in a few silly pictures of this kind:

Welcome to the dark side of filmmaking... ;-)

Apart from setting up cameras and talking in front of the lens, we actually paddled down a few rivers.

David in the Spice, in the St Clement course:

Val on the Triple Chute rapid on the Guil:

I also put to test one of my latest acquisition, a wireless microphone. I put the transmitter in a dry bag, while the mic itself was safely contained in... a condom. A red one actually, to fit with my PFD and drytop. To top it off, it even had a nice strawberry flavor. This worked perfectly well, allowing me to comment my lines and strokes on some of the most famous rapids of the Hautes-Alpes. We also saved a lot of time and energy during the filming, since I was able to direct the person holding the camera from a distance, just by talking into the microphone. This didn't work the other way round, so most of the paddlers met on the river thought that I was out of my mind, talking to an imaginary friend.

All in all a nice experience, even if quite demanding since all the footage had to be shot in just one week. The week ended with the now traditional Rabioux River Rodeo. The Grollemund brothers did very well and ended up on the podium. They even placed 1st and 2nd in the C1 junior category. Well done guys, and thanks for the help!

The finals at night were the highlight of the competition, with a great atmosphere and very aesthetic show in the hole. I made a 2-min clip out of my footage from that evening, just for the fun of it. Check it out here.

David Arnaud