Travel & Aerial — Sognefjord, Norway
North Fjord
Overview
Commissioned by a regional tourism board, North Fjord follows two paddlers across six days on the Sognefjord — the longest fjord in Norway. The crew traveled light: one cinema camera, one drone, and everything waterproofed twice.
Aerials carry the scale while water-level footage carries the effort: cold hands, long crossings, weather that changed hourly. The twelve-minute master cut screened at two adventure film festivals; ninety-second chapters fed a season of social content.
The Challenge
Weather, weight, permits
Norwegian drone regulations restrict flights near settlements and nesting zones, and the forecast offered one calm window in six days. Every flight was pre-plotted against the permit map, with backup ground-based angles for each aerial beat in case the wind won.
The Approach
Earn the aerials
The film never opens with a drone shot. It starts at water level — breath, paddle, cliff wall — and only rises when the story has earned the scale. The single most-used shot is also the simplest: a slow lateral reveal as the paddlers round a headland into open water.
Gallery
Deliverables
- 12-minute festival master cut
- Six 90-second chapter edits for social
- 30-second broadcast spot
- Stills library for print and web
- Behind-the-scenes expedition diary
Outcome
“Two official selections and a season of content from one expedition. The aerials alone were worth the commission.”
Tourism Board — Marketing Lead
