Northern Ambilights
We took a team to Norway for the most immersive trip of a lifetime. Here’s what happened
This planet is really rather magnificent. For all the cutting-edge gadgets you read about on the pages of Stuff, none (or, at least, very few) can elicit the same sense of wonder that a towering waterfall, cobalt blue lake or epic, water-sculpted canyon has the ability to.
In celebration of the launch of its OLED TVS – the only OLEDS with the uniquely immersive Ambilight technology – Philips teamed up with
Stuff to document nature’s ultimate immersive experience: the Northern Lights.
The Northern Lights is a natural wonder. Gusts of solar wind excite oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere over the Arctic Circle, causing it to fluoresce, creating washes of fabulous colour in the sky.
Our mission was to capture cinema-quality footage of the Lights and other Arctic adventures that could do justice to Philips’ OLED TVS. That meant heading into the wilds with camera equipment capable of shooting the latest high-bitrate 4K HDR, and framing shots specifically with Ambilight’s wall-filling glow in mind.
We enlisted a crack team with decades of experience in capturing the Lights and, following a web competition, recruited a pair of Stuff readers to take along for the ride.
THE TRIP
London Gatwick, circa 5am on a chilly Thursday in February. Our cast and crew get acquainted, admire the absurdly tall pile of luggage, and check out conditions at the destination. It’s not looking good: there’s heavy snow and thick cloud forecast for Tromsø, north Norway, and weather is a problem if your entire trip is predicated on getting a good view of the sky. Following a mostly uneventful flight to Tromsø, we’re picked up by tour guide Kjetil Skogli, aka The Aurora Chaser. He’s far more positive about the conditions, even as the snow falls enthusiastically outside the airport, and director of photography Alister Chapman nervously checks the shape of the auroral oval on his phone. Things could be looking better.
Later that evening we’re on the road, driving into the wilds out of Tromsø. Half an hour into the trip, we come to an abrupt halt in a siding. Kjetil springs from his seat and exits the bus, ploughing into six-foot-deep snow and -10ºc temperatures. He’s visibly excited as he returns: there’s a break in the cloud. It’s time to get out.
Looking up, we see a greenish-grey ether in the sky, arcing overhead to the shadowy snow-capped mountains behind us. As we set up the camera equipment, our eyes gradually adjust.
The green intensifies and reveals yellows, oranges, pinks and purples. It moves, waves, dancing and rippling at its curtain-like periphery. It’s majestic. Our crew captures the view as our cast soak it all in. Ȋthis is a really great show,ȋ says Alister, a veteran of a decade’s worth of Aurora-watching. Photographer Dave Stevenson concurs. “This is by far the most active Aurora that I’ve ever been under. It’s spellbinding.ȋ Our cast are near-dumbstruck. Ȋit’s so spectacular. I never expected to see this on the first night,” says Annika Summerson, our guest cinematographer. Stuff reader -ana Damanhuri is even more effusive: “It’s the most incredible thing I’ve seen in my life. I think it got brighter, like it knew we were looking at it. It’s like it was showing off.” And that’s before a firework-like shooting star lights up the sky. The following three days of the trip are filled with Norwegian activities. We journey south to go dog-sledding under a]ure skies, camp out on reindeer skins in traditional wood-fired lavvu tents, and travel into the mountains on 1400cc snowmobiles – where we experience total white-out.
The snow falls so thickly that it threatens to down the drones we’re using to capture aerial footage. ȊI literally couldn’t see 0 metres ahead of me,ȋ remembers -ana. It’s touchand-go whether we can grab the shots we need Ȋthe drone does not like snow ȋ says pilot Eirik Nicolai Heim , but we push it to the last possible moment and our bright red bikes make a stunning contrast with the pure white of our high-altitude environment. The final two days are spent on boats, sailing north out of Tromsø on the Norwegian Sea. It’s mostly plain sailing, but for a rocky period in the open water. ȊI didn’t think I get seasick – but turns out I doȋ, says Stuff reader Chai Cameronberry. It’s not just our cast who are affected. “The film crew were cracking on, which was unbelievable to watch because I couldn’t shoot anything. I felt really quite unwell,ȋ remembers Dave. The sky is white with thick cloud above, dashing any further hopes of capturing the Northern Lights during our night on the water, but the monochrome environment has its own stark beauty. The boat’s Norwegian flags and cast and crew’s bright coats provide splashes of vibrant colour amidst the grey: perfect for showing off what an HDRequipped OLED TV can do. %ack on land, we take stock of the adventure. As Annika says, “It’s been a once in a lifetime experience and I’m so pleased to have been invited”. Chai concurs. “Who the hell does this"ȋ 4uite.
THE PREMIERE
One month later, we reunite the cast and crew in London to show the footage we captured on a Philips 901F TV. This model, with its 4K HDR OLED panel and its Ambilight technology, is exactly what we have been shooting the footage for. Our aim was to recreate the experience of being on the trip as closely as possible: to take our guests back to the stark beauty of Norway, and the overwhelming majesty of the Northern Lights. How did we do" “It’s the colours. When the Northern Lights came on screen, it just looked beautiful,” says Chai. For Annika, seeing the Lights on the 901F “… was literally the part where I thought Ȇwow, this works so well’. It was very much like I was there again.ȋ The Northern Lights wasn’t the only highlight of the trip, however. After watching the dog-sledding footage, Jana says, “It definitely made me feel how I felt while I was there. The atmosphere of being somewhere so secluded and natural.ȋ
For Alister, it’s the technology that really shines. “It’s one of the best HDR TVS I’ve seen to date,” he says. “That extra spread of colours and textures on to the wall behind really added to the whole feeling that you got from watching the pictures. I’m considering getting one just to show off the Northern Lights footage.ȋ And Dave? “It looks absolutely bang-on.” Mission accomplished.