DECEMBER 22, 2023 GRACE EBERT
Five years in the making, the timelapse documents the icy seizure of plants, leaves, and terrain across New York State and Montréal.
Like the seasons themselves, Jamie Scott’s elegantly shot films spotlighting spring and fall are much more vibrant and full of vitality than his newly released “Winter.” Five years in the making, the latter timelapse documents the icy seizure of plants, leaves, and terrain across New York State and Montréal. Glimmering, white snow quickly overwhelms the frigid, barren scenes, causing pine branches to droop and frost to form on every possible surface from cobwebs to waterfalls.
As entrancing as previous seasons, “Winter” zooms from wide, aerial shots to macro frames highlighting the unique patterns of individual snowflakes. Scott explains that this film was the hardest to create, in part, because of the changing climate. He says:
Twenty years ago when I moved to New York, there were several large snowstorms every year, and snow was practically guaranteed. In the last five years, there has been much less snow, and it’s become less predictable and often only for a few hours, at best. To plan for these shoots, I would look at the long-range forecasts, but it was very unreliable. Originally, I wanted to shoot the whole piece in New York City and focus on Central Park like my previous films, but I had to keep going farther and farther north. As a result, the majority of the film was shot in upstate New York and Montréal.
To ensure he could capitalize on weather events when they did happen, Scott fashioned two weatherproof boxes that housed his equipment for weeks on end. “At times, I was shooting with up to six cameras and four sliders,” he says. “I also lost two drones in the process.” […]
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