BEN PRITCHARD
FILMING THE IMPOSSIBLE!
BEN PRITCHARD
FILMING THE IMPOSSIBLE!
BEN PRITCHARD
FILMING THE IMPOSSIBLE!
About Ben
Ben Pritchard
Ben has worked in broadcast television for over 10 years and won The Guild of Television Cameramen Award in 2012 for his work on ‘The Great Climb’ which also won a Scottish BAFTA.
Ben’s camerawork has contributed to films winning multiple awards including ‘Best Climbing Film’ at Kendal in 2000 for ‘Blood Sweat and Bagels’. It went on to win over 10 international awards. In the same year he directed and shot ‘Splinter’ which won ‘Best Short’ also at Kendal.
His film about John Gaskins in ‘Stick It’ won ‘Best Climbing Sequence’ at Kendal in 2001.
More recently Ben co-directed a film for CBBC about Ella Kirkpatrick climbing El Capitan in California. It was part of the “My Life“ series on CBBC and received a standing ovation at Kendal 2013.
In 2012 Ben shot ‘The Dragon’s Back Race’ which won ‘Best Running Film’ at Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and ‘Best Film’ at Graz along with four other international awards.
Filming at the Sharp End
The first big job I got was shooting on El Cap for Channel 4. Rich Heap of Slackjaw invited me along to be the climbing cameraman. The resulting film ‘Blood, Sweat and Bagels’ won many awards and is considered a classic of climbing film making.
Since then, I have shot for many tv shows including The Extremists C4, Coast BBC, Jack Osborne; Adrenaline Junkie ITV2, Climb Britain with Julia Bradbury (‘ A triumph for everyone involved’ The Guardian), BBC 2s Men of Rock, and an award winning show for CBBC ‘The Big Climb’ in which i directed and shot the climbing segment of the show.
I was a cameraman on ‘The Great Climb’ a live HD broadcast from Sron Ulladale in the Outer Hebrides. It won a Scottish BAFTA and we won a Guild of Television Cameramen Award - ‘Best Extreme Camera’
I have continued my collaborations with Rich Heap, most recently as cameraman on his multi award winning film of the 'Dragon’s Back Race’, and his fiction debut ‘Twine’.
In 2014/15 I worked with Alleycats and The One Show shooting Alex Jones climbing in Zion for Comic Relief and director/shot a ski journey across Norway ‘in the footsteps of the Heroes of Telemark’ with Andy Kirkpatrick.
Skills
1Cameraman
I've been working as a cameraman for over twenty years, establishing a reputation at one of a select few who can safely work in the most extreme environments on earth, from jungle and desert, arctic to massive big wall. As a leading UK climber I bring a lot of skills to high angle and high risk filming jobs, work were few other cameraman could bring back the goods.
I’ve also worked on other high risk projects in urban environments (such as filming on the tops of moving subway trains), as well as more sedate projects.
2Directing
Working in extreme environments, where the only crew member is myself has helped develop my skills as a director (it seems most directors seem to be afraid of heights), and I have directed a number of projects which have included:
- Splinter - Slackjaw film, best short film Kendal Mountain Film Festival
- Stick It - Slackjaw Film, best climbing sequence KMFF
- The Big Climb - Alleycats for CBBC (climbing sequence director)
- X-Box to Ice - Alleycats for The One Show
3Editing
I have been an editor for as long as I have been a cameraman and have cut thousands of hours of footage in FCP and Premiere Pro