Ramiro Civita achieves the best portrait of Patagonia with ARRI Alexa in 'The Winter'

The award-winning film was filmed in extreme conditions in Argentine Patagonia in 2.39:1 scope format with an Alexa EV Classic camera in ProRes 4444.

The Argentine director of photography, Ramiro Civita, used the ARRI Alexa for the filming of winter, a film directed by Emiliano Torres produced in the imposing but hostile landscape of Argentine Patagonia, which earned him the jury prize and the “Silver Shell” for Best Photography at the 2016 San Sebastián Festival.

With a long history in the film industry, Civita (ADF), has worked with Torres on numerous projects since they began their collaboration on the filming of Olympus Garage (1998).

Shot in the province of Santa Cruz, in the south of the country, the film tells the story of an old ranch foreman who every year welcomes a group of workers to start the sheep shearing season. This year, the old man will be fired from the ranch and replaced by a young laborer from the north. The change will not be easy for either of them.

"We filmed mainly in a ranch, located an hour's drive from El Chaltén. Some additional scenes were filmed in El Calafate and Río Gallegos. Filming was carried out in two seasons; winter, which took two weeks, and summer, which took four weeks to complete," details Ramiro Civita.

"Anyone who has visited Argentine Patagonia can agree that the beauty of the landscape is overwhelming. The production spared no effort to reach the most distant places to give us the landscapes we needed for our scenes during the winter since, in addition, snow had been quite scarce in the area during the previous year. We were very lucky with the rest of the scenes," explains Ramiro Civita.

The environment played a leading role in both the story and the production, for which the chosen equipment was key. He explains: “The film was shot in 2.39:1 scope format, which allowed us to reflect the wonder of the landscape, with the Alexa EV Classic camera and we shot in ProRes 4444. We were a small group and we needed to work quickly and stay light because, as you can imagine, carrying equipment up snow-covered mountains is no walk in the park.”

Being so far from any equipment rental house, you had to consistently rely on the quality of the cameras. "The main location was in a very remote place so we had to rely on a very consistent camera. Luckily, we never had problems with the Alexa but working in such a cold environment put a really heavy load on the batteries," adds the director of photography.

Filming in extreme conditions

“We didn't have to do any special preparation, although we did ask the elements for mercy, since Patagonia is known for its harsh conditions, and I can now attest that that myth is true,” he says. "We try to capture the essence of the landscape and its people in the best way. I think we have portrayed a minimal part of what it really is. Fortunately, what remains to be captured is infinite."

This is not the first time he has worked with ARRI. Ramiro Civita already knows about the strength, durability and reliability of the Alexa line, with the guarantee of ARRI behind it, a company with a hundred years in this industry. Nor will it be the last: “I am currently shooting a feature film in southern Italy with two Alexa

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