Pelorus

"Pelorus is a personal story that I have grown up with. I’ve been friends with the Sigglekow family since the mid 1980’s, when Chris Sigglekow was at the height of his bungy jumping development. Now he is my father-in-law.

To tell this story, I wanted to create a distinctive sense of time and place, so it was critical to shoot on location at Pelorus Bridge in the South Island of New Zealand. Fortunately the bridge and surrounding forest has remained untouched and looks identical to how it did that day in 1979.The remote location of Pelorus river is rich in atmosphere. The soft, natural light, which we were lucky enough to shoot in, complimented the period production detail perfectly.

Dramatically, I wanted to put the audience in the position of the characters around Chris. To create tension and suspense, I adopted an almost documentary approach to the camera work that aimed to keep the audience in the moment and unsure of what is coming next." 

-Driector, Alex Sutherland