Candide Thovex: legend. The French skier’s latest cinematic marvel was released today, and it’s the most epic action sports video of all time. Of. All. Time.
Thovex, now 35 years old, made a name for himself after releasing a seriously viral video in 2015. Just our own article sharing the video has been viewed over 2.3 million times. In his latest, Thovex forgoes the comfort of snow and takes up what is called “freeriding.” This freeriding takes him on a journey across the globe to sans-snow areas in Europe, Asia, and America.
While Thovex took care of the jaw-dropping action, the film crew had their hands full with producing a video that would be worthy of the skills witnessed. They endured profusely sweaty days in the jungle and equipment-damaging conditions at the dunes. In the end, it’s my opinion that they really nailed a high-quality look to the video and all of their wildly stressful shooting conditions were left behind the lens, allowing the viewer to enjoy four and a half minutes of seamless amazement.
It wasn’t until halfway through the video when I realized there wasn’t even a backing soundtrack. It’s a testament to how engrossing the visuals and sheer athleticism of the video is. And once I realized this, I understood that music could only lessen the rawness of sound coming from each unique terrain. What an incredibly keen decision in postproduction that was.
[via Candide Thovex and Audi]
three thoughts:
(1) You were not lying—one of the most amazing action videos I've ever seen
(2) I didn't know that you could ski on those surfaces
(3) it's Gymkhana—ON SKIS!!!
Felt weird having to write such a superlative, but it really is that good.
action—definitely, but motorsports... I have to give it to "Kenny from the Block".
Agreed! lol, but gotta post the LA Gymkana 7 because mustang and because LA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qanlirrRWs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpB25Cn-vXA
Can't wait till the new one. I think, for me, the mustang just blew me away because it was a whole new take on a classic, and also the nostalgia of seeing places that I work by was so cool. I'll have to check out the SF one to see if I can see my old law school.
Beautifully done!
That MFer skied the G-D Great Wall of Effing China. And I'm pretty sure he slalomed through the slave quarters on Tatooine at one point. Holy hell, that was great. I loved the minimalist sound design, too. Great video. Would love to see a BTS of how they did it.
breathtaking !!!
I cannot imagine the location scouting job and permits inquiries on this one !!!
The great wall! good god!
I registered on this site just to post ‘Wow’ and thanks for sharing!
This was amazing! So refreshing to see this type of video without a soundtrack. Just the sound of the skis and some ambience. Love it.
I agree the lack of music makes it so much better with that audio they captured.
You were not lying—one of the most amazing action videos I've ever seen !!
very cool yes. but not the best ever. not sure if ken blocks fall into the action sports category but i like them better. i think his san fran was the best one but the new climbkana one at pikes peak is pretty sweet.
Foley artist: "You want me to do what?"
My mouth was open the whole time. This is stuff of dreams. Epic
The drone work in here is unreal
I guess those skis were rentals; probably the ones I will get next time.
Hahaha this gave me a good laugh
Here is the Behind The Scenes of the first quattro video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED2eFgmvO5E&list=PLZA9tGPZIL7cxGzXsj6lKI...
And some info on the video. BTW, the skis are his off the rack pro-model on Faction. 15 pairs used for the whole shoot. Only had to throw one away. The rest just reconditioned and good to go. As for riding them on all the different terrains, it's all a question of what wax to use! http://www.audi.com/en/innovation/quattro/ski_the_world.html