Dangerous & Fast
By Alixandra Rutnik on Jan 26, 2023
The making of ONE Screen winning short film Black Ice
It’s winter in New York City, slipping on black ice happens. It might cause you to starfish on the icy sidewalk moments after you fall and leave you with a nasty bruise. Or drive your taxi off the road. Or countless other slippery scenarios that will send you flying while your fellow New Yorkers walk right on past. But imagine slipping and sliding on ice as a sport– sliding down an ice chute head first, going 90+ mph. “I am Black Ice. Dangerous and fast,” says the first Dutch-Ghanian Male Skeleton Olympian, Akwasi Frimpong.
"I am Black Ice. Dangerous and fast."
Black Ice took the winning title for best production in the craft category of the The One Club for Creativity's annual Short Film Festival– One Screen. The winning shorts of One Screen 2022 are incredible, and the making of Black Ice is a story that needs to be told.
Akwasi’s story inspired the Black Ice documentary for sports brand ON Running, because as an Olympic athlete his perseverance and resilience are unparalleled. He started his Olympic dreams as a sprinter training for the 2012 Olympics, then he blew out his achilles. While he recovered, he went to college in Utah to pursue a business degree and also discovered skeleton racing. He competed in skeleton in the 2018 Winter Olympics but came in last place. Akwasi started training for the 2022 games, and just before he made the cut, he got COVID and was ultimately disqualified from competing. But his story doesn't end there.
Most recently, Akwasi has been completing the qualifications for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and has been ranking very high on the charts. Black Ice takes us through Akwasi’s Olympic hero narrative via a graphic novel. “I wrote the script in the language of a graphic novel and developed the frames with Illustrator Dean Mortensen. We used the novel as the storyboard for making the film and as a physical prop for the child actors to read,” Director and Writer of Black Ice Richard Bullock explains. The documentary is layered with hand-drawn animations and images that truly enhance Akwasi’s story.
There were so many hands on deck when it came to making this film. Not to mention, everyone on the team was navigating the difficulties of COVID surges, contracting COVID, travel bans, etc., in the middle of the pandemic. Producer Hannah Stone from Hungry Man was running the shoot in South Africa. Richard developed the ideas while his good friend and Animator, Brett McManus, sketched the animations for the piece. “The animation played a crucial role in telling Akwasi's incredible story, which led me to be heavily involved in the live-action shoots. I had the opportunity to scout locations and be on set, which enabled Rich and me to make quick decisions that streamlined the post-production process, and allowed us to plan for animation and match shots seamlessly,” Brett states.
Andrew Holmes, Lead Editor at Heckler, crafted and pieced together the puzzle of archive, animation, and live action footage. “As an editor, I was inspired by Akwasi’s resilience and optimism. I think we all took something positive away from the experience. I loved shaping this film because it brings the pages of a graphic novel to life through the eyes of the children it aims to inspire,” Andrew adds.
"I loved shaping this film because it brings the pages of a graphic novel to life through the eyes of the children it aims to inspire."
The whole team was working together across six different time zones (UK, AUS, NZ, SA, Central European Time, & LA), flying back and forth and having creative brainstorms at all hours of the day. Everyone kept in touch via What’s App (including Akwasi who would send photo updates of himself training, competing, and touring schools) and many chaotic yet productive middle of the night calls. “It was incredible watching Richard, Brett, and Andrew craft the film across all 24hrs of the day with creatives from all over the globe,” Coralie Tapper, Creative Producer at Heckler Sydney, explains. The Black Ice team made a lot of sacrifices to make this film happen.
"It was incredible watching Richard, Brett, and Andrew craft the film across all 24hrs of the day with creatives from all over the globe."
“In South Africa, we were challenged with massive file transfers and extremely limited internet, from Innsbruck to South Africa, to Sydney to Auckland, and then on to LA. The documentary was constantly moving and evolving,” Coralie explains. There was a moment during production when the team needed to get a shot of Akwasi zipping up his skeleton suit with studio lighting. The problem: it’s snowing outside. The answer: get in the back of the camera van with a black screen, use an iPhone flashlight, and let post-pro do the rest. “Even though it’s a documentary, there’s a lot of trickery involved– you have to be resourceful in moments of adversity, much like Akwasi's journey. Searching for the missing parts of the story and filling the holes with archival and animation allowed Richard to be creative in all forms. Post-production is problem solving at its core, and I’ve really loved that element of facilitating the craft,” Coralie says.
Magic is always happening over in the Sydney post-production studio. Composer Dustin Lau invited Vocalist Ngoni Ugwuanyi to be featured on the film score for Black Ice. “I will never forget sitting in the sound studio with Richard and the team at Heckler Sound, hearing Ngoni’s voice layered into the score for the first time. It felt like the whole room opened up,” Coralie explains. “Nothing was planned or orchestrated in that way. It was just a really organic manifestation of the creative. And that’s the beauty of post-production– the world where everyone’s talents and passions come together. There’s something magical about piecing everything together and watching it at the end, knowing it's landed in exactly the right place,” she continues.
"That’s the beauty of post-production– the world where everyone’s talents and passion come together. There’s something magical about piecing everything together and watching it at the end knowing it's landed in exactly the right place."
At the end of the film we hear Akwasi stating that he was no longer dreaming this Olympian dream just for himself, but for all of the children of Africa. Reflecting on the film as a whole Andrew declares, “we found and built the story arc around Akwasi’s journey, Africa’s one and only Olympic Skeleton racer, which was forged by his resilient spirit and ultimately transformed him into a symbol of modern Africa.” Akwasi is a force to be reckoned with– he is Black Ice, dangerous and fast indeed.
Even though there were so many moving parts, the whole team loved making this film. Brett concludes, “working on this documentary was a truly fulfilling experience. The project offered the perfect combination of a great creative vision, a talented team, and a fantastic client.”
Thankfully, Richard has a close relationship with Swiss client On Running (best sneakers ever!), so we will all have to wait and see what the next rumored athlete story will be. And if it’s anything like Black Ice, we know it will be phenomenal.
Akwasi and his wife Erica launched Hope of Billion Foundation, a non-profit that encourages kids in underserved communities to dream on. To support this initiative and learn more please visit the link below.
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