Adventure travellers, Blake Thornton and Matt Gilsenen seem to have it all figured out. Despite holding down jobs, the duo has spent the last decade journeying to some of the most spectacular locations on earth. Before COVID clipped their wings they ventured to Iceland, Tahiti, Alaska, Canada and New Zealand, putting in plenty of miles in Oz between trips OS. Sensing their bold quests might prove entertaining for others, they kept the cameras rolling the whole way. Now, almost ten years after they started their odyssey, the duo have released their film Chase that Feeling. The movie might be the most inspiring surf/snow doco of the modern era because it’s relatable to the average human. It’s as much about friendship as it is adventure and more about having a few laughs with mates than ego maniac stunts. Enchantingly shot and deftly composed it’s a testament to the role travel plays in ejecting you from your comfort zones and redefining the way you think feel about the world.
The film is now available and is a great source of motivation for your next trip. Below, Blake Thornton reveals what went into making a film that engages the audience on a number of levels.  Â
How did you and Matthew arrive at the idea of a film about two mates travelling to a series of epic locations – surf and snow – and documenting the whole thing?
Myself and Gilso had been going on trips since we were teenagers and always had a handy-cam in tow to document our exploits. As I progressed as a surfer and Gilso took his filming more seriously and even as a carpenter we started creating some branded content edits for my sponsors like Mambo, etc. We had a month long stint planned in Mexico with the ambition to pump out a surf edit, however over the course of the month Gilso just started capturing a lot more content of the journey, people we were meeting and places we were staying. He created an edit called The Journey Begins (can be found on Vimeo). This gained so much traction so quickly that we knew there and then that people loved to see what goes into an adventure as much as the action itself. We’d always had a bucket list of locations we wanted to visit and now with the conviction of some positive feedback behind a quick edit from Mexico we created Chase That Feeling in 2012.
It was ambitious itinerary how did you come up with it?
There was a few things we took into consideration when thinking about destinations and that was that they were a little off the usual track, we could surf and snowboard (ideally), it would be a challenge for one or both of us and, as mentioned, we had to have either been there and loved it or long desired to go there. I think there is real diversity in the locations we visited.
The editing is spot on but the film is wonderfully unpretentious. It’s much more than a series of pretty pictures or just another surf film
When we set out we didn’t have a story board so to speak but we knew some of the best moments would happen candidly so we pretty much just filmed everything – haha. It was gruelling for sure as we’d be doing the filming (for our first couple of trips), labelling and foldering clips whilst on the go (which took hours) and then figuring out what the highlights were. In the end though, all that hard work made it easier for our editor, Colin Clarke, to assemble the film and search for content when needed. If we weren’t rolling the cameras constantly we would of likely missed a lot of the parts that get the audience in stitches. We were always mindful to keep it relatable and as we’re naturally humble blokes we are stoked it’s come across really unpretentious and not like a couple of spoilt eastern suburbs blokes going on holidays.
Were you conscious of inspiring others to embark on their own quests?
The idea that you can still work and be based in a big city but have this other life where you can, as the film title suggests , ‘chasing that feeling’ that adventure travel brings. The film evolved a bit from inception, as mentioned when we started we didn’t know exactly what it was but we knew there was something special there so we filmed everything. We were having such a great time on these trips and thought that was enough to show but over the years we were also going through life’s challenges much the same as everyone will throughout their lives. This was when we decided to dive a little into our personal lives (which we were extremely reluctant to at first), which included our work/Sydney careers. Once it started coming together on a timeline these personal life experiences added a depth to the film that we knew everyone could relate to. We really hoped to inspire others because the harsh reality in life generally is you have to work to live and it’s important not to get caught living to work.
There is a classic moment in the film where you are basically dropped at the top of a ridiculously steep mountain in a chopper alongside Matt (who is good on a snowboard) and a bunch of pro snowboarders. Eventually they leave you at the top with a board to make your own way down. How was that?
We definitely wanted to challenge ourselves and step out of our comfort zones. That moment in Alaska is something I’ll never forget. I had about 3 days of snowboarding under my belt in my life (two of those on Australia’s flat mountains haha). Given the company I with (Gilso as a good snowboarder and two pro snowboarders) I guess the guides assumed I was good to go but in my head I was purely there to watch these blokes. Riding mountains in Alaska is the equivalent to surfing Teahupoo. It was easily the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt in my life. There is always going to be times in life where you are scared and that fear can stop you from accomplishing a lot and there is a bunch of moments throughout the film where we are both terrified but suck it up and have a go. The outcome of me riding that mountain has to be seen.
It was almost a decade in the making by the time COVID delayed the release and you finished the post-production.We filmed over 7 years as we were self-funding the production and as most would be aware travelling isn’t cheap. Within that time period so much happened (lucky we didn’t age too bad haha) that it was actually really hard to squeeze that amount of time into a 90min feature film so what is in there is the absolute best footage and life moments we have. The film was actually close to completion right as COVID hit and we didn’t want to release it unless we could have a massive premiere with all our closest friends and family that had been aware of the film since it’s inception. That delay actually allowed us to be very meticulous with our post-production and we made Chase That Feeling the very best possible version of itself it could ever be. Our world premiere in Sydney was everything and more then we could of imagined.
In a surfing era dominated by short form clips for social media what made you decide to commit to a long-form project?
Over the course of creating Chase That Feeling there was a tonne of input from various connections. We explored a TV series, a web series, a narrated film, etc. but all along our vision was to make a movie. We knew the story we had to tell required a long form project and we certainly questioned a lot of things a long the way because when you’re immersed in something so much and know it back to front you become a little numb to it and do have reservations about how it will be received. So far the feedback we have received has been nothing short of incredible and we are stoked we decided to go down the path we did.
