What It's Like to Make a Surf Film Among Alaska's Volcanic Aleutian Islands

Surf films often follow a predictable formula. There's the search for waves and the riding of waves, interspersed with b-roll from exotic locations. Action reel upon action reel leaves little room for narrative. That well-used mold is set aside in "The Search for Volcano Island," a new film by Ben Weiland that follows a group of friends traveling by boat through Alaska's Aleutian Islands to a place—and a wave—that one of them saw in a film when he was a kid.

If that story sounds familiar, the film makes it clear in the first few minutes that exploring this remote chain of islands is anything but straightforward. Where a surf trip to Indonesia might begin in Bali, this one starts on a former Cold War military outpost where unexploded bombs block the way to the beach.

The rest of the two-week journey was marked by long passages between active volcanic islands in search of surfable waves none of the crew was certain would be there, dodging Bering Sea storms and killing time with games of Uno along the way. "Getting close and personal with all of these volcano islands was like stepping back in time to a forgotten world," says Nick Foster, the crew's photographer.

Making the film was another journey entirely. The role of expedition documentarian leaves no room for idle time, and Weiland and Foster spent every possible moment capturing what they saw and experienced in the Aleutians. It took another nine months in post production to take what they brought back and put it together with illustrations, animations, and an original score to turn it into "The Search for Volcano Island." (The film is now screening in across the US and

The film presents a full account of the trip—and a refreshing revamp of the surf film genre—but to find out more about what went into making it we caught up with Weiland and Foster between premiere dates. They told us more about how they approached film and photography in such a harsh environment and what life on the fishing boat-turned-surf adventure vessel was like, mishaps and all.

Ben, did you go on the trip with the intention of making a film?

Ben Weiland: Yeah, I did. I got invited to join a boat expedition through the Aleutian Islands by Ricky McDevitt and his brothers, and I knew it would be an opportunity of a lifetime because these islands are so remote and hard to get to. They've barely been documented outside of scientific research and I knew whatever happened along the way would be really special. I just wanted to capture whatever happened along the way and I thought it might end up being a 25 minute film, but it ended up being twice that length.

The illustrations add a lot to the film's feel. Where did the idea and inspiration for them come from?

Weiland: I drew a lot of art pieces that my friend Jordan Sarah brought to life in animation, and the inspiration came from the old French Tin Tin comics, which were about adventure and exploration, and it had a very unique art style that I love, that I thought would lend itself well to this film. I wanted it to be imaginative, but also have a scientific feel to it to bring out some of the surrounding information about the region and the expedition.

The film's mood is cheerful, despite narrative elements like the Cold War, impending storms, and foreboding landscapes. How did you land on the tone?

Weiland: A lot of cold water adventure/surf films do tend to be very serious and foreboding and all about the harshness of the elements and the struggle against the cold, and I wanted to bring a new twist to that narrative and kind of bring out the fun of adventuring with your best friends and brothers. And I felt like the colors and the attitude of our whole crew was very upbeat and optimistic, and despite the challenges, it did feel pretty lighthearted, and that felt really refreshing to me. The story of the struggle against the elements and how ruthless that is, it's been told plenty of times.

Nick, how'd you decide what to focus your lens on?

Nick Foster: This definitely was a challenge considering the tight living quarters on the boat. We were out at open sea, never really close to land, so you had to get creative with what was happening on the boat. I focused more on the day to day life and what kept us excited as we slowly trucked along the ocean. I wanted to come home with more photos than not, so I was constantly taking photos and not really focusing on conserving the shots. The hardest part was bringing camera equipment onto land from the boat; we would wrap our gear in towels and stuff them into watertight tote bags, and then paddleboard to shore!

What cameras did you have with you, how much film did you bring along, and what kind?

Nick Foster: I brought a Contax G2 and a Fuji 645 and a bunch of different film—maybe too much! I still keep finding unused rolls in my fridge. I used a lot of Portra 400 and also had a big mixed bag of random rolls I've had for a while.

When it comes to my camera setup I typically try to keep it as simple as possible, it helps me shoot quickly on the go. These two cameras in particular were great for that.

What's the most important thing you think about, practically speaking, when documenting a trip like this?

Nick Foster: In certain instances composing a shot is necessary but I think it’s most important (with whatever you’re trying to capture) to capture it in its purest form. That is one of the biggest challenges for myself—to always be alert of the small details that are happening around me and to find myself in the best possible position to capture that moment.

Weiland: For me, I always have in the back of my mind how is any moment that's transpiring going to fit into a larger story that could be told, and so I'm always running things through that filter, like when people are talking, when people are experiencing something new for the first time, anything that seems like it could be a scene, I have to kind of anticipate that moment happening and then begin to decide how I'm going to capture that so it could actually be built into a scene later on.

There are only a few down time scenes in the film. What was life on the boat like?

Weiland: I personally don't enjoy being on small boats for long periods of time, but it was fun with the crew because we played a lot of games, and a lot of us were reading books, journaling, taking photos. We were actually traveling really close to all the islands and passed maybe 14 major islands, and so it seemed like there was always something to see out the window or from the back deck.

Nick Foster: Life on the boat was very slow. Captain Mike McCune was very cool and equally as interested and curious as we were to check out the waves and beaches, so we never went too long without touching land. We played a lot of rounds of Uno, some of us even read and finished books (that’s huge for us!), and spent a lot of time keeping Captain Mike company as he drove. The Milo had a nice deck on top of the boat and I would say that was my favorite place to be; fresh air and the open ocean, can’t ask for much more.

How did boat chores shake out?

Nick Foster: Boat chores were simple: Follow Mike's rules. One of the main and only rules was to make sure all the boards and equipment were strapped down at all times because of wind. When we came across our first glimpse of surfable waves, we suited up as fast as possible and paddled out…forgetting to strap the rest of the gear down. Captain Mike paddled out to the lineup, notifying us of our mistakes and said with a grin, “I guess we will call this spot 'Straps!'"

Weiland: Captain Mike's wife, Wendy, was with us, and she was the cook of the boat, and took care of the meals. A few times along the way we caught fish, and that was prepared, and the fish were so huge they lasted like three or four days for our whole crew. And then first mate was Scott Ryerson, and Scott took care of a lot of just the practicality of running the boat.

On a trip that seemed full of strange surprises, what was the most unexpected moment?

Nick Foster: Checking waves from a boat as opposed to land is completely opposite of each other. You could almost never really tell what waves were doing from the boat. The motto we all had to abide by was “suit up and see,” and when we did that, more often than not, it was always a great time.

Weiland: To me, the most unexpected thing was just how perfect the waves were at the location that Ricky was trying to get to. The whole film is basically about him trying to get to this island that he'd been dreaming about accessing for most of his adult life, really since he was a kid actually, and it had been extremely challenging trying to get to waves just because the access is so difficult. As it happened, when we got to that final location that Ricky was trying to get to, the waves were perfect and clean, and it was just so surreal to be in that moment surfing perfect waves underneath the shadow of a volcano. It really all came together at that last moment, and for the story it was perfect too, so I couldn't believe it turned out like that.

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