Far From Home
The premise
Meet the unlikely Olympic hopefuls.
Throughout the world, aspiring winter athletes — with little support from their countries — put their lives, financial assets, and time on the line in hopes of competing and representing their country on the most significant stage in the world: the Winter Olympics. This documentary series follows six of the world's most unlikely Winter Olympic athletes as they strive to break barriers and make history for their nations. From the Caribbean to the Himalayas, South America to the Middle East, these athletes share the dream of walking into the Olympic arena with the whole world watching as their country's flag waves above them. This is the story of their inspiration. This is their journey.
In partnership with Boardwalk Pictures & Madica Productions
- Telly Award — Gold · Web-Series
- Telly Award — Silver · Documentary Series
- Telly Award — Silver · Non-Scripted Web-Series
The work
In this six-part global series, Think Less developed, cast, packaged, sold, and executed all production, post, and delivery — helping launch a new era of Olympic storytelling through one of the Olympic Channel's first branded series.
From the Caribbean to the Himalayas, South America to the Middle East, we told the stories of athletes from unlikely nations who all shared the same dream: walking into the Olympic arena with the whole world watching as their country's flag waves above them.
A series that ushered in a new era of Olympic storytelling.
The series
The creative — our visual language
Interviews
Our main interview with each athlete was a window into the soul of our character and the bedrock of every episode — composed center-frame with double the headroom to hold them in their world.
On-Snow Competition
The moments captured during competition highlighted the unlikely countries our athletes hailed from and their natural ability to perform in a winter environment — smooth and graceful, to showcase the clarity and elegance in how they exhibit their sport.
Portraits
Cinematic portraiture was essential to the visual language — showcasing our athletes as bold, empowered trailblazers. We used a variety of gimbal systems for smooth movement while capturing portraits across every category.
Training
Because our subjects hail from countries not known for winter sports, capturing their unique dryland training — authentic to their environment and culture — was vital. We kept the training footage high-energy, kinetic, and dynamic, pulling the viewer into their world.
Home & Road Life
Slower, more relatable moments. A fly-on-the-wall approach — our athletes interacting with the people, items, and places of their everyday life — shot handheld for subtle, organic movement.
Culture
Visuals of our athletes' cultures symbolized the relevance of the Olympics to the challenges of today's world — scenics that paint the landscape, faces of the locals who make up the community, the culinary taste of each country, and the unwritten rules of working together.
The Challenge
We faced the unique challenge of conceptualizing and selling a high-volume, global content series to the Olympic Channel. "Far From Home" aimed to spotlight the underdogs of the Winter Olympics — athletes from countries without the infrastructure to support their winter-sports ambitions.
The logistical puzzle was immense. We were tasked with delivering a vast amount of content from around the globe while crafting a creative narrative around each athlete in an embedded style — venturing to their home countries, capturing their personal lives, and following them through training and the Olympic qualifiers.
The challenge wasn't just the volume and geographical spread, but maintaining the authenticity and cinematic quality of each athlete's story — ensuring every film represented not only the athlete but their country, across three different formats for mobile, digital, and linear television.
The Concept
The Olympic rings are more than a symbol of athletic prowess; they represent the triumph of the human spirit. The 1988 games introduced us to Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican Bobsled Team — underdogs who became household names without ever reaching the podium. Their stories reminded us that our circumstances don't define our dreams.
In "Far From Home," we spotlight six such underdogs — athletes from countries without snow, let alone the infrastructure to support their winter-sports dreams. We set out to capture their journeys in the six months leading up to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, weaving narrative storytelling with authentic documentary filmmaking. Our team spent 18 days with each athlete, journeying to their home countries to capture their lives and following them as they trained and competed in the qualifiers.
The Edit
We believe the magic of editing begins in pre-production. Our roadmap for the story was laid out in a series treatment, which our editors used as their guide.
Each day of shooting was followed by dailies. From these we assembled sequences of vérité dialogue and selected b-roll, transcribed the dialogue, and built paper edits following the structure of the treatments. As we shaped the rough cuts, we held weekly viewing sessions with the director and key creatives to gather feedback.
In color, we stayed true to the natural hues of our vibrant shooting locations — capturing the authenticity of these places and the people who call them home.
Shot on location in
- Shiraz, Iran
- Tehran, Iran
- Albertville, France
- Oberstdorf, Germany
- Steg, Liechtenstein
- Arezzo, Italy
- New Delhi, India
- Manali, India
- São Paulo, Brazil
- Kingston, Jamaica
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Seoul, South Korea
- Lake Placid, New York
- Park City, Utah
- Calgary, Canada
Not only has the show reached over 9M unique viewers, but we've heard nothing but glowing reviews internally from colleagues who have been wowed by the brilliant footage and inspiring profiles. Suffice to say the Olympics — and these Olympians — are now top of mind for millions of Snapchat users around the world. Gold medals all around.