The Citi bank commercial

Has anyone seen the new Citi bank commercial? The one with the couple climbing and the woman standing on the top-rock. Do you climbers think it was a "green screen" thing or a real image? The one thing I notice is how her hair isn't moving at all while the helicopter filming is going around her.

It is one of the coolest commercials I have seen in a while.

Visually very striking. As for the green screen, who knows? In the real world, her coiffure would be a bit disturbed....

I googled the commercial and came across this via a rockclimbing forum.

"isutrickster Answered:
The commercial features two real life professional climbers: Katie Brown and Alex Honnold. They are not "actors" nor "stunt" people. They are both very accomplished in the sport of climbing and arguably some of the best in what they do.
The "narrow pile of rocks" is not a pile nor a stack of large boulders. It is a single rock formation. The formation was shaped from 100s of years from wind blowing sand across and around the spire in the deserts of UT. If you look closely in the commercial, there aren't cracks or gaps between the bulges.
This is real. The use of ropes and gear ensure the safety of the climbers. Her standing on the top is not uncommon when climbing spires such as these. Honestly, Citi bank probably saved money on insurance by using professional climbers rather than stunt people. Climbers are used to the heights and the exposure of the climbs. Therefore, Citi banks is using people more accustomed to these situations and decreased the overall risk of the situation. Plus, since they are well known individuals in the sport, Citi avoided the backlash from the climbing community as a whole for using stunt people or non-real life climbers…
Pull up youtube and put in these climber's names to see videos of their exploits. Or do a search on their name and "climbing" in google and read up on their accomplishments. Pretty impressive stuff.
I've also included links to pages with pics of climbers standing on spires…
-Good luck.

I even found this on SummitPost.org...

"Oct 15, 2011 1:00 am
Hi there... I'm a casting director in Los Angeles and am working on a Citibank commercial that is going to be shooting in the Utah Moab area - specifically Fisher Towers.
We are looking for male and female Trad Climbers that are familiar/comfortable with this area, or are at a level of climbing where this area would not be a problem, even considering the bad rock in the area.
We would need your name and contact info, a little bio about your Trad climbing experience, and some photos or video of you rock climbing (please make sure we have at least one shot that just shows your face clearly - doesn't have to be a rock-climbing shot).
We will be having a meeting with the director on Thursday 10/20, and this shoots in the Utah Moab area from 10/28 - 10/29. If you do not live in the area, travel would happen on 10/26 to Utah, and 10/30 return.
This is a SAG union job (you do NOT have to be in the union to do the job) so it will be a very well paying gig for whoever they hire.
Please email me if you are interested or know someone that would be good for this spot at shanecasting@mac.com.
Thank you!

I wouldn't separate "stunt people" from "real climbers." I used to work in the film biz. Stunt men and women often have a lot of different skills, climbing, in some instances, being one of them.

As for the helo shot, it doesn't look like it was anywhere near the spire-done most likely with a gyro-stabilized camera with a long lens, like the ones used on news helos. The commercial was shot by Sender Films, they have a Facebook page with some chatter about it.

btw, I started a thread on Alex Honnold a while back. He was featured on 60 Minutes for his solo free climbing accomplishments.

the spire itself is known as Ancient Art. ( 5.11B or 5.9AO). FA 1967.

http://images.summitpost.org/original/509346.JPG

http://www.summitpost.org/ancient-art/509337