AND… ACTION!
The process of creating a mountain bike film
Concept
The MTB world is saturated with media, so you need to come up with an idea that’ll set your film apart – killer riding, stunning cinematography and a good storyline to hang it all on. A bit of comedy never goes amiss too.
Sponsorship
Unless you want to end up deep into your overdraft, you need someone to stump up some cash. For GAMBLE, Joe and Aaron got a cartoonist to sketch out a film strip that portrayed their ideas. They then flew to Interbike in Las Vegas and marketed their idea to brand managers.
Organisation
Once you’ve got your cash flow sorted, expect a headache of logistics as you scour the globe for unique locations, organise travel and accommodation for a whole film crew, tie down pro riders amid their hectic schedules and do all this while sticking to a tight budget.
The shoot
With limited time and the constant risk of bad weather, you’re under serious pressure to get the shots. Things don’t always work out as planned and you have to be prepared for that. Technical issues, crashes and mechanicals can all throw a spanner in the works and hunger can be the biggest killer of a shoot if you don’t keep the riders fuelled!
Editing & postproduction
Once the footage is in the bag, it’s back home for hours of cutting, tweaking and fine tuning. Footage from each camera will look different and may be in different formats, so it all needs to be colour graded, which is a huge job.
Sound design
You can’t expect to get perfect sound filming a bike whistle past you on the side of a windy mountain, so this is where a sound engineer comes in. They’ll improve the audio on your clips and add in sound effects where needed, as well as making sure it all ties in with the music and the voice-over track. It may sound like cheating but it’s not. Once you understand sound design, watching PlanetEarth won’t be the same again!
The premiere
After a lot of late nights and last-minute stress, your film is finally done. Roll out the red carpet, sit back and enjoy viewing your handiwork – hoping that everyone else enjoys it too!