its all about filming, capturing, editing it all yourself...that is why you never see me in the movies, whenever I ask someone to film me it comes out looking like shit I wrote some long thing over on OTN, let me try to find it for you here it is, apparently sparked from a PM someone sent me Was responding to a PM from an english chap, wound up writing a load of stuff. Posting if anyone is interested in a read: fkin hit the wrong button and deleted your PM but i got you now... I don't know really, most of my inspiration comes from within..kind of natural, but I have gotten better over the last couple of years. With anything- just practice alot, watch alot of BMX and skate films (i guess mtb films as well, i haven't seen any recently). Do alot of filming and editing and see what people think of it, see what kind of criticizms they have and try to change what they say sucks. I like to film and edit, I don't really like to capture but it is a very important part as well. They are all 3 separate deals, all equally important and all are different...if you have bad filming you will have a bad vid, likewise if you have bad editing but good filming it wont' be that good. In the beginning shoot for OK , not great, filming editing and capturing..don't shoot for the stars, people can tell when you are trying too hard and the final product will be shit. People capture differently. Some just set it to capture and get a huge f**king file of the whole tape on their computer, I can't do it like this. I have to go through each tape and take out every part I want piece by piece. It's a great help to have multiple folders for this in premiere (i'd take a screenshot but im 2000 miles from my home computer). Sometimes I cut off stuff that I would like to use when making the actual movie and I get hosed later so capture 3-5 seconds before the move starts and end the capture 3-5 seconds after the move. It is a PITA but you get used to it. I then watch the footage a few times, get some ideas of songs in my head then listen to the songs as I'm watching the clips to see if any of them match the feel of the video..this takes forever! sometimes days for me. Once I get the song i put it into premiere and start putting clips into it. Try not to get too crazy with cross fades - this is an easy way out...it might look wierd to just jump cut between clips (no fading between them, just one screen to the next) but people wont' notice it..they will notice if you fade between everything. Put a few fades here and there to match the music or if its a continuing section. The severe basics for music choices.....fast music with fast riding (usually urban), slow music with slow riding (usually natural). Fast or decently rythmed "rock"/"alternative" for sunny day footage and slower music/hip hop for dark/dreary/rainy or night footage. These aren't concrete rules by any means but if you follow them you won't come out with crap. The best music has a nice mix of slow and fast, it is really hard to do all fast in trials unfortunately (really really hard in fact, unless its a 30 second song). Music, imo, is 75% of the video. I can't watch videos repeatedly unless I like the music; it makes it so much more enjoyable. I don't know what kind of camera you have, but hopefully its a mini DV. There are cheapo "fisheye" lenses (fake ones) that work fine, mine is a piece of shit scratched to hell. Try to get something that doesn't distort it too crazy as people complain about this for no reason. I don't know #'s or anything but just dont' get anything that looks like a peephole. When filming try to get some shots without the fisheye on it if you can, it gives a little bit of variety and most people wont notice it but its still nice to do. uhh what else... titles. Very important. Don't put some big gay thing that just pops up in the middle of the screen for no reason then it jumps to someone riding. Treat the titles like the fluffing on the cake, it makes it all look good and when treated well. I tried some wierd shit in the early ftc videos (1,2,3) where I would make a title in photoshop and then bring it into premeire. Don't do this, it really looks like shit...but mine added a little bit of intereste with the photos- the quality just comes off as shit in the end after compression etc. Try to use premiere (i'm tinkering with after effects a little these days...) to do all your titles, pick one typeface and keep with it in all your series. It's like your corporate identity- peopel will get used to seeing it and they will be familiar and happy with it. DO NOT change typeface more than twice in the same film, and if you do make sure its not a great change or there had better be a great reason for it. in/out black fades are classic and you can't go wrong with simple 2 color stuff. Look at select bikes movies, they are pretty decent at it (the big pink/black selectbikes logo staring at your face). Also at the end of videos, you can get away with using type on a clip. Take the 2006 vincent H video I made, where vince is sitting on the mountain looking across the plain. This makes for a great place to put the title and you can see how it worked just fine. I'm probably forgetting lots of stuff so pm me more questions if you like, I can't really see shit on this lcd screen so sorry for spelling problems.
