Please understand

That people watch ski movies and short edits because they find them inspiring, fun and most of all enjoyable! For a skier, watching a ski movie makes you want to go and ski right away, learn new tricks and progress. I makes you learn new things and pick up helpfull advice from watching the professionals at their very best.

It's much a like to football for example. Many millions of people watch football, most of which do not even play it themselves. They don't watch it for the story, or because it's nicely filmed or edited. They watch it for the enjoyment of watching a sport that they love. That is the principle behind my film.

My project

After some discussion with my teachers, I am still struggling to make them understand the aim of my project. The short 5 minute film I am creating is not your average film as it has no guided narrative or plot. Basically, my film's target audience is mostly male 12-20 year olds, with the intention for it to be hosted on dedicated websites such as Newschoolers or Downdays. Rather than telling a story, the aim of my film is to introduce people to the world of skiing and snowboarding, which in reality is much different from what they may think. It is a showcase of how the sport has progressed so dramatically in the past few years, moving it far from the stereo-typical image of what you may think skiing is about. To me and my friends, skiing is not only a sport, but an escape from everyday life, with restrictions and responsibilities. When we go skiing, we are free to do whatever we like, learn new tricks and push the boundaries of what we can achieve in places where we are hundreds of miles from the nearest mountain range. With the vast progression of the sport, the freestyle skiing industry bigger than ever before, with companies sponsoring riders and events such a the X Games bringing the world's best riders together. With it's relaxed attitude, freeskiers are more like a small community where everyone gets along and shares the same interests.

I am also considering making this more apparent within the production by including a small interview clips with riders asking them to explain what they feel skiing and snowboarding is about. However, for now I hope this has made the aims of my film more obvious.

Organisation

I am currently sorting through all the mini DV tapes I have and uploading any extra footage which I haven't already to free up some more film for tomorrow night. Heading down to the slope super early to try and get a decent setup ready to get some more shots on. Have been watching edits for the past hour as well to get inspiration, so ready to shoot tomorrow.

Boone Skis JPI submission

Team Boone Skis - JPI.5 Video Contest Edit from Martin Rubio on Vimeo.

This is exactly the kind of edit I am looking to produce myself.

Digitalism

I had a good afternoon getting some more editing done today, during which I stumbled across a song which I think would be really good to use in the edit. So, I found the bands Myspace page an sent them a quick email. Hopefully i'll get something back this time.

Inspiration

A lot of my inspiration has come from the Line Skis "Traveling Circus" short edits which document the lives of Andy Parry and Will Wesson as they travel around America skiing.

Here is a link to the video page where all the episodes can be viewed.

Music

I have been researching around for some possible tracks for the trailer, and have found some really good samples from Crystal Castles and a hiphop instrumental as well. I have contacted Crystal Castles to see about the possibility of using some of their music. I have also been browsing Myspace on the look out for some more underground artists which are more likely to give me the permissions to use their work. Samples and feedback to be posted shortly.

Editing is going well. I have uploaded over 4 hours of footage to my laptop and have been sorting through it over the past few hours. I have now almost completed the opening title sequence, so it's coming along nicely.

Adobe After Effects

I have been trying to use Adobe After Effects to do the animation and motion graphics for the OTS of my trailer, however, this is the first time I have used the programme and it is taking some getting used to.

This is the urban rail feature me and some friends hit a few days ago. Thanks to the snow lately, I have had many more filming opportunities like this to get some extra footage for my project.

Snow!

Over the past few days, the snow has given me many more opportunities to get some extra footage. Me and a bunch of friends headed out into Norwich to ride some urban features. Firstly, we made a rail jib out of a goal post on a sloped field which was really good fun, and yesterday we went into the city centre and hit up some urban street rails.
After about half hour of driving around, we found this perfect looking down rail down a 10 set of steps which we set up on and sessioned for a few hours which I got some pretty good footage from.
Tonight as well I am heading out again with the rest of the crew to film some more footage back at Trowse on the kicker and maybe make another rail setup too.

Footage and photos to be posted shortly.

Music

After some research, I have found that many of the edits I am analysing for my product research are edited to a pre-determined soundtrack. This enables the editors to cut the shots in time with the music and make it flow as a whole a lot better. I am now looking around for some music sources which are copyright free for samples / ideas. I have also been in contact with a friend studying music at university who has said I am able to use any of his music, which I am very pleased about. He has also offered me some time with him in his studio to make our own track for the edit, which would be amazing!

Planning

I am planning a few sessions with some of the best riders to try and get some high quality film for later in the week. Hopefully using the generator and lights again, if not, whilst riding this week I worked out some other angles and lighting opportunities in my mind. I will post some pictures and hopefully some more edited footage after the sessions.