Marc, Andy, Woody and I filmed the last introduction shots last week. This shot happens to be the first non computer generated shot of the film interestingly enough. I don’t know the name of the street, we just drove around Prahran until we found something that looked cool. Of course the light got shitty and we had to return the next day to get that perfect shot. It was worth it. I will never get tired of pointing a 50mm lens at an elm tree leaf in an Autumn sunset. Yeah, I’m a geek.

After weeks of editing we are finally getting to the point where we can lock away some dates for the film’s premiere. There are still some details that need to be worked out, but the dates and venues are locked away. Please check back for more information as we sort it out. Each premiere is being supported by a local shop, so you can also check in with them for more details.

UPDATE: Parramatta showing added!

May 7th, Parramatta, NSW. 18+. Supported by ESS Boardstore.
The Roxy, 69 George Street, Parramatta.
Doors Open @ 7:00pm

May 7th, Central Coast, NSW. All ages. Supported by ESS Boardstore.
Entrance Cinema, 54 The Entrance Road, The Entrance.
Doors Open @ 7:00pm

May 9th, Prahran, VIC. All ages. Supported by Trigger Brothers.
29-31 Macquarie Street, Prahran.
Doors Open @ 7:00pm

May 17th, Brisbane, QLD. All ages. Supported by SnowBiz.
Metro Arts Building, 109 Edward Street, Brisbane.
Doors Open @ 7:00pm

Drew, Woody and myself have all had very little sleep or sunlight over the last two weeks or so. We’ve logged over 1TB of HD footage and are now putting parts, stories and intro’s together. Tonight Drew’s working on the 3D compositing of the titles (in After Effects), Woody was working on the particle system proof of concept for the sponsor logos (in After Effects) but I beat him to it (with Motion). Now he’s working on the fun Northstar part and I’m putting together rider’s parts. I just watched ‘Picture This’ again and am all depressed. I think I need to do some re-edits. Now I know you all want a trailer. It’s just we need to finish a rough edit of the entire film before we can do that (to meet deadlines for DVD duplication). The 3 of us have been working 18 hour days for weeks, it’s coming, so thanks for being supportive. I’m stoked, it’s looking good.

Woody got to do his Lost Photos update so here’s mine. These are the shots I had left on my camera from the last two days of Tahoe and the trip home. There’s some photos here that hint at one of the best shots from the video. I’ve hinted at it before but I never wanted to show the setup because it’s so good. But hey, if you’re still reading this blog two months after we started writing it you deserve it. There’s also some photos from our day of shooting the rest of the intros. We shot Nate and Jake in Utah if you missed that update.

So it’s all done, filming is a wrap. Damn it went quick, let me say it is not easy to film a solid vid in 6 - 8 weeks, but I must also say that I am pretty stoked on what we have come away with, I cant wait for you all to see it. So on that note I had better get back to editing… But in the meantime enjoy these left over photo’s from the Tahoe part of the trip. Also whilst I’m here I gotta thank everyone involved with the trip both in Australia and USA!

I picked Rick and Woody up from the airport this morning and which means we have officially finished principle photography of the film. The guys both looked pretty beat and hungry (Rick asked if I was going to finish the sandwich I had in my hand!). We have spent the rest of the day looking over footage and I’m pretty impressed with what the guys have done, I think you’re going to freak out when you see it. Stay tuned for more photos and some footage is coming soon!

Last night we were up until 3am. I was in gum boots standing in knee high frozen water whilst Eacott had his generator stolen by some whoremouth’s. Oh and we had to get our windscreen replaced (no, we can’t fit 12 feet of dolly tracking inside the car). It was a rough night all around but we got some shots so it’s all in the name of the game.

The guys wanted a day off, so once again Woody and I got our shovels together and started digging. Jake went to get Tom whilst Woody and I learnt how to build jumps by moonlight. It’s easy when fueled by a fair amount of frustration. Two days later when we came back to mine and Woody’s jump we discovered the wind had pushed it over. So bummed! So this time everyone pitched in and we got it built quick smart. And yes, Charles brought his rake… This jump was the biggest we’ve hit since we started shooting. I must say it really is a good office; standing shirts off in the brilliant Tahoe sunshine hitting jumps.

Lensman Liam Kaska was kind enough to give me some of his happy snap photos from our night at the Rhythm Section. I don’t want to caption any of them as I might spoil the footage for you. See if you can work the camera and lighting setup out…

Now I must say that we can’t take all of the credit for this spot. I saw that someone had already built a rhythm section here before. We built it back up again with an hour or two of shoveling. Still, I think it was the Rome guys that did this first but that’s just an uneducated guess. Anyway after Woody and I had finished building that other jump for the guys, Jake, Tom, Eacott, Johnsy, Liam Kaska, Woody and I got our rhythm on (Gus needed his beauty sleep after belting himself on some jumps the day before). Tom was the expert in building the doubles (I think there’s a bit of BMX in him) and Jake got just about every trick possible. Eacott was kind enough to lend us his lights which Woody promptly reversed over with the car. We wrapped at close to 7am but not after draining one of the generators and getting our pyro on… But I bet you already guessed that.