Touring - Bike Touring Movie Preview... (opinions/suggestions wanted)

Hey all,
I posted a preview on youtube of a movie I'm working on about Bicycle Touring across Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixMTu--gB2w

I'm working on putting together a proper full length documentary movie, and I have close to 20 hours of footage. The preview should give a basic idea of what the footage I have from my trip is like and some of the events that happen. I've been really struggling with a lot of things in trying to put together this movie, and I think the biggest problem I have is making it enjoyable for as many people as possible, while retaining some sort of integrity.

While I don't want to water down the thing, and concentrate on all the non-cycling stuff just to make it enjoyable for non-cyclists and non-tourers, I still want it to represent the experience of self-contained bicycle touring.

After making this 9 minute preview/trailer, I had a 16 year old friend tell me it was "boring" and that "it's basically just you *****ing about the weather". I couldn't really disagree, since he's essentially right. I explained to him that when you're on a bike all day, the wind and weather IS the biggest issue. That, and shelter and food.. and that's basically it. There are a lot of other little things that do get covered in the movie and stuff.. but it's not like I had the energy at the end of the day to go attend events in all the cities I stopped in and chum it up with locals, or even sight-seen in many of the cities I went through since I was usually camping in the bush and stuff. I did briefly meet a few people and get that stuff on tape, but when I was staying with people I never brought out the camera with them because I didn't really want to.

I guess I'm asking.. what sort of things would make sense to concentrate on in a movie about my trip across Canada? This was my first bike tour, so it was quite a learning experience. What things are important to show in the movie to someone that's already toured, and what would be good to show to someone who has never toured before?

I'm also wondering what sort of balance of talking/story vs. visuals would make sense? I know this is a hard question, and probably something I should know or figure out myself.. but it's not like I'm a trained film maker here. Would overdubbing narration be good for explaining things that aren't specifically explained by me in the footage at the time? (For example: "In the next city, I found out that the camp ground was closed because of Bears") Or would narration just cheese-ify the movie, by trying to add more to the footage than is already there and attempting to create drama and a story.

If anyone is familiar with the "Long Way round" series (motorcycles across the world), that is a pretty damn successful and nicely done thing. However, my footage is nothing like that. I'm not Ewan McGregor and I didn't have a camera crew following me and arranging TV friendly things for me to do along my trip, and I don't have some sort of editing team that can play up the emotional stuff. But at the same time, the movie obviously can't just be me *****ing about the weather.

I'm still not sure what my goal is with the movie, aside from making a nice movie that people might want to watch. I'd love to offer the whole movie online for download, and I'd also love to show it at a few film festivals or something. If people would want DVD's of it, I'm sure I could make them. If a network was interested in showing it on television or something, I wouldn't be against the idea (that is why I'm sticking to original music instead of just tossing all my favourite tunes in the soundtrack), but I don't plan on editing it with the idea of being TV friendly in mind.

Anyways, any ideas/suggestions/comments/questions would be appreciated.

Hey mike,
I loved the preview. I applaud you for making a video from your tour! As far as making the video appealing to non-cyclist, or the couch potatoe sitting at home on the internet every single day, this will not make much sense! most of them will look at your video and think you are insane for doing this. However with that said, People do love "drama". If you could add something in there to make a story line that people could follow, you may have people watching it just to see what happens to you. Some people, including myself will watch it as a Wanna-be touring cyclist, and some people will watch it just out of curiosity. I personally think you should narrate the film, and talk about the place's you visited, add in some fact's about the area and the people you dealt with along the way. This way you target the cyclist with the cycling portion of the film, and also you target the people who love hearing history of places they do not get to visit themselves. I fall in both categories, and would love to hear more fact's about your area. Also I would love to see some pain and happiness from the trip, I.E. the bad weather, the seeing of beautiful place's you would not normally see from a car, the solitude of being a lone cyclist. Either way mike, I think your on the right track, I did enjoy the trailer, please keep us updated on the release of more and Im sure you will have plenty of people viewing!
chris

Hi Mike,
I loved the preview too, it bought a few tears to my eyes and I envy you very much doing a tour like that.
I hope someday myself to ride cross the USA and maybe Canada too, but my wife and kids keeps saying NO!! don't do it something will happen to you, but I feel something just pulling on me to do it.
I would love to have all 20 hours of your video, I would even pay money to see them.
So PM me if you like and set something up with me to be able to view those videos.

Thanks
Curt

That movie what amazing... Let me know when you plan on making a full length.

Dude, that is good. I would watch other YouTube video's and pick out the editing style that you like. I read somewhere 15 sec is a good time for each little clip, but that could be one person's opinion. A cool bicycle DVD is...... Share the Road....., a trip about some college age kids that crossed America. They did a good job of editing for sure.

Can you tell me what kind of camera set up you have? What camera mount you used?

i like what you are trying to do here and i do have some suggestions for you. they are just suggestions however as you must decide the best way to create your film.

1 - i think the preview reveals too much. most movie previews are maybe a minute and a half long. some are even less than thirty seconds, but i think that is too short. the average viewer actually starts losing interest in a scene in only a few seconds unless they are really drawin in. i think your preview would be more successful if it didn't show so much of the journey and also didn't follow such a linear path. based on the preview i already know that you made it, and relativley un-scathed. if the viewer thinks that maybe you might not complete the trip for whatever reason, it keeps the ending more of a surprise and the viewer will be more likely to really want you to finish.

2 - your 16 year old friend is right. while people on this forum, as well as hikers, sailors, climbers, etc., understand the effects that weather has, most people don't really care unless you are biking through a hurricane. so maybe this doesn't need to be focused on as much. it appears that you have plenty of footage of you riding in rain and wind (which does look like it really sucks!) so viewers will get to see how bad it is. it seems redundant to also complain about it as you already look like you are having a tough time biking through it. i also noticed that the first thing you talk about, after your introduction, is about how alone you are (no people for 110K). if you have footage of that landscape where it is just YOU and NOTHING, i think that may be a much more powerful image than you looking upset in your tent.

3 - also, having on film that you entered a pay campground without paying (even though it is closed) may not be the best thing to do legally. i doubt anyone will come after you, but it is something to consider. if you use footage where you can see the name of the campground, you might want to edit that out.

some shots that were pretty good:
-rolling bike to the ocean (ATL. + PAC.)
-riding on bridge with camera pointing up
-pulling up to alberta sign
-walking on glass in CN Tower
-waving with the huge moose
-lying down on picnic bench
-riding in the wind

while i don't think that this is the case based on your preview, i think that it is important to make sure that this film does not become an ego trip. it is best to show how one person handles the tour, and not show how awesome you are for doing this. i know that reading that probably just sounded pretty snooty of me, but i have no way of explaining it better. but it is just something to keep in mind.

feel free to ingore anything i have written as they are just my thoughts anyway. keep us all posted on how the project goes. i am sure that there are people here, including myself, who would like to follow this films progress.

That was great fun to watch. I loved the footage of the giant truck roaring up behind you. I might cut our the part of you naked in the bathtub. Making a movie of your (solo?) tour was a great idea as it probobly kept your mind occupied during those long lonely miles. I could definitely see this as a nice addition to a bicycle film festival. It seems like they mostly focus and the gonzo....inacsessable aspect of cyling while your film show's that the rest of us can take on the monumental challenge of cross-continental bike tour.

Good luck and I'll watch for it in theaters

I did the same tour this summer, except I went N to Edmonton after Calgary and I took the 11 instead of the 17 through NW Ontario. We saw a lot of the same stuff man. Thanks for this, I really relived part of my ride as I watched it. Check your Private Messages, I sent you one.

For only having 20 hours of footage (like 11 minutes per day), you have a lot of good shots man. You know what you have "in the can" so you'll know the strengths and weakness of your footage better than any of us. Narration wouldn't cheapify the movie at all (I don't think you'd do a bad job considering your early edit). Dubbing in something from your journal (assuming you had one) or something from that time could offer insight into your state of mind.

Dubbing in retrospectively (if you decide to go that route) might help to explain the importance or relevance of something. For example: the importance of weather is something that could use some elaboration. In order to 'justify' the wind and rain segments, you could add in "on a bicycle, if it rains and gets cold, there is really nowhere I can go. It's not like at home, where I could sit in a car or even hide under a porch. I could probably pitch my tent but if it rains for the next three days..." or something like that. Then perhaps go on to say how, in the Prairies, the wind controls you because if the wind is a headwind, you'll go 45km that day. But if it's a tail wind, you'll go 45 km per HOUR. The wind giveth and the wind taketh away.

There are so many different aspects to touring and people experience it differently. The point is that this is your trip, so why not tell/show us what you experienced rather than worry about how we'll feel about it. For my trip, for the first 25 days, I had 22 days with rain. Like what the hell is that. I was so frustrated with always being wet, my finger prints rubbed off, everything was chaffed, everything was heavy, etc. If that was your experience, show it, don't edit it out because the audience will get frustrated. Let them get frustrated so they feel your pain.

1 - i think the preview reveals too much. most movie previews are maybe a minute and a half long. some are even less than thirty seconds, but i think that is too short. the average viewer actually starts losing interest in a scene in only a few seconds unless they are really drawin in. i think your preview would be more successful if it didn't show so much of the journey and also didn't follow such a linear path. based on the preview i already know that you made it, and relativley un-scathed. if the viewer thinks that maybe you might not complete the trip for whatever reason, it keeps the ending more of a surprise and the viewer will be more likely to really want you to finish.

Thanks for the suggestions. The reason that the preview I made was as long and didn't leave the conclusion open-ended was that this wasn't meant to be a "Trailer" type thing that purposefully leaves people wondering and wanting more. I made this so I could better show people the editing style and how I plan to tell the story in the movie, and to give them a quick preview of the footage and events that happen in the movie from start to finish. I also thought it would be good for grant applications, etc. Probably not the best thing to publicly show people, etc. But I do plan on cutting a real "trailer" type thing once the full movie is actually done. There's also quite a few problems and things that happen in my raw footage that I purposefully left out of this preview.



2 - your 16 year old friend is right. while people on this forum, as well as hikers, sailors, climbers, etc., understand the effects that weather has, most people don't really care unless you are biking through a hurricane. so maybe this doesn't need to be focused on as much. it appears that you have plenty of footage of you riding in rain and wind (which does look like it really sucks!) so viewers will get to see how bad it is. it seems redundant to also complain about it as you already look like you are having a tough time biking through it. i also noticed that the first thing you talk about, after your introduction, is about how alone you are (no people for 110K). if you have footage of that landscape where it is just YOU and NOTHING, i think that may be a much more powerful image than you looking upset in your tent.

I do totally see what you're saying here. and when I'm not trying to cram 20 hours of stuff into 10 minutes, I will definitely set up a lot of things like the "alone" thing a lot better. I see your point about it being redundant about the weather. I don't plan on dwelling on the weather bit the whole movie, but since there was maybe 2-3 really big weather incidents that happened to me.. I do plan on covering them because they meant so much at the time.


3 - also, having on film that you entered a pay campground without paying (even though it is closed) may not be the best thing to do legally. i doubt anyone will come after you, but it is something to consider. if you use footage where you can see the name of the campground, you might want to edit that out.

I understand this, and I was expecting someone to say this. I'm not sure where I stand on this quite yet. I will consider at least blocking out some details (like the name of the place(s)). But doing this tour with basically no money, I set up tent a lot of places that weren't exactly perfectly legal. It's part of my experience.. and I'd like it to be part of the trip. Touring is all about being resourceful, and stuff like this is how I managed.


while i don't think that this is the case based on your preview, i think that it is important to make sure that this film does not become an ego trip. it is best to show how one person handles the tour, and not show how awesome you are for doing this. i know that reading that probably just sounded pretty snooty of me, but i have no way of explaining it better. but it is just something to keep in mind.

This is a really great point, and it is also something I struggle with. It's hard making a movie by yourself, about yourself about something you did. I definitely don't want this to be a big ego-trip.. infact I want this movie to show that if I can do this kind of thing, anyone can.. and hopefully they'll be inspired to do so. But, I am definitely aware of the ego trip problem.. and I try my best to avoid it. That's why I suggested against narration, since having myself overdubbing talking about myself.. might be over the top. The only narration I'd consider adding is talking about the places I'm in, etc. I'm not sure exactly how to avoid this movie being an ego-trip, but it's definitely something I want to avoid. It's not snooty at all for you to say this, it's very honest.

Can you tell me what kind of camera set up you have? What camera mount you used?
I spent a few months before the trip working on this rig, and I'm actually really proud of it. It's a tripod arm mounted to the side of my bike and at the end of it, there's a little security camera. The video goes into the rear pannier and into my camcorder (just a cheap miniDV camcorder.. all I could afford). I made a lexan box for the camcorder to sit in, so if I took a spill it wouldn't get crushed. On the handlebars, I made this control box that also had microphones mounted on it. From the control box, I could turn the camera on and off and start/stop recording.

There's some pictures of it here:

http://mikebeauchamp.com/images/show.php?set=cross-canada-preparation

I have a lot of cool video shot from when I was designing and building this setup and I do plan on having it in the final movie, or at least as a bonus feature-type thing for the nerds :)


cycledreams> You're absolutely right and I will definitely be thinking along these lines when I cut the full version. I -do- want it to be something my non cycling friends can enjoy, and seasoned touring cyclists can relate to. Narration for explaining the places I'm going through, giving some history, etc. isn't a bad thing at all.

rustycool7> I love that footage of the truck too. Definitely represents that whole section of highway for me. And yes, being able to talk to a camera was a good way to stay sane when I wouldn't have anyone to talk to for nearly a week at a time. I'd love to have this in bicycle film festivals.. since I think bike touring should be represented, not just extreme stuff like you mentioned. Glad you liked the preview! As for the bathtub thing, it will be less "revealing" if I decide to crop to 16x9. But anyways, being in that bathtub (it was at my grandma's house actually) was THE most relaxing thing in the world for me at the time, so that's why it's in there. If you don't like that footage, you probably won't like the footage of when I got really sick in a rest stop washroom.. or when I got weird rashes all over my body and ended up scratching myself till I bled and had to go to the doctor. Or the time when a spider bit me on the ass in my sleeping bag.. Oh, or the crazy fungus thing I got on my leg (http://www.mikebeauchamp.com/images/cross-canada-extra/resized_rash%20006.jpg) :)


Sebach> I think its closer to 16 hours of footage during the trip, and then 4 hours of pre-trip stuff (like building the camera setup, having a few bikes stolen a few months before I left (no joke), trying to make money to actually afford the trip, etc, etc. Thanks for the encouragement about making the movie.. and I do and will end up making this movie how I want, I'd just like to get the views of others that I'd hope would also enjoy my movie. As for narration, saying something like "on a bicycle, if it rains and gets cold, there is really nowhere I can go. It's not like at home, where I could sit in a car or even hide under a porch. I could probably pitch my tent but if it rains for the next three days..." would come off as a little preachy to me.. and slightly ego-trip-ish. as someone else already mentioned, this IS something I'd like to avoid. I know the crap I had to put up with and it did suck, but I put up with it and I'm not superman or anything. I was hoping people would realize the ****tyness of the rain just by showing the clips of it being ****ty. :)

Thanks for all the kind comments on the preview thus far!

I totally hear you on the ego-tripness with the "rain" stuff. Sometimes it's really hard to convey, to those who don't know, the difficulties and challenges without sounding preachy. I guess the difficulty is in conveying the difference from our everyday experiences without.... sounding like a prick. Depends on how you show/say/talk about it I guess. The good thing about fellow tourers is that you just have to show them the footage and they'll know exactly what it means.

I loved it! Can't wait to see the finished product!

First of all good job. I too envy you for being able to complete that journey. Personally, I have made several amateurish "documentaries" and learn more each time that I do. I have also watched countless documentaries as my Tivo will attest. What I have learned the most I will share.

1. People. Despite the subject matter. People are always the most interesting part of any documentary. At the end of the day, we are all social animals and despite scenic mountains, fast race cars, antique farm machinery, etc., the most interesting thing is always the people.

If you have footage of your encounters with people along the way and your interactions with them, i would lean heavily on that.

2. Music. There is a real art to learning how to use music in a documentary. I can't say that i have mastered that but I can give you my suggestion: Less is more. There were some scenes in your trailer where the music interfered with the sound of your tires on the road etc. Let those sounds be the "music" occasionally. After awhile, music becomes unwelcome. Like I said there is an art to knowing where to place it. The main thing is to try and track your emotions as you view the video and place music accordingly.

Lastly, I might add that in your trailer, there were a lot of scenes that were cut far too short. Let the entire sequence be shown so it all makes sense and tells the story. I know that this is just a trailer and perhaps that is an effect of that.

That's all i got. Good work and I'd be very glad to see all of your footage in raw form, let alone after it is refined.

infact I want this movie to show that if I can do this kind of thing, anyone can.. and hopefully they'll be inspired to do so.

This is a great line and is sorely missing from the preview. If you are too humble it’s boring and too egotistical is a turn off, the ideal is something in-between. You documented a dream, a challenge that did not come easy but in the end doable as long as you stick to it. Don’t cut the inspiration short just to avoid being egotistical.

Mike,

I only mentioned the bathtub scene because as I watched it at work, the guy in the next cubicile looked over my shoulder just as the bathtub scene came on. He seemed to be concerned about me watching a man take a bath. It didn't bother me personally. I'd like to see all the real stuff like puking in a dirty public bathroom, open sores etc. That would be powerful in expressing the hardships encountered on a long tour.

Carry on

Hey all,
I posted a preview on youtube of a movie I'm working on about Bicycle Touring across Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixMTu--gB2w

I'm working on putting together a proper full length documentary movie, and I have close to 20 hours of footage. The preview should give a basic idea of what the footage I have from my trip is like and some of the events that happen. I've been really struggling with a lot of things in trying to put together this movie, and I think the biggest problem I have is making it enjoyable for as many people as possible, while retaining some sort of integrity.

While I don't want to water down the thing, and concentrate on all the non-cycling stuff just to make it enjoyable for non-cyclists and non-tourers, I still want it to represent the experience of self-contained bicycle touring.

After making this 9 minute preview/trailer, I had a 16 year old friend tell me it was "boring" and that "it's basically just you *****ing about the weather". I couldn't really disagree, since he's essentially right. I explained to him that when you're on a bike all day, the wind and weather IS the biggest issue. That, and shelter and food.. and that's basically it. There are a lot of other little things that do get covered in the movie and stuff.. but it's not like I had the energy at the end of the day to go attend events in all the cities I stopped in and chum it up with locals, or even sight-seen in many of the cities I went through since I was usually camping in the bush and stuff. I did briefly meet a few people and get that stuff on tape, but when I was staying with people I never brought out the camera with them because I didn't really want to.

I guess I'm asking.. what sort of things would make sense to concentrate on in a movie about my trip across Canada? This was my first bike tour, so it was quite a learning experience. What things are important to show in the movie to someone that's already toured, and what would be good to show to someone who has never toured before?

I'm also wondering what sort of balance of talking/story vs. visuals would make sense? I know this is a hard question, and probably something I should know or figure out myself.. but it's not like I'm a trained film maker here. Would overdubbing narration be good for explaining things that aren't specifically explained by me in the footage at the time? (For example: "In the next city, I found out that the camp ground was closed because of Bears") Or would narration just cheese-ify the movie, by trying to add more to the footage than is already there and attempting to create drama and a story.

If anyone is familiar with the "Long Way round" series (motorcycles across the world), that is a pretty damn successful and nicely done thing. However, my footage is nothing like that. I'm not Ewan McGregor and I didn't have a camera crew following me and arranging TV friendly things for me to do along my trip, and I don't have some sort of editing team that can play up the emotional stuff. But at the same time, the movie obviously can't just be me *****ing about the weather.

I'm still not sure what my goal is with the movie, aside from making a nice movie that people might want to watch. I'd love to offer the whole movie online for download, and I'd also love to show it at a few film festivals or something. If people would want DVD's of it, I'm sure I could make them. If a network was interested in showing it on television or something, I wouldn't be against the idea (that is why I'm sticking to original music instead of just tossing all my favourite tunes in the soundtrack), but I don't plan on editing it with the idea of being TV friendly in mind.

Anyways, any ideas/suggestions/comments/questions would be appreciated.



Yes I know about "Long Way Around" and I would love to get a copy of this once it is done. Please keep me informed of your progress!

Mike,

great work, I loved it. Everyone else's comments seemed apt, but I think if you make the completed movie to satisfy yourself you'll have done allright.

Personnally, I just love long cycling scenes with nothing but bikes and great views and the sound of the tyres on bitumen (as Portis said), but your music is ok too. Watching TdF video's very late at night after a little drink perhaps I'll turn off the TV audio and put a favourite CD on th stereo and let it rip.

I think your video is excellent. As Sholto said, while it is good to get advice, it is important to follow your own instincts. I wouldn't say that if the trailer was boring or amateurish.

I enjoyed the trailer !very goodI The part where you are alone in your tent and in an emotional voice are talking about the loneliness is very compelling and one of the best scenes in the trailer. But rather than cutting the shot from inside the tent and showing you and the bike alone on the road with the audio, as suggested previously, I would suggest leaving the tent scene in and precede it with a shot or sequence of shots of you riding alone in silence to setup the tent scene. The tent scene should also be more in the middle of the film IMO.

Absolutely great film Mike.

Not sure what to suggest since you're already doing a good job. I would add pre-tour scenes. Talk about the filming. Play with contrasts, parts with narration, others silent (like the wind). Add a little comment at the end ("this went on for x hours). Sceneries can look better in stills, so make a small slide show. Watch expedition films like National Geographic for ideas.

Hey Mike,

In planning my cross Canada tour this past summer, your blog—out of all the journals I found on the internet—was by far the best. Unlike most I came across, you offered insight into things most others barely scratched. Also, your commitment to camping outside sanctioned sites was of great interest to me. I have a lot of respect for someone willing to repeatedly endure discomfort in order to meet a goal.

I thought the trailer is great. My only advice is stay true to the trip. You can't please everyone; and if you try, you'll likely produce an inferior film.

BTW, some friends I met on my journey have a short trailer here if interested:

http://www.peternies.com/HopeToNewfie/

Here's my trip blog: http://thederthspeaks.blogspot.com/

Hey Mike,

I was following your journal as you progressed along across the country. I really enjoyed it and looked forward to each new installment. Congratulations on completing the ride and for providing such a great journal. Since then I have often wondered what had become of the movie.

I enjoyed the trailer and while I cant really offer any creative tips I can tell you what I would like to see. I think you should place greater emphasis on the postives of the trip: the good weather, interesting places, great vistas, neat people. Place lesser emphasis on the lonliness and the poor weather etc. Not to say you should gloss over the negatives, rather, add them in as a bit of drama. The part in your tent whne you show the emotion and loneliness of it all was great as were some of the really bleak weather bits.

Less graphic overlays and dont let the music over power the whole thing. I think sometimes just the sound of silence or your tires rolling along would say enough.

I think you have the talent and will create something interesting. Good luck with and keep us informed.

My daughter liked the video (although we did fast forward the bathtub part (saved a lot of questions from my daughter)). She said she might even do a short tour with me if I carried most of the stuff (she is only 7 so I guess it is up to me to humor her on that).

Paul L.> Glad to hear it inspired someone!

sth> Thanks for the complements. The trailer thing just had lots of music in it because I wanted it to make a big impact I guess.. the full version isn't going to be a music video.. I couldn't agree more with the statement of the road noises being important and I think the microphones I put on the bicycle picked that up really good.. so I will have that!

skin flute> your friends pictures are awesome, and so is their movie! I agree about not bothering to please EVERYONE.. good point.

Erick L> All great advice.. thanks!

velonomad> That's my favourite scene too, I'm glad I captured one of the suckiest parts of the trip. It's really hard to take out a camera when things SUCK, but easy to do it when things are going smooth. As for it being in the middle of the movie, that can't really happen. BUT it won't be right at the beginning there's a lot that happens before it, including all the planning, etc.

Ken Brown> Thanks for the complements.. I will in the end follow my own instinct.

Sholto> I agree.. I love watching videos and surfing everyones touring pictures. just that alone satisfies me! So I don't think I can really go WRONG if I present this footage nicely.

ReptilesBlade> When I have the movie done, I will definitely post it on here. The plan is to put the movie online and to burn some DVD's with coverart and some extra stuff on it for people to buy at a cheap price, and hopefully I can use the money to offset some of the cost of the movie.. but whatever.

rustycool7> Fair enough :)

The Human Car> That's some of the best advice I've heard.. but very hard to impement and follow. I will do what I can..

Portis> People I totally agree with, same with music.. and it will be used sparingly during the final movie I'm sure. Also the scenes were cut short because it was a preview.. if I let the scenes go as long as they could, the thing would end up being 30 minutes and basically the whole movie :) I have no intention of using MTV style quick-cut editing stuff for the full length of the movie.. hehe

countrydirt> Thanks, hopefully I'll actually get done it!

I dig it. Please post here when you have it finished as I would love a copy.

You've done some excellent work with you movie Mike, it was very enjoyable and I think if you make it full length, it will be that much more enjoyable.

I have never watched a movie about bike touring; but when I read people logs I like to read about the stuff that happened on the road. The best parts are where they meet interesting people. I like the scene where you ask to camp in the guys backyard. The other scene where you talk about the people that fed you pasta.

I really think you are on the right track, and it would be a loss on our part to whet our appetite, then not have more to share with us. I would love to see a full length version.

As for you complaining about the weather, that is one of the most important things concerning bike touring, as a bike tourist I think it is very important to emphasize the weather that you experienced, it is a huge part of any trip.

A question for you is about the stats of your trip. How many Km's was it?
How long did it take?
Could you post a map to show us your route?
How much did it cost? and what was the budget?
What would you change/keep the same if you were to do it again?
Did you also keep a written log?
What was the longest amount of time on the trip that you went without talking to another person?

Yeah I know, I have to wait for the movie to come out:) .

Thank you, and keep up the excellent work.

i like the idea, but i'm not concinced by the trailer that i must have this.
partly it's because it's too long (i think one minute is plenty)
partly because it's giving away the ending (you made it!)
partly it's because we get shown a lot of 'the same shots': you on the bike.
now, i know this is what you do, when touring. however, in a documentary about a trip i'm not JUST interested in the 'moving', but also what's around you e.g. the people, the towns, the nature.
and, like another poster already mentioned: i could have done without seeing you in the bathtub and shirtless dipping your wheels at the start.
one other comment: when touring i do shave. and i would certainly shave if i were to make a movie about my trip. i mean, it's 'just' a trip trough canada, not an expedition across siberia.

please don't think i'm dissing you or anything.
i think it's great you made the movie.
and i like the way you mounted the camera.

anyway: good luck
jurjan

one other comment: when touring i do shave. and i would certainly shave if i were to make a movie about my trip. i mean, it's 'just' a trip trough canada, not an expedition across siberia.
jurjan


What difference does it make if he shaves or not? Is facial hair limited to those crossing Siberia or climbing Everest? What an asinine comment.

one other comment: when touring i do shave. and i would certainly shave if i were to make a movie about my trip. i mean, it's 'just' a trip trough canada, not an expedition across siberia.


Actually I think that was one of the cool things. The hair growth helps accentuate the passage of time. When he first starts his hair is buzzed short w/o a beard and by the end it is a pretty good soupcatcher forming.

Also, if you do it again you may want to pick up a boomstick. Similar type mount that you built but even more versatile. www.boomstick360.com (not affiliated, I just think they are cool).

Otherwise I liked the video. I am in now way a filmmaker so I can't make any useful comments other than I look forward to the finished product.

-D

Awesome! Just wondering, did you find that actually filming it detracted from teh cycling experience? Like did it take up much of your time?

I loved the movie preview. I loved how you were not afraid to show the struggle, the fear and the elation that you cycle through, pun intended, during a long journey on a bike.

I can't wait to see the whole product. Sign me up for the high-resolution DVD!

Really neat. You should post this over at www.roadbikereview.com in the touring forum there. There are a lot of people that would like it.

i'm sorry if i offended people about my shaving comment.
it's just that i hear a lot of people asking when i say i tour/camp: how do you keep clean, looking presentable.

i don't know who the intended target audience is, but (and this is pure conjecture on my part), if you are trying to get other people to try it, my feeling would be to try and be as presentable as possible ALL the time.

but... again.. i seem to have offended some people.. sorry for that.

have a nice day,
jurjan

I enjoyed this video very much, what an adventure!! I also thought the music was perfect, and the phone calls and interviews were an excellent touch. Can't wait to see more, please let us know when the film is ready. Are you thinking of entering in film festivals? Keep us posted.

Awesome Mike, I loved it.

i think the fact you are getting such good reviews about the whole thing is showing you enough motive to continue and try to get the full length one out. Part of me thinks its good, cause it might open up other peoples eyes to just how a beautiful, and peacefull coneption it is to right across your country, or nay part of the world for that matter, and another part of me doesnt want the whole country doing it, but then i think, why the hell not! rather have that then all of em driving their autos!.

I loved when you were on the wini radio station and just couldnt describe "why" you were riding across, but i know for myself atleast and im sure almost all of the other cyclists here, your words and their lack, said it all. and i think if you were to get a full length movie out there about it, other people, maybe non-cyclists would also feel that way. I mean what other reason do you need besides to promote cycling? anyways, great concept, and you seem like a really down to earth guy who other could relate to, so the best of luck! keep them pedals moving!

i'm sorry if i offended people about my shaving comment.
it's just that i hear a lot of people asking when i say i tour/camp: how do you keep clean, looking presentable.

i don't know who the intended target audience is, but (and this is pure conjecture on my part), if you are trying to get other people to try it, my feeling would be to try and be as presentable as possible ALL the time.

but... again.. i seem to have offended some people.. sorry for that.

have a nice day,
jurjan

ya, i wanted to say, something negative. but he is kinda right. in a pervy way. i mean who is your target? the capitilist blindman, or the already freed bohemian? (my opinions, leave them there). maybe if there are enough non-bearded cross country cycling videos out there, it will allow some room for a bearded one to be taken seriously by the "majority",

joseph senger> Thanks for all the words... very inspiring. The target audience thing is a good question, and one that I honestly don't have a good answer for. I'm not really thinking in terms of "target audience", I'm just thinking in terms of "making it good". The LAST thing I'm thinking of are things like my own personal appearance and how that might affect the target audience. If I cared about that, I wouldn't have filmed myself bandaging up a spider bite on my ass in the tent for example :) I thought for a few seconds about the language in the trailer when I was editing it, since I do drop the F-bomb quite a few times. But editing it out wouldn't be true to me, the trip or the footage.

People are going to be turned off by some stuff like that, and that's perfectly fine with me. If people are shallow enough to care that I grew a beard or had my shirt off at the beach, then let them not watch it. I feel silly even attempting to defend the beard thing... but as derath said, I did think it would be a neat way to show the passage of time and I did make it a point to film myself shaving my head (first time I ever did that) and face before I left for the trip and then shaving again once I got home. These aren't in the preview, but might be in the full version.

shifty> I"d love to do the film festival thing if festivals would be willing to show it. I'll persue that once I actually have a movie :)

flic> the filming was actually a good way to stay sane. Sort of like how most cyclists writie a journal (which I also kept) and take lots of still pictures (which I also did). When I didn't want to be bothered by it, I didn't bother with it. When I had nothing else to do, I'd work on the movie stuff. Then every night I got to cozy up in my tent and watch the footage at the end of the day.

brianmcg123> I don't have an account there, but anyone is welcome to post the video wherever they want. I didn't put it online so I could control what people do and don't do with it :)

derath> the big problem with that boomstick thing is that it requires the actual camcorder to be on the boom. I spent a lot of time on my design for the purpose of making everything weather proof, which meant the actual camcorder had to stay watertight in the pannier and powered by a large battery that could last weeks. This boomstick would have been great for the actual mount though.. done a lot nicer than mine that's for sure (but what do you expect from a broken tripod mounted onto the side of a bike? :) )

!!Comatoa$ted> The trip was 7300KM, and it took 109 days. I don't have a map, but you can piece together the whole route by checking the daily log stuff here: http://www.mikebeauchamp.com/crosscanada/?page_id=9

It cost me.. hmm. I spent about $1200 on the camera equipment and the mounting stuff I made, etc. I had my bike ripped off a few months before I was going to leave, so I replaced it with a new one for $700 and had that ripped off (long story.. it might be in the movie. grrr), so I bought a new one for $1000 (way more suited to the task than both others though, so worth it in that respect). I spent maybe $500 on all the touring gear like tent, panniers, stove, etc.. etc. Then during the actual trip I think I spent about $1200-$1500 in the 115 days I was gone or so. Airfare to vancouver was like $300, and airfare home from Halifax was $200. Post production stuff, I had to buy a few harddrives for editing.. $250 and for recording the soundtrack I bought a recording interface for about $400. So the actual trip (minus all things to do with the movie) was pretty damn cheap. The "Budget" was everything I had.. and then some. I kept a daily journal for myself and also did an online journal here: http://www.mikebeauchamp.com/crosscanada/ with pictures here: http://mikebeauchamp.com/crosscanada/gallery/
As for how long I went without talking to someone.. I have no clue... a few times I found myself talking to absolutely anyone that would listen... if nobody was around, I'd talk to the camera. :)

Mike

from my personal view, i would love you to make this movie for you and who you love. let if show you who you are maybe, if it can do that imagine what it will do for everyone else. I am an artist, as are you, perhaps not full time as I, but ive discovered, to truely create, you must not concern yourself with the sesires of anyone else, but yours, and that assertion honeyed in intergrity, will share such love, im sure you wont beleive. your on your way tho, JUST DO IT, hehehe.

ive alraedy show about 10 people the trailer! anyways thats enough from me. take care.

I liked it. It's the max I can download that may be as long a version I as I ever see.

No sure how you make the best use of it.

There seems to be a lot of interest among cyclists in reading long winded travel logs of people's trips across the country. I don't know how many hours you filmed, but if there wasn't the hosting problem there would probably be some interest in seeing an uncut version. Toruing cyclists seem to have an insatiable desire to see stuff that pre-runs the trip for them. Let's say there were 6 really bad climbs coming through the rockies, why not watch them all live. The funny part for me is that the more I research, the more little nuggets or really important information I collect about certain points of a trip, these should be key. When I get there, the particular little gems I salted away all turn out to be completly misleading or irrelevant. There is something about what people write that just never gets to what seeing it on TV gives you.

For the more general audience, human interest always seems to be the main point. Most people don't like riding bikes, camping or seeing Canada. Despite what some folks said about the weather talk, and so forth, I don't think it dragged any more than the shows on TV about climbing everest. As long as there is enough tape to show how the weather is affecting you it should be good.

Wow, Mike your trip and video is really inspiring especially since I'm about to go across the USA starting tomorrow!!! Your camera rig is AWESOME as well. It looks really professional like you have a film crew following you. Can't wait to see the final film.

Ben
http://bengarland.com

Wow.. it's been almost 2 years since I firstposted this. I'm sure many of you have forgotten about this completely. I found myself overwhelmed by the amount of footage and the idea of making something that a lot of people could relate to. I also had to pack up and move everything from Canada to New Zealand, but maybe 4 months ago I decided to revisit this project and finally get it done. I had everything I needed, and eventually I just sat down and edited this movie into something -I- wanted to watch. I thank everyone in this thread and all the people that private messaged me.. I definitely took your feedback and encouragement...

In the end, I think the final movie (60 minutes long) is a pretty nice representation of my experiences bicycle touring across Canada and I hope it will be a nice introduction to people that don't understand why we do things like this. The only thing that I think didn't get documented too well is the occasionally loneliness, but that's hard to get across on video. Looking back at this footage was really interesting for me though, because it was definitely a changing point in my life... since then I've done several other tours and gone a lot of places and met a lot of people I wouldn't have met if I didn't decide to do this tour.

Anyways, I hope you guys like the movie... if anyone enjoys this movie, I hope it's you guys! I'm just happy it's done! Thanks again for all the encouragement everyone... I was definitely thinking about you when I was editing this.

http://mikebeauchamp.com/crosscanada
http://vimeo.com/3451015

Mike