Maelochs

Dude, I am disappointed. I thought by now you would have gone out and at least shot some footage of your friends riding or something.

Do It. Don't discuss it or debate it or wait for others to approve of it. If it is in your heart to do it, go do it.

If the first several videos suck ... great. More learning opportunities. Make all the mistakes so you learn how not to.

Video-editing software is available for free online ... not top-drawer stuff, but stuff plenty powerful enough to edit iPhone video.

Shoot some folks riding, shoot some area shots---B-roll, establishing shots-type stuff. Shoot some basic interviews: Why do you ride? Why do you ride in this specific fashion? How do you use your bike? What makes you r bike or style of riding different? What does riding mean to you? A lot of interviewing is getting the subject to start talking about whatever animates him/her, so ask a few questions until you hit on the topic which gets the subject fired up, and let him/her roll with it. Then fix it up in post-production.

Even if it is just you and two or three friends talking about your Saturday group ride or your Friday-night pub crawl, Shoot Something!

Or ... just walk away from the idea. It is a "nice" idea, one which many millions of people have had ... but only a few actually bother to point their phone at someone and push the button.

it isn't hard, so if you really want to do it, just go do it.

Daniel4

If you're going to concentrate on bike couriers or racers or middle aged men in Lycra, I won't be interested. I would like to see portraits of kids and students riding to school, families in the weekend rides, commuters, what "ordinary people" would call "normal people" that they can relate to.

Maelochs

I think the point is that there are markets for certain cycling-related videos ... and pretty much Any topic can make for a good documentary if the writer and director are good enough. But until OP starts posting some vids, it is all academic.

Pistard

you would need to ask this question somewhere else, we like bikes here. Its been done over and over in Europe, just check bicycle docs in England alone, fascinating stuff, nobody has made a Doc ? Movie about people that need to ride, the destitute, homeless and people that had their license revoked, tons of material, I am working at a Bike rescue, that is a bike story.

02Giant 

Me, no I wouldn't care to see it.

Wildwood 

If it doesn't include the Portland OR culture and the many builders = then it's lacking.

edit: I re-read your initial post. Title is: USA cycling culture. On a tight budget. Then you mention international cities. I suggest you focus on a few cities, maybe in different parts of the country; or different/similar by size. The better the focus the more of a chance of delving into the culture rather than just sampling more locations It can also be a blog, a cumulative project, or other forms of social communication that might help move the project in any number of ways.

AlexCyclistRoch

Please, don't cover bike couriers; they've been so over-covered that every major city is plagued with arrogant, grungy fixed-gear courier wannabes terrorizing the streets. No, you should cover some of the 'fringe' elements, like those guys who take BMX bikes to skate parks, or those guys on fat bikes in the ghetto, or the people who collect and restore Krate bikes.

jorglueke

The focus should be suburban dads struggling with balancing commuting and after school activities as well as the general craziness if rising in suburbs designed only for cars.

Maelochs

The focus should be on actually shooting video and telling stories. All the people here saying what they want to see ... are not out shooting anything. On the other hand, a good storyteller can take Any topic and find the parts many (not all) people can understand and appreciate.

There are a bunch of good suggestions here, or rather, a bunch of suggestions ... shoot whatever has heart, whatever has life as you see it.

But for Eff's sake, Shoot Some Video. Then post it here so everyone who is Not out shooting video can tell you how you should have done it.

700

I was about to mention that. Saw it at the Drive-In in 1972.
Full Movie on Youtube:

Gyro

I saw it at the theater. Great flix and well put together look at motorcycling.