The website I've been working on the last few weeks, the same website I made mention of three post ago, is basically done - it will be updated later on as I take on more projects and different people get involved - but aside from that, it's up & running. So I can check that off my "to-do" list. I suppose since the undertaking took up so much of my time away from 'pedal' I should, at the least, introduce the site, here is a cut & paste from the about us page of 'rollingchairpro.com'.

Rolling Chair is a creative collaboration based in the 'arts district' of North Hollywood, California, made up of directors, photographers, editors, artists, graphic designers and computer know-it-alls.

What we lack in spacious well-furnished offices and company-cars, we more than make up for with talent, efficiency, affordability and the pro-tools designed to give you the best in graphics & video.

In my best impersonation of Sam Rockwell, impersonating Chuck Barris [an impersonation of an impersonation, tricky], "So that's it, that's the site".


I've also been busy the last two late-nights/ early-mornings, updating the route page for 'pedal', which was long overdue, it should have been updated the second we knew we doing the Pacific coast this summer and the coast to coast next summer.



Now, last time I set-up the page with a few pixely, hard-to-read Rand McNalley maps and that was it. So this time, and this is why it kept me up till four in the morning, I broke up the trip into nine detailed sections. Each map is linked to "driving" directions on Google maps - why google maps? Because they have a satellite layer with their maps, allowing you to better see the kind of landscapes and territory we are in for.

To view the 'route', click on "dig deeper" drop-down menu on the left side of the site, and you'll notice the link next to the dark-red "updated" notice near the top.

Labels: Pre-Production

part one of seven [ one . two . three . four . five . six . seven ]
update: 2 - 7 replaced with interactive slideshow

Okay... so this post is about four months overdue, I made the mistake of posting the first [of seven] slideshow from my 2001 cross-country bike trip, only weeks before we left on our Pacific ride.

Last night I decided to throw all 63 photos into an "interactive quicktime slideshow thingy" and finish what I started. Enjoy.

note: right click here to "save target as".

Labels: Pre-Production

For as long as I can remember, I've planned to use the song 'Trois Gymnopedie', or [the slightly different] 'Gymnopedie No. 1', by Erik Satie in 'pedal'. Actually, I'm not even sure how I came across the song, if I had to guess, I'd say it was just something I stumbled onto one day while flipping through my iTune's collection. And I've been in love with it ever since.

I always though it held a certain layered emotion to it - that it set a good mood-pace for the film, as well as urged the listener/viewer to 'look closer'... that things were happening below the surface. Which is an important piece of the documentary, that although you may be 'looking' at a person riding quietly down a perfectly straight road cutting through the center of a never ending wheat-field during a breath-taking sunset... the least important "thing" happening is that the person is riding a bike. It's actually about the journey inside... as cliche as that comes off. And, like I said, I always thought "gymnopedie" was a good song to express this.

So, you can imagine my frustration when tonight, while watching 'Riding Giants', which I just received in the mail from 'NetFlix', during one of the more serious and soul-searching moments of the film, they begin playing... you guessed it... "my song". And it wasn't something that faintly played behind a handful of other conversations, oh no, all other audio was dropped and it was cranked and played for at least a minute straight. So frustrating...

Labels: Pre-Production

For the last year & a half, I've never been able to fully cross off "restart video business" from my 'to-do' list. It's sat there, half on - half off, the back-burner for far too long.

To explain: When living in Michigan, several months before spontaneously deciding to move to North Hollywood, I ran a business out of the house that consisted of taping theatre performances or sporting events and editing them onto DVDs. It started off very small, but was beginning to branch out to "new" business, I even began taking away clients from longtime Ann Arbor video-services simply by word of mouth... it wasn't much, but it was starting to pay the bills. And then, I left it all behind to get away from the snow and move cross-country to sunny California.


It's not simply that I enjoyed [very, very much] editing day in day out from the comfort of my own "home office"... it's also that the cost of living in Hollywood can get a bit rough sometimes on a "minimal salary". Editing for myself again would, on-top of allowing us to not live paycheck to paycheck, benefit several things:

Most importantly, it would free up a lot of time for me, and time is something I'm always in need of - time to edit, time to write, time to train for our next big ride, time to focus 100% on 'pedal'.

It would give me the resources and the justification to buy all the "toys" I just can't seem to afford... dual G5... Sony HDV camcorder... high-end fully manual digital still camera... etc.

It would generally leave me in a better mood. Maybe that should be the "most importantly" reason.

Right now I'm in the middle of putting the finishing touches on the website, designing and purchasing 5,000 6x9 postcards to advertise everywhere I possibly can. Along with selling both my eMac & Canon GL2, only to turn around immediately and by a Mac mini & Panasonic's AG-DVC30. When all this is done, I'll be able to relax, cross one more thing off my 'to-do' list, work full time on this current "short-doc" and patiently wait for [at least] 1 out of the 5,000 postcards to land me some kind of editing job.

Labels: Pre-Production

About a week ago, Amanda wrote and emailed this letter to everyone in her address book. I've only cut & pasted the opening, but I thought it was worth sharing. She makes me proud. Enjoy.

In June, Mike and I went on a month long bike trip along the pacific coast between Santa Monica and Seattle. It was really great. I intended to write to everyone about it before now but I’ve been extremely busy since we’ve been back.

We biked over 1140 miles in 25 days. We slept in our sleeping bags under the stars in a different town every night. We biked up mountains, through pouring rain and into strong winds with all of our gear strapped to our bikes. The trip was extremely difficult and equally as rewarding. I laughed and I cried. I screamed at the hills in front of me from the top of my lungs. I swore up and down that I couldn’t do it. But I did. There were so many times when I wanted to give up and come home, but I’m so happy that I didn’t. We biked along the ocean and through the redwoods. We saw elephant seals and the golden gate bridge. We ate abalone (although we didn't know what it was). It was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I can’t wait to do it again.

Note, the 'title' for this post doesn't have all that much to do with the post - considering her letter isn't a "love letter" - but it is the name of a great & depressing song by 'Mineral'.

Labels: Pre-Production

This is the parallel in the bike trip where I look behind me at far how I've traveled... and I turn to look at how far I've yet to go - and it draws self-doubt. Uncertainty. These moments of "should I go on? Can I go on?" are the ones that count the most when looking back.

I've got 10 hours of fairly repetitive footage from our month-long pacific ride... and zero useable audio. It's been weeks since returning and I'm still fighting back and forth the several possibilities of where to take this "short doc". Do I edit a direct cut of my intentions for "pedal"? Do I cut together a parallel story of our bike trip and it's similarities in filming an independent documentary? Do I convince friends to play the semi-fictional parts of other travelers we "hypothetically" crossed paths with?

A part of me says I shouldn’t show such an uncertain-side of myself… that I should instead, delete the above, and type a few paragraphs of “filler” for the night – maybe link to another slideshow. But I think these moments are important in filmmaking, in anything. They happen. They shouldn’t be ignored or suppressed, these moments are what the entire experience is about… it wouldn’t be an “experience” with out them.

I just needed to remind myself of this. I feel much better.

Labels: Pre-Production