The last post, which ended up not going through via crappy EVDO connection, was a bit scrambled and “ehh”. So, I think it’s time for a “proper” post.
[Update: I just found out it did get through before I lost single. But it was still is a crapy post, and I already wrote this one... so some things get covered twice.]
I’m sorry for the lack of updates, but we’ve been jetting from mountain range to mountain rage, and have had little connection. Not sure if that’s Sprint’s fault, or if it would be just as bad with a Verizon network.
I’m in the van right now, listening to “Learning to Fly” off the iPod, we’re heading back from Glacier Park towards Whitefish. “Why?” you ask: well, for a few unexpected reasons.
A) first off, we backed up the rental van into a good sized rock, and it almost took the bumper clean off the back. Which sucked. This on top of a shitty night’s sleep in tents that didn’t quite hold up in the downpour from hell. Okay, it wasn’t quite *that* bad, but it was bad enough to wake up every hour with a new part of the bag being wet.
Seeing as there is no phone or cell connection at the base of the glaciers, we are heading back into town to take care of the whole insurance/rental situation. Fingers crossed that it works out okay.
B) I broke my bike frame… that’s a different story for a different time, but it’s extremely un-rideable. And the last bike shop for a while is back in Whitefish, there was a used bike shop near the school.
C) I feel a bit awkward about this “aspect” of the project, awkward in the sense that I don’t like to talk about money. On one hand, I don’t want to sound like a sympathy-case… and on the other, I don’t want to pretend or hide the financial difficulties that exist in a low-budget project like Pedal. Or every low budget project for that matter.
But we are about 8 days away from being rock-bottom broke. Which can be a slight distraction when trying to stay focused on the task at hand. But, fear not, there is someone who has said they can fund the remainder of the trip. Yes, we are cutting it close… uncomfortably close, but we don’t have much choice.
Some of you might be curious as to how someone can go from winning $25,000 to broke in three months time. Especially considering the budget on the site is only $9,000. Well, almost a full $10,000 of the 25k went to personal debts and expenses that needed to be taken care of. Then there is equipment that I never put into the budget because I was just not expecting to be able to make a film with anything but the dinky camera I already had. And to be honest, with only 9k, I’d probably be stuck without a crew.
But winning the Network2.tv video contest allowed me to make the project I really wanted to make, not the one I could just get by making. So, I was encouraged to buy a camera that matched the one ‘The Black Sheep‘ were bringing, a Z1U. There’s 5 grand. I purchased a cheap 12 foot crane, that was about $900. I bought a glidecam system, which was around $1,800. Four long-life batteries for filming long hours on the road. Camping gear. UV Filters. XLR cables. Headphones. $1,000 in microphones, $600 wind-jammer. $760 in miniDV tapes (60 hours). Shipping fees. I had to take a month off from work in order to squeeze all the last minute planning in, there’s 3 months rent. 3 months utilities. A laptop for editing on the road. 3 round trip tickets from Belgium to LA. $2,500 to rent a van for two months. Wide angle lens for $350. My own personal plane ticket and rental car cost for visiting Larry & Jay before the trip. Food. More food. Gas… almost four times the amount originally budgeted because the van is overloaded and gets poor mpg, plus we have to drive back to LA when done. And, of course, there’s always “et cetera”. Now add in all the problems and extra money here and there. I won’t even go into that.
Not to mention the thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment that the crew brought along. 16mm film stock. A fluid-head tripod. An army of SLR lens and filters. A 35 kit. You name it – that came loaded.
All in all, I’d say the budget it pushing the $200,000 area. So that’s the dark side of the low budget project… it’s fun stuff to tackle with no financial backing (sarcasm). Not to mention the fear of putting all this time, energy and money into something that, now that you’ve started, might not make see to the end. It’s enough to make a person sick.
I have to finish this project. It’s started – and there is no turning back. I don’t know how – but there’s no turning back now.
Whew. Okay, that felt good to get off my chest. And please, don’t feel like I’m pressuring you for a handout. Like I said, someone has said they’d help us finish the project. It’s just a part of the project that I’ve been meaning/wanting to share for a while. It never feels like the “right” time, so what the hell, right?
It’s now 11:20 at night, Amanda has called the insurance people and they were great about it. We’ll even be able to still get up at 5, like planned, and head back into Glacier to get a shot of the mountains against Lake McDonald.
Afterward we plan to follow Larry to the peak of Logan’s Pass, it’s closed after the top because a huge section of the ‘Going to the Sun Road’ was washed away by glacier run off (yay, global warming). But Larry, being the monster that he is, wants to go to the top and then turn around just to “get it under his belt”. Love that guy.
We also ran into Galan, who reminds me a lot of Lyon. We ate breakfast this morning at the restaurant in Apgar and talked for 3 hours. Sadly, none of it was one tape, but he’s great, we’ll talk to him tomorrow before he heads too far north.
Other than all that – we plan on spending the next few days around the Glacier area, there’s so much great stuff to get, and it’s basically biker-central for all the cyclist. We’re wanting to head back down the road and talk to 3 women we met a few days ago, I think they have a great perspective on their trip – it’s rare to run into a women only group. And it shouldn’t be.
Also, before I forget, I didn’t have much time to go through footage while we were in Eureka, but I did dump a few random clips of Larry riding his bike (not the smoothest of shots we’ve taken, but I still like the look on Larry’s face climbing up that hill).
And a very pretty long shot we took of a broken down house/cabin/pile-of-wood, there’s cars and junk in the frame that, if I used it later, I’d snip out. But you get the idea.
We’d love to hear from you – see you on the other side (of Glacier Park).
tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding
