I was going through my unread Instapaper list tonight - cleaning things up, watching videos I had saved for later, etc - and I came across a post by Ted Hope, from his blog, Truly Free Film, titled: 50* Ways You Can Do Something Different On This Production.

There were a few points that I particularly liked - that got me thinking about ways in which I could change the way we're doing things on Pedal. I thought I'd write about them here and get people's feedback.

#2: Do something stylistically just because you like it. Allow something to be "outside" the film, something that doesn't fit so right and is only there because you dig it. Why does it always have to fit?

This is one of those suggestions that seems like it would come naturally - but I have found that there is an incredible amount of self-sensorship or filtering with ideas during the creative process.

I try to write everything down that comes to mind - and find ways of working it in, or at least discussing it with Amanda as an option. But many ideas get dumped too quickly because they don't "fit", and what does that really mean? Doesn't fit how? Doesn't fit with things I've seen done before?

Reading this suggestion helped remind me that there is a difference - albeit a fine lined one - between something not "fitting" and something not "working". As the story of FToM gets closer and closer to being locked down - I need to add in ideas that really feel creative and new... maybe they'll only make the deleted-scenes in a DVD extra... but at least I'll have tried hard to make them work.

#9: What would be a different business model? Could you give it away? Free it? Never plan to screen it theatrically? What if the movie was not the main event, but something else was?

Although we do have solid plans to release FToM freely - I want to think more about the idea of the film not being the main-event. What could we structure around the film that would give it more meaning... more interaction... more momentum?

I don't have an answer for this yet - but it's something I want to revisit often as we work through post-production.

#12: What if you built your audience base prior to shooting? And maintained significant communication with them throughout the process? How might that change your final work?

I feel like I've tried very hard to do this during every step of Pedal. Sometimes I've not done as good a job as I would like... I let things get in the way of being open and keeping a conversion going around the project - or around storytelling in general.

But I like how Ted ask, "How might that change your final work?", because this blog has lead to a back-and-forth that has dramatically changed the project itself and the final film. So much so I'm not quite sure I would even know where to start... I feel very fortunate for this site and the people that it's helped introduced me with.

I now know that, for me, storytelling will always be a very empty undertaking without this kind of community from day-one.

#13: Innovate. Try some new equipment on every production. Improve a simple process. Isn't production about the communication of information in the service of art, as efficiently, economically, and aesthetically as possible?

I wanted to mention this idea for one specific reason - when the crew, The Black Sheep, flew from Belgium to Los Angeles, they brought a handful of different equipment with them to use on the road. They packed their main camera of course, an Fx1 with a SGpro 35kit, a 16mm hand-crank camera - but also several small mp4 cameras. These small low-quality cameras turned out to be incredibly helpful for both the 64 Days series as well as FToM. The jump in quality and frame-size really helps add another layer to the story... the footage feels personal in a way that the HD footage does not.

When Amanda, Karen and I leave for Northern California to film additional scenes with Larry, I intend to have a camera in my hands at all times filming little details.

I've been working hard to storyboards specific shots and have been busy editing those into a timeline with temporary voice-over tracks - and these shots will be the main focus, they'll be scheduled out and planned in detail. But there's so much I could miss if don't take the time to step back and record things the way I see them in the moment without the filter of "how is this going to fit into the film".

Labels: Black Sheep, Ideas, p52, Post-Production

If you haven't checked out the Black Sheep's web site in the last few weeks, you might have missed their redesign. I'm always extremely jealous of their layouts and graphic design work.

I've actually noticed a handful of new videos that I've been anxious to watch. Feel free to drop them a line (info [at] theblacksheep [dot] be) and tell how much you dig their work.

Labels: Black Sheep, Crew, Post-Production

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

Labels: Black Sheep, Blip.tv, Budget, Larry, Production

It's all so surreal. Four years ago, I watched a short film called 'Marla', made by a team of Belgiums (who, at that time, called themselves "Another State of Mind") on a shoe-string budget. Using a homemade rig involving a GL2 and an old SLR Nikon they bought off eBay for cheap, they created a "mini35" (MiniDV meets 35mm film) look that was very impressive and different. I was an instant fan.

Fast forward to last night - driving in the rented mini van with Amanda down the 405, on our way to pick up Olivier (co-founder of ASOM) and Jeff from LAX.

We were late - because I didn't finish installing the rack on the van's roof soon enough - and not to mention traffic was backed up on a Tuesday night at 6:30. Add to this I only wrote on the back of my hand the flight number, and not the actual airline... yea, we were having issues.

First we park the van, run into terminal 2 looking at US Airlines and Delta - Amanda is on the phone with her sister trying to look up the airline, I'm at the baggage claim begging some guy to punch it in on his computer. They've been on the ground for 30 minutes. We find out it's in terminal 6 - which just happens to be about as far away from 2 as possible.

We run back to the parked van, go through the long exit line, do a loop to the other side, miss the parking structure for 6, drive another 400 feet to garage 7. Get out, race to terminal 6, realize that international flights get dumped off at 7. Turn back around, race to 7, at this point it's been 45 minutes since their flight has landed. The pick-up area is packed, I don't actually know what Olivier or Jeff look like... we forgot to make a "Black Sheep" sign.

I'm basically looking for two people who look like they are looking for people looking for them. When a tall guy to my left casually asked me, with a bit of a grin on his face, "are you looking for someone?". It was perfect.

And luckily, they had just picked up their bags moments before, so we didn't look like total assholes.

They are great - I couldn't be happier with things right now. It's all happening. Tomorrow we are going to be prepping the van, loading the equipment, finishing the rack on the roof, picking up the last of the camping gear, and 20 other little things. Friday night we pick up Olan, and Saturday morning we leave.

In the mean time - check out the short film that started all this craziness:


tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding, another state of mind, black sheep

Labels: Another State of Mind, Black Sheep, Marla, Production

Tim Shey, from Next New Networks, asked the lovely Micki Krimmel to do an IM interview with me about Project Pedal for NNN's recently launched indie-filmmaker-geared site: Indy Mogul.

The interview is being posted in two parts - here's a few paragraphs:

Micki Krimmel: Project Pedal is the videoblog/documentary project by filmmaker Mike Ambs. On June 2, Mike and his crew will embark on a cross-country journey to document two cyclists as they bike their way from Washington to Maine along the Adventure Cycling Trail, culminating in a feature length documentary tentatively titled "Pedal." Since October of 2004, Mike has been sharing his experience with the project on his blog, posting well-produced video episodes along the way. As with any first time film project, Mike has seen his share of ups and downs while trying to pull it all together. Now, he's just two weeks away from production and Next New Networks has stepped up to help send him off in style by hosting the "Pedal Push Party" this weekend in Los Angeles.

I chatted with Mike over IM about the film and the community of supporters he's been building through his videoblog.

MK: What the heck is Project pedal? Is it a film or a videoblog? I'm so confused!

Mike Ambs: Ha. Well, it's a bit of both... When I first started the project three years ago, it was just going to be a documentary. Then I got all swept up in the videoblogging scene and started thinking about how much happier I would be with the project if I could mesh my two favorite things: documentaries and vlogs. We're going to continue posting videos during production and post. We'll post lots of updates from the road, episodes when I get back talking about how things are going, etc. The finished product will be a feature length doc.

Continue reading the interview here - and don't forget to check back on Indy Modul for the second half. Hope to see you at the party this Saturday! In the mean time, for the next 3 days, I'm locking myself away in a friend's cabin to clear my head.

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding

Labels: Black Sheep, Indy Mogul, Interview, Micki Krimmel, Next New Networks, Party

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The idea of Project Pedal came about, thanks to Amanda, almost exactly four years ago - and for the last three years, I've been pouring myself into it with my fair share of difficulties along the way.

But thanks to the encouragement of close friends, family and the readers/viewers of this site - I've always picked myself up and kept trying when things dead-ended with Pedal.

I can't imagine where I would be without this site and without everything it has directly been instrumental in sending my way. My amazing crew, the Black Sheep... the professional advice and support of Matt... the much needed and much appreciated relationships with total strangers who've stumbled onto this site in there own ways.

I've learned so much in the last three years, and if I had any advice to pass on to people reading - it would be, whatever your passion or personal project may be, don't go it alone. Start a blog, and be as transparent and inclusive as possible.

I'm excited about these last two months and the two that will follow - I can't wait for the trip to come. I'm nervous. I'm excited. "Breath in pink, exhale blue". There's a lot of details to get into place - but... this is it, two months left. Here we go.

Pedal's 'Episode One' is a finalist in the Flux iPod Film Festival! Please take a moment to vote here. Thanks!

tags: pedal, documentary, indie, vlog, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, network2, blip.tv, the black sheep, the flux, von 2007

Labels: 9 Years, Another State of Mind, Black Sheep, Blip.tv, Episode, Network2.tv, Pre-Production, The Flux, Veoh, WOM

I've been working on Pedal for 3 years - and in those 3 years I've been sporadically reminded how grateful I am of this blog. This blog, which, to give credit where it's due, was very much inspired by Girl with a Movie Camera's blog, has brought me the amazingly talented Black Sheep, which I hope I will someday soon get to work with. It has brought me, if only a short time, a producer... loads of encouragement - it has kept me focused and committed.

But on Dec 30th, a person I've never met, short of possibly passing each-other in the street, watched Episode One and had this reaction:

Just listening and watching this intro inspired me to ponder my next chance to prove myself wrong about failure. In my sedentary case, it is the scary goal of getting my 56-year-old body into better shape through good diet and regular exercise. Impossible! My nerd self-image shouts. Yeah, but think about the Pedal Project. So thanks, and good luck!

It is an overwhelming feeling to start a project - aimed at inspiring people to challenge themselves in ways we often forget we can - and to then receive a comment like that. Because much like physical-challenges, Pedal, for me, is clouded with personal doubts that never seem to fully fade in the back of my mind - and this kind of positive reinforcement from someone besides myself, a reminded that "yes, I can do what I'm setting out to do", is always very touching/encouraging.


Also, thank you very much to those of you have recently donated using the new ChipIn! widget. I'm working on Episode Two - which will mostly deal in answering questions concerning the logistics of Pedal's day-to-day.


tags: pedal, documentary, indie, blog, bicycle, coast-to-coast, community, funding, ChipIn!, thanks, inspiration

Labels: Black Sheep, ChipIn, Girl with a movie Camera, Len, Pre-Production