I've spent the entire week writing and re-writing and scribbling notes on script print-outs and combing paragraphs with highlighters. Which has meant two things; first, I've made a lot of progress with the film's narration and structure and story... and second, that I've fallen behind on everything else in my life.

I have a pile of dozens of emails that I need to reply to, I have phone calls to make that I kept postponing, I have t-shirt orders to package up and drop off at the post office, I have a mix CD to finish up for all our Kickstarter supporters... Storyboards to edit into the timeline, voice-over to place and, of course, dishes are piling up in the kitchen.

I plan to force myself to step away from the script over the weekend and do some serious catching up - but I do feel really good about the last week. Not to say I haven't been struggling with certain parts of writing... I have, as far as I can tell now, two areas of the script, totaling no more than a page, that need to be written or finished. Those areas are; one, the very last line of the film, and two, the bridge in story after Larry McKurtis has returned home but before he had seriously committed to his upcoming 16,000 mile adventure.

Amanda and I had a Skype call with Larry on Thursday and talked about the fast-approaching trip to Northern California to film additional scenes of the film. I'm really excited about running around the Sierra Buttes and seeing Larry and Jay again - it's been too long.

Labels: FToM, Kickstarter, p52, Post-Production, Writing

The holidays during High School for me always used to bring considerable stress - I ran Cross Country for four years and anything that interfered with my daily training felt like a major distraction and derailment. I always felt incredibly guilty and lazy if I wasn't able to, at the very least, put in three miles. Perhaps I was a strange teenager.

I bring it up because I find it funny that now, I don't get anywhere near the exercise I used to, but I do feel a great deal of stress when holidays come around because it's nearly impossible to work on Pedal my normal 5-6 days out of the week.

I'm sure the occasional easing-up is probably good for my sanity - but still, I always feel so awkward and derailed when a week goes by and I haven't spent most of it on the film.

That's not to say I haven't touched Pedal in any capacity for the last week - I've been very busy finishing up some of the Kickstarter rewards for all the amazing people who helped backed our last campaign. Normally my time would be spent doing KSR work half the time, and the other half I'd be writing or story-boarding. It's just this month has been half KSR and half getting ready for Christmas.

Anyway - last week I dropped off all the files for the new FToM t-shirts and stickers we're ordering from the awesome, local, indie-friendly VGkids in Ypsi. Two weeks ago we ordered 500 new, hand-made-with-love Project Pedal buttons from the wonderful Karen Abad. In the next few days we'll put the final-final touches on the 64 Days production journal (which was supposed to be 160 pages, but has ended up being 180 pages) that we're making with Blurb.

After that - the very real and pressing deadline of Feburary is coming up, in which all the film's writing needs to be done. Or at least done enough to film from. Any changes made will need to be small enough to work with what we have. All story-boarding and logistical planning needs to be complete by April - in which we also need to have nearly all the temporary voice-overs recorded and placed in sequence with the drawings of needed shots.

Larry will be leaving near the end of June or early July for his 16,000 mile adventure and sustainability efforts for Expedition to Endure. All of FToM's additional filming needs to happen between April and June or else Larry will be out of town for the next year.

It's a lot to finalize and I'm excited to do so. I can't wait to pull off some of the shots that we've been working on - much of the film tells the two-sides of coming home, and we're working hard to be sure the visuals of the film match those mirror opposites of someone's post-trip experiences.

Labels: Editing, Kickstarter, Post-Production

On Thanksgiving morning I woke up with a killer sore throat - which by the time Saturday night hit, turned into a full-blown flu that kept me up the entire night in the bathroom. Three days after that and I was finally able to drag myself out of bed without being too dizzy to stand. I haven't been that sick in a long, long, long time - six days in bed was fairly extreme for me when it comes to my typical cold.

I have an overwhelming pile of things to catch up on now that I'm back on my feet - first up is putting the finishing touches on the Kickstarter rewards for all the unbelievably amazing people who helped us reach our goal and secure $8,945 towards the film!

Our 64 Days Production Journal is 98% complete, and up next is creating the 64 Days - parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 - DVDs with bonus features and commentaries from Amanda and I. If any of you have ideas for fun things that we could add to some of the 64 Days DVDs, please let us know!

In between working on our KSR responsibilities I'll be very anxiously story-boarding more pieces of the film that we'll be shooting in Northern California with Larry. I have to remind myself most days that there are still many small stages of FToM left to complete - but at the same time, we feel so close to the end. I look at the script and I compare it to the time-line in Final Cut and it's just very exciting. I feel like we only have several major hurtles left to deal with before we're able to sit down and actually watch a rough cut of FToM.

It's time I get back to work - don't forget to share any ideas for DVD bonus features in the comments!

Labels: 64 Days, Kickstarter, Post-Production

FToM on Kickstarter - We Did It! from mike ambs on Vimeo.

November 11th marked a few excited things: a 28th birthday, the 100th week of post production, and the day FToM on Kickstarter reached 100% of it's funding goal!

Since then pledges have slowly kept coming in - and we want to make the best of this momentum and the remaining days (campaign doesn't end until Thanksgiving).

We'd love to see if we can hit an even higher goal - Kickstarter is such a powerful and unique outreach tool and we want to raise the bar as high as possible.

We've designed FToM t shirts that we're really happy with (Alternative Apparel 100 percent organic cotton unisex) and want to give as many as we possibly can to the amazing people who helped us reach this goal.

If we can hit our new goal, we'll be able to include a t shirt for every single person who pledged above $20.

Also - with 10 days left - I have a bit of a birthday wish: to get Livestrong / Lance Armstrong to pledge a $1 to the film. If you click this link - it will pop open twitter, with a pre-written tweet all ready to send. I know we can do this!

Labels: Kickstarter, Post-Production, Twitter, Weekly Update

It's 11am, EST, and that means we're kicking off our day long Digg*athon! I'll keep this post short and to the point. Let's start with the shortened URL for easy sharing:

digg.com/d318Fjp
And if any of you are reading this post via your phone, you can Digg our submission here on mobile Digg:

tr.im/D6tn
Here's a quick snippet from the description if any of you would like to pass the above links along to friends:

A film project six years in the making - with only 31 days left on an all-or-nothing Kickstarter campaign, it's time to see just how far we can push this ambitious documentary during post production!

Just have 15 seconds? Digg this story. Have a $1 you can pledge? Each backer goes a long way. Help spread the word, and be a part of our indie film!

Keep an eye on our KSR campaign and our twitter account for updates on how things are going. Here's to an exciting day!

Labels: Diggathon, Kickstarter, Outreach, Post-Production

Several days ago, I posted a quick question about setting a date to Digg our current For Thousands of Miles (FToM) Kickstarter campaign - all the feedback we received was positive.

So with only 34 days remaining, we're going ahead with what we're calling a: Digg*athon. Here's everything you need to know to be involved.

We'll be Digging the film's campaign at 11 am EST on Monday, October 26th. The first 2 hours following will be the most critical in pushing Pedal towards the front page of Digg, but the Digg*athon will last the entire day, as all diggs will be very helpful.

Once the story is submitted, I'll post an update with a current shortened URL here on the production blog, as well as all of our social sites: Facebook, Twitter, IndieGoGo, Virb, Tumblr, etc.

It's important to clarify "why are we doing this?". Digg can be a very powerful site, and it can help reach out to hundreds-of-thousands of new people in a matter of hours.

The last time we submitted something Kickstarter-related to Digg, we spent only about an hour pushing the story on Twitter and Facebook, and had just shy of 40 people help Digg it. What was most amazing though; was at the start of that morning, our campaign was lagging at around the 20% mark for total funds raised, by the end of the night, we had jumped to over 60% - raising more than $4,200 in pledges.

But Kickstarter is an all or nothing campaign - if FToM is even $1 short of it's goal (of $8,300), the film will received none of the pledges these people have made during the last 60 days.

We know that Digg was just one part of the equation that afternoon, but we're excited to see what kind of effect the site could have if FToM's campaign received, say, 100+ diggs, or even 300+ diggs? How many new people would that put the film in front of? How many of those new people would find the film worth pushing forward?

We are hoping that by taking the weekend to help spread the word about Monday morning's Digg*athon - we will be able to pull in at least 70 diggs within the 1st hour.

A few things to keep in mind: if you'll be away from your computer during the first 2 hours - you can very easily help Digg with almost any cell phone (ie: iPhone, Blackberry, or any cellphone with internet access) via mobile Digg.

If you don't have an account already, make one early so you'll be able to simply click the URL, and then the "digg it" button and be done with it. You can even connect Digg to your Facebook account to make signing up much faster.

Also, comments are factored into the algorithm for Digg's site -if you are able to, leaving something as simple as a one sentence comment could help launch the submission ahead of several other stories with the exact same number of Diggs. If you have a question regarding the film, it would be a great place to post it, it could help spark a conversation.

The hashtag we'll be using for all related tweets, post, or status updates will be "#diggathon", if you'd like to help spread the word, using this hashtag will help us track that progress.

We're only $1,900 short of meeting our goal! Let's see how much closer to that goal we can get by the end of Monday night. Mark your calendars or add yourself to our event page, and thank you all so much to everyone in advance for your involvement and support.

Labels: Diggathon, Kickstarter, Outreach, Post-Production

I've been procrastinating on this question for a few weeks now - mostly cause it wasn't necessarily pressing, and I had a lot of other higher-priority things on my "to do" list - but with only 49 days left in our post production funding campaign, I figured sooner was better than later.

Nine days ago, I launched a new KSR introduction video - I submitted that new video to Digg, where more than 30 people helped vote it up. By the end of the day, we had raised more than $4,000 in new pledges!

I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself.

First the "idea", then the question: The idea is pretty simple; pick a date (just a few days out) to submit Project Pedal to Digg. Spend those 2 or 3 days getting the word out to people - with tools like twitter, facebook (an event page), emails, etc - to mark their calendars, and (if they don't have one already) quickly create a Digg account.

Considering what 30 diggs helped accomplish, you can imagine all the ways 100+ diggs could help change things for Pedal.

Having said that, I wanted to get feedback, before committing to it, from everyone out there reading: Should we try this? What area of the project should we digg (our film's homepage, our kickstarter campaign, a specific blog post)? How many days out should we set the "Digg*athon"?

This post is all about feedback. If you have any questions, comments or thoughts, please leave them so we can openly discus this and make a decision. Thanks!

Labels: Diggathon, Feedback, Kickstarter, Post-Production

There are days, weeks even, where this project can feel stuck in the mud. That no matter how hard I try; I just spin in place - and it goes without much saying that it's a difficult feeling to put up with. Whether it's accurate or not.

And I'm not writing this post to whine or sulk - I'm writing to say that I feel quite the opposite right now. A month ago I was still running over and over the same 4 pages of script and barely making any real progress... I was also starting to worry that I wasn't able to reach out to enough new people for our current Kickstarter campaign.

I felt like I was dragging my feet on both fronts. I know a lot of people find themselves in these situations, that no matter what it is you're working on or busy with, that there are times when you just want to crawl under a rock and sleep.

And, I admit, that I did that for several days... not literally, but I would sit at my typewriter and blank out... I would walk around in circles with the script in hand, reading the same 4 pages out-loud on repeat. I would see that we had a slow day on Kickstarter and instead of pushing harder to get the word out, I wouldn't mention it anywhere.

But last week, something finally shifted and I began to make leaps and bounds with the script. Long lost pages and narration began to fit together and tell a story that felt smooth and progressive. Which, I believe, lead to the burst of confidence and momentum I needed to re-record and re-edit a new intro' video for our Kickstarter campaign.

The morning I uploaded our new intro', we currently had raised 20% of our goal - a handful of RTs, a few dozen diggs, and a wave of status updates later - and by the time I had gone to bed we jumped forward to an amazing 60%!

Which means a few things: a) we might actually be able to pull this funding campaign off after all (which means lots of exciting progress just ahead)! b) that in the next 52 days, I should be able to piece together large and completed sections of the film (writing, editing, voice-over, etc). c) that we are reaching all kinds of new people out there... and that we are very anxious to make a lasting connection with them. d) I felt like I a fourth point... but it is past my bedtime and I'm feeling groggy. So, I don't think it's coming back to me.

Now I'm sitting here on the floor, listening to The Wind, and blanking out in the direction of my typewriter - and I just want to finish this post by saying: Everyone gets into a slump. Everyone. But in my personal opinion, it's important to let it to depress you... to let it eat away at you and your confidence... to let your lack of action get under your skin and leave you feeling anxious.

Because when all that gives way and eventually comes out in full force - you can use it in your favor. You can come out swinging harder... as if you'd been up against the ropes with the timer running out. It might not be the most efficient way of working, but it does feel damn good sometimes.

Labels: Inspiration, Kickstarter, Post-Production, Writing

FToM + Kickstarter = Love from mike ambs on Vimeo.

33 days ago, Amanda and I launched a brand new Kickstarter campaign to help fund the last stages of post-production.

Since then we've been backed by over 40 people, with pledges ranging from $1 to over $500! We have raised $1,638 towards our goal of $8,300!

This is an all or nothing campaign. Meaning if we don't hit $8.3k, then no one's pledges go through.

Help support For Thousands of Miles, plus get awesome stuff like Pedal buttons, posters, autographed scripts, a 64 Days DVD with audio commentary and even my personal typewriter.

If you're new to this project, take a quick moment to check out our "hi, hello" intro page, it's a very informal, brief recap of the last 6 years.

Please consider backing our film with a $1 donation, or help spread the word by liking this video, sharing our KSR project with your followers on Twitter or your friends on Facebook. We are really excited about the next stages in post - and we are very, very grateful for all of your support!

Labels: Fund, Kickstarter, Outreach, Post-Production, Vimeo

Kickstarter is a special site - and it has fostered a special community. I've always loved the internet, if not simply for it's unique ability to inspire. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can start sharing their labor of love - and stumbling across these hard-to-find projects usually leads to new ideas and new relationships.

I first mentioned Kickstarter, because one interesting project I came across recently was called Lake Beast, in particular a post that was written about "what was inspiring the look" of this animated short film.

Which the last week'ish left me wondering: what films have / are most inspiring the look and feel of For Thousands of Miles? Many of these have actually been films I've seen long into the writing and creation process of Pedal. But they stuck with me... I have vivid memories of sitting in theaters in Los Angeles and seeing a movie that suddenly overwhelmed me with that sense of "this is what I want". Those moments and films are important to hold onto - they can serve as guide-lines.

In no real order of importance - here is a short list of five films that have an influence on me, and how specifically they influence FToM.


Stranded - I've come from a plane that crashed on the mountains: Main influence: message.

I might get a few strange looks for this... but when I was young, I was fascinated with Alive, a film about a group of real-life teenage rugby players who crash and survive in the Andes Mountains for 72 days. I watched it dozens of times during middle and high school.

The recent documentary, Stranded, is a collection of first-hand accounts with the actual survivors of that crash. Aside from it being one of the most visually engaging and crafted documentaries I've ever seen, it's also one of the most inspiring stories I've ever heard.

It's been one of the clearest examples of people's inner strength... of our ability to, in the most nightmarish of situations, not only simply survive, but to tap into a part of ourselves that is buried... that is often unnecessary in our routines.


The Mirror: Main influence: chronological-structure.

I remember first watching the Mirror, a Soviet-era self-reflecting film by Tarkovsky, the cinematography was stunning... each scene was so perfectly choreographed between the actors and the camera to maintain a constant mood of dream-like reflection.

But what stood out to me the most, was the story was told in an order that was defined not by date, but more by when the director seemed to full piece together that event's meaning or relevance. It was the first time I'd seen this done so beautifully... and the first time I felt at all confident that, yes, I could tell FToM in a similar way.


City of God: Main influence: narrative-structure.

Similar to the Mirror, City of God is able to start a narrative, but then side-step into an important and directly related side-narrative, while then smoothly coming back full-circle to where it started, now having explained all the pieces of the puzzle the audience needed.

This kind of nonlinear story-telling seems most necessary when dealing with real life, which is often full of so many more layers and back-stories than fiction. But most importantly, just because X happens before Y, doesn't mean it's understood in that order - sometimes Z, M, F and H have to happen before X seems to have significance.


Gerry: Main influence: pacing, visual.

The first opening shot of Gerry, aside from the 13 seconds of blue, is a near 8 minute continuous shot following the main character's car through Death Valley. Not a shot that everyone would be excited to sit through, understandably... but for me it was hypnotizing.

We've been trained to expect a certain amount of important information to be shown / explained in a certain amount of time when watching a movie (or TV show). But when a film takes an editing or pacing approach that goes beyond when we naturally expect a cut or a break, we begin to look closer at what's being shown - what's being said.

Is the film showing us clues, is the film setting a mood or level of reality that shifts the audience's perspective?

As a story-teller, you run the risk of pushing many people away with a shot that exceeds 3 minutes, 4 minutes, even 8 minutes - but sometimes that's a risk worth taking if important to the "way" in which someone begins to watch and take-in your film.


Days of Heaven: Main influence: visual, narrative.

This film is such a source of inspiration and nostalgia every time I watch it. The wide shots of the sprawling farmland just before sunset... the extreme close-ups of the grasshoppers clinging to strands of wheat. This is one of the films that I have a hard time putting into words.

There is something about how far-back the camera sits from people during a conversation... Or where the editor starts and ends that conversation which leaves something to the imagination. There's a drama that plays out that doesn't leave you gripping the edge of your seat, but allows you enough space to study the strange, predicable human-behavior the main cast finds themselves playing out.

Not to mention is has my favorite line from a film: "Looking for things. Searching for things. Going on adventures". I have that quote, from Linda Manz's character, written on a yellow post-it and taped to the front of my typewriter. I keep it there as a constant reminder of what For Thousands of Miles is supposed to be at it's simplest.


That's the end of my short-list for FToM's biggest inspirations. What are your most inspiring / motivating films?

60 days left: Don't forget to help us reach our post-production goal on Kickstarter - you can back our film for a dollar, or help spread the word.

Labels: Film, Inspiration, Kickstarter

Up past my bed-time getting some writing done - wanted to check in to update people on how writing has been going, and also to say thank you for all the amazing support we've been seeing through Kickstarter.

Labels: Kickstarter, Post-Production, Vlog, Weekly Update, Writing

Okay, my friend Eric suggested I get a little more sincere in my Kickstarter project description, so I wanted to give that a try:

There's a part of me that assumes when I mention, "I've been working on this film the last 6 years", that people automatically connect the dots, that they fill in the gaps of that statement and with it; understand how personal and important this film is to me. And that might be an unfair assumption.

The truth is this project means everything to me. This project has stemmed from a 55 day bicycle ride from Onsted, Michigan to San Francisco that I took in 2001... and ever since those two months, I've been haunted by the experience of my days on the road. The memories of lonely sunsets watched from empty back roads in Montana's badlands. The memories of endless waving fields through North Dakota. The memories of feeling small against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.

The first few years after my trip I bottled everything up that I felt and learned from it - there was a frustration of being unable to put into words what it all meant. How profound it became once I was back home and able to pick each layer apart and let it sink in. I felt separated from everyone I was close to before leaving, I felt still on the road in many ways.

Then I began to write things down, and those things first evolved into a book, and then later that unfinished book evolved into a film outline.

This is what I want / have to show in the finished film. I've tried to stress the importance of this project to me, I've tried to make clear that for as much as my trip left me feeling alone, disconnected, and lost - it has helped me understand people's strength, their deep drive to feel alive and to love. This is what i need to show *you*.

I know all that might seem funny for a documentary about someone riding a bike for 3 months straight. But in order to successfully ride a distance of 2 or 3 or even 5 thousand miles, you have to, piece by piece, leave behind the person you thought you were.

Labels: 6 Years, Kickstarter, Post-Production, Update

I put a lot of work and thought into our recent Kickstarter campaign - and the honest truth is, I know full well it's a big goal. A goal that percentage-wise, isn't in our favor of reaching.

We could have gone for a smaller amount, and we might be forced to do so 3 months from now; dividing the first round of funding towards securing equipment, and then a follow-up for travel expenses, and another for additional storage to actual edit the footage we took, etc.

That would be a safer way to approach the next steps in post, but in the spirit of biting off more than we can chew, we went with the whole needed budget. I would love nothing more than to sit back and let the magic of the interwebs reach out into the world and find new people who might fall head-over-heals for our project. But... they say better safe than sorry, and in this case, I feel it's very, very important to reach to this goal. And I feel that to do so, we're going to need to pull some major strings, and think of some new and very effective ways of reaching new people.

I am open to suggestions. Actually, the entire point of this post is a call for new ideas. Don't hold back, I am interested in any and all possible forms of outreach. Raising the last $8k of our goal is going to take some serious hard work, and some serious love.

Labels: Ideas, Kickstarter, Outreach, Post-Production

FToM + KSR = ♥ from mike ambs on Vimeo.

Amanda and I just launched a brand new Kickstarter campaign to help fund the last stages of post-production!

Help support 'For Thousands of Miles', plus get awesome stuff like Pedal buttons, posters, autographed scripts, a 64 Days DVD with audio commentary and even my personal typewriter.

Here's the (long) description from our campaign page:


Our 1st round of initial post-production funding was a great success on Kickstarter! And because of the amazing 18 backers, which helped raise $1,105, I've been able to work full-time on FToM for the last three months.

Recently, I finished editing a huge chunk of this ambitious documentary, cutting down over 120+ hours of footage into a near 5 hour rough edit. Which brings us to our 2nd round of funding:

So what's the next step? I have a long road of writing still ahead of me. The script, which mainly deals with several narratives blocks in the film are still rough at best, and in most cases detailed treatments and outlines.

The few connecting pieces of FToM that have yet to be filmed - that mainly deal with the experience of coming home from a long ride - need to be story-boarded and added into the editing sequences as place-holders for pacing and mood.

During the length of this KSR campaign, I'll be hard at work writing / story-boarding. The goal is to be done writing when this campaign ends and use (if successful) the raised funds to carry out the following steps as quickly as possible:

Pick-up shots: it's time for Amanda and I to travel to Northern California, where our main character in the documentary, Larry McKurtis, is currently living and working. FToM deals a lot with the hardest part of a long-distance experience... waking up one morning in your bedroom, and realizing it's over.

That is to say, your entire experience on the road shifts when it begins to sink in that it's over. Moments that, at the time, felt slow and uneventful, blur together and begin to represent something more. You try to move on with your life, your routine, but so much of your mind is still stuck on the road.

There is a very, very short list of needed equipment (mostly simple hardware-store lights, an SLR adapter, and a basic DIY dolly cart) that we'll have to secure for the 1-2 weeks of controlled shooting.

From there, we'll need to purchase additional hard-drive space (because I'm working on two completely maxed out Lacie drives as it is) to import the new footage (as well as inexpensive USB LaCie drives for redundant backups... can't be too careful). Several more weeks of heavy editing will follow - which will mostly involve replacing all story-boarded sequences with the actual footage. Recording any temporary narration track (we have someone professional in mind for narration, but that's a different adventure all together at this moment).

At this point - we should have a watchable edit in Final Cut. Amanda and I will begin to work closely on making adjustments, and doing small personal screenings to receive outside feedback on the project. Make more adjustments. Repeat.

From there we'll need to ship off a locked edit to Belgium where Olivier will color correct the film. As well as hire a visual effects creator (for "I'm doing this because I love your film" wages) for a small number of simple and subtle layers to scenes dealing with imagination on the road.

I know this sounds like a lot - and it is, but all these overwhelming steps can be speed-up and more easily managed with a working budget and, more importantly, a supportive community.

DIY film-making can be a crushing, lonely, experience... but all things worth doing are difficult - and together we can be a part of something that I believe will beautiful, inspiring and unique.

Labels: Fund, Kickstarter, Post-Production