t.minus 55 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

Strange and redacted teasers are coming and going on t.minus - each one is a clue that ties into the finished film.

Labels: Post-Production, t.minus, Vimeo

Post Production * Week 112 from mike ambs on Vimeo

I sound a bit under the weather in this update - but despite my sore throat I've been hard at work editing and writing for the film.

Amanda and I have been working over video-chat to work out the rough parts of the script. On top of that, we recently finished our 64 Days Production Journal and I just so happened to get it in the mail today after I started recording this video.

I'm really excited at how they turned out! We'll be posting more on that later - for now, it's time for me to get back to editing.

Labels: 64 Days, Post-Production, Vimeo, Vlog, Weekly Update

The VGkids were cool enough to let me come by and film them making the film's new t-shirts.

I had no idea the machines they use to print shirts were so awesome - the way it drops and spins around is kinda' hypnotizing. I think I shot way, way more footage of their machine than anything else.

The tees are 100% organic cotton unisex alternate apparel shirts - and all the profits help support our feature film. Get yours at big cartel.

Labels: Post-Production, Store, t-shirts, VGkids, Vimeo

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

Teaser 016 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

Maybe someone better with words could explain why it is abandoned houses always feel so fascinating when on the road.

I used to spend hours in them on my first bike trip... Tim and I would drag our bikes off the road, make lunch while sitting on a dirty, glass-covered floor. I would poke through old dressers, look for things that used to be important to someone. Baseball cards. Magazines with notes scribbled on the margins.

It was late when Larry came across this old farm-house - he stopped, took a few pictures, wandered around the back and peaked inside... but there wasn't enough light to really find your way around.

He was only there a few minutes, and then he was back on his bike... I wondered when I was filming this when the last time anyone payed any attention to this empty home.

Labels: Post-Production, Teaser, Vimeo

Teaser 015 from mike ambs on Vimeo.

So, people have been asking me to post a FToM teaser that had a little bit of dialog in it for a while now. And I don't really have an excuse as to what took me so long to actually picking one out.

But, I have to give Erica some credit here... I had yet *another* quiet biking shot picked out and ready to go and she strong-armed me into saving that for another time and picking out something "different".

This group was one of the first people Larry ran into after having to say goodbye to his best-friend Jay earlier this morning. I know it must have been hard on Larry to carry on as if nothing was wrong or out-of-place.

Labels: Post-Production, Teaser, Vimeo

Last night I twittered that I finished off the first of two 1 TB drives full of FToM's footage - I went through and condensed many of the edits and took out clips I knew weren't working now that I had seen it next to other clips. So the timeline is still just barely pushing 2 hrs and 15 min.

But with another 1 TB of footage to comb through, and 400-some Mp4 clips (from Larry, and the crew), I'll be busy for a few more weeks before I have a solid 5 hours of footage that count as the most usable of the film's media. Then, the plan is, to play that edit on a loop while I make notes, write more of the script and narration, draw out the last of the storyboards for scenes we still need to film with Larry in Northern California... picking out music, et cetera.

I have a long, long road ahead of me. Finishing one of the drives was a great feeling, but it was a small step.

We only have 9 days to go on our Kickstarter campaign - another $300 and we'll have reached our goal! Just as a note; none of the money pledged to this point goes through if our goal isn't reached. This $1,000 will be set aside for the post-production and pick-up shots I mentioned above.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been working hard on updated our Stockpile project. If you haven't seen the new site yet, please take a moment to check it out and help spread the word. When I was on the phone with Winona, from Adventure Cycling, she suggested I create a promo video for our outreach campaign. I thought it was a great idea, so here it is, our new 60 second Stockpile promo:

Help us burn through the more than 16,600 HD embed'able plays we have left on Vimeo!

It's easy - just copy the code above and paste it anywhere you see fit. Thanks for helping to spread the word!

<object width="588" height="250"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5070041&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5070041&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="588" height="250"></embed></object>That's all the updates I have in me tonight. I'm leaving town for the weekend but I'm hoping to record a vlog update while I'm working in FCP in the afternoon.

Labels: Embed, Fund, Post-Production, Stockpile, Twitter, Vimeo

Since my last post, about simplifying my editing workflow, I've been cutting For Thousands of Miles like a mad man. I created a separate sequence, nicknamed The Odyssey, and went from a blank slate to over 2 ½ hours in the last few days.

Editing FToM Screen Cast from mike ambs on Vimeo

It feels so refreshing to just filter out the beginning, and the end of FToM, and just focus on the chunk that deals with a more linear (emotionally) arc. Treating it as it's own separate piece has lifted so much of the pressure and confusion from editing, and I can see already that having this larger, more complete block of the film actually in front of me, will make it much easier in the near future to tie it back into the bookends of the film.

But editing isn't all I've been busy with, over the weekend I did some updating and re-designing of Stockpile (which will go live in the next few days), I've been putting together a 60 second promotional video for it also - something that the awesome people over at Adventure Cycling suggested we try. We're really excited about the upcoming mention of Pedal in their Bike Bits newsletter, I can't wait to watch all the newly submitted bike-trip footage.

Back to work for now - be sure to let us know in the comments if you anything questions about what's going on behind the scenes of Pedal.

Labels: FToM, Post-Production, Stockpile, Vimeo

First off, I've heard from several people who saw the CNN interview earlier today - if you missed it, don't forget to check it out tomorrow at 12:30 or 5:30p ET on, but so far I've heard nothing but nice things. Thanks for all the great things you all have been saying - it means a lot to us.


Speaking of great things that people say, I recently mentioned that I uploaded episodes one through four on Vimeo, I've gotten so many comments in such a short time, and they have been some of the most flattering comments I've ever received. For example: 2 days ago Sarah Shevett said about Episode 4, "Wow that actually made me cry."

And 3 days ago Robin said about Episode 1, "[Because in the end it has almost nothing to do with the bike and everything to do with setting out to accomplish something that is intimidating, that is unknown to you, something you know you have a good chance of failing at but doing it anyways and slowly but surely proving yourself wrong.] Moved to tears. Seriously. Bravo Mike!"

Not that my sole purpose is to make people cry with the episodes, but it's unbelievably flattering and inspiring to hear people actually felt *that* connected with what I'm trying so hard to find the words to say. I can't thank you enough.

Labels: CNN, Production, Twitter, Vimeo

Just wanted to let people know that episodes one through four are now up on Vimeo - I always dug the way the player looked when watching Indy Mogul, so I checked out the site earlier today and had to create an account.

This doesn't mean I love Blip.tv any less :) It just makes me happy to see online video sharing done right.

Labels: Blip.tv, Indy Mogul, Production, Vimeo