The Secret To A Good Trial Video

[MikeCottTrials]

I'd disagree with that entirely, and I'd also suggest that's probably a large part of the reason there are a lot of riders around now who are sketchy as hell and bad at actually riding a bike but can sidehop 50". Most TGSers won't appreciate tech lines, but a lot of people still do. Same way that a lot of people don't "get" natural videos, but I like them just because it shows a different level of riding rather than just repeated sidehops or gaps onto and from square edges. Like with that French Cup video that was up last week, the riding's pretty big in terms of inches, but it's also tech as f**k and being able to see how they're able to control their bikes in the hardest situations is awesome. Obviously it's not for everyone, but saying that videos aren't about what is hard or technically difficult is massively incorrect.

You miss understand the point sir

What I am saying is what you see is all that matters. To us trials riders the difference between, a massive 50" sidehop and a reasonable 47" sidehop, is HUGE. But visually it makes very little difference really.

That's where I draw the line of technically difficult.

My idea of spectacular riding is more along the lines of a high drop gap or a big free pedal gap. Something which is really a spectacle to watch.

I'm not saying make an entire video of drop gaps etc but they do play an important role.

I see a lot of riders releasing videos which have nothing which would really fill my elasticated pants to the brim with crud, and I think that's a bad thing for trials in general.

Edited June 14, 2010 by MikeCottTrials

[bikeperson45]

With regards to my thoughts on the edit, Mark, that was definitely a good first effort. Where the music allowed it, in terms of change, I could clearly see that you made use of correlating it with the riding for the purposes of emphasis. I actually think that's probably the single most important technique for producing a good edit in the sense of making the riding better than it is within itself. It's often something that's missed though. However, I do think the music didn't allow for all that many opportunities of correlation that emphasised and when pretty much every move Ali did was really impressive a song with more points of emphasis/change could have made a stronger edit. But then it's not easy finding music that supports that approach and it's something I really struggle with these days. The flow of the riding perhaps would have made things a bit easier in that sense. The rythm of the music certainly worked in a background/ambient sense and sometimes that can be enough. However in relation to that, on occasion, I felt that the riding sounds (Ali's hub, wind and passing cars) drowned out that rythm/music and kind've spoilt the continuity. Although the hub does sound good I think it's sometimes better to just let the music take precedence (again for emphasis) and especially so when there are useless noises such as a busy road/wind. It does all differ though from place to place in a video according the variables present. This is all perhaps a bit picky but I'm making the assumption you might appreciate thinking about it in these terms.

Anyway, ramble over. Hope that helps, is wanted, and isn't too incoherrent or abstract. No doubt my views are subjective to a greater or lesser extent though. Importantly, regardless of the 'reasoning' side of things it should always be operated on from an intuitive position: "What's the feeling of bike movement/surroundings relative to the feeling of the auditory (musical) movemment?". That's the conclusion I've been holding onto for some time now anyway.

Snipped this from the Ali C brakeless thread

Edited June 15, 2010 by bikeperson45

[J.KYDD]

Ultimatly everyone has a different style of filming, editing, and riding which needs to all be suited together to come together and make a good all round video

I advise watching a number of videos of contrasting styles and seeing which best matches your riding style and tastes

I highly recomend watching

Any/all of Rowan John's webvids

Ben Rowland's videos

Rich Pearsons 'Street training' series

Damon Watsons vids

Ben Slingers newest vid (it should still be fairly recent in the video thread)

The NBR videos

Wherestheseat.com videos

All of these vids showcase completly different riding, filming and editing styles but are all awesome to watch.

Make a list of what you like from each of the films and try and use those touches in what you make.

Take note of their use of:

Intro/outro's

changes of pace

camera angles

Use of any panning shots

Breaks in the riding

Music - both rowan and wts.com's vids use pretty alternative music but it always works well

Also, make a vidoe as best you can, and then just ask for as much advice on it as possible. Its easier to make constructie critisism on something weve seen rather than telling you what to do from scratch without having seen your riding.

Edited June 15, 2010 by kyddie

[Ashes]

Ultimatly everyone has a different style of filming, editing, and riding which needs to all be suited together to come together and make a good all round video

I advise watching a number of videos of contrasting styles and seeing which best matches your riding style and tastes

I highly recomend watching

Any/all of Rowan John's webvids

Ben Rowland's videos

Rich Pearsons 'Street training' series

Damon Watsons vids

Ben Slingers newest vid (it should still be fairly recent in the video thread)

The NBR videos

All of these vids contain completly different riding, filming and editing styles but are all awesome to watch.

Make a list of what you like from each of the films and try and use those touches in what you make.

Also, make a vidoe as best you can, and then just ask for as much advice on it as possible. Its easier to make constructie critisism on something weve seen rather than telling you what to do from scratch without having seen your riding.

Will do, cheers.

Ashes.

[Greetings]

Well i wnt to improve my videos however at the moment i am tuck in abit of a rut and would just like to hear some opinions that would help my to better myself.

You haven't been on this forum for long so just a bit of advice here - take more care when writing your posts.

[Ashes]

You haven't been on this forum for long so just a bit of advice here - take more care when writing your posts.

Yer i see what you mean when readig it through, doesnt help ive got adodgey keyboard. Any errors are unintentional but nobodys perfect.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Ashes.