Movie Review: The Coastal Crew's Arrival
The Coastal Crew's
ARRIVAL
Review: Scott Secco
 | I'm just a man that loved rap // So much in fact // I put every piece of myself inside these f*cking tracks. Atmosphere, The Arrival |
Arrival is The Coastal Crew’s second feature film. It’s obvious that the additional money and experience gained from their past effort, From The Inside Out, has benefitted them – you can literally see the difference. This is partially due to the use of a Sony FS-700 video camera and the super slow mo that comes with it. Thankfully this isn’t a movie filled with excessive slow mo, it’s used subtly, emphasizing the crux of maneuvers and the little moments impossible to catch with the naked eye.
Arrival carries over some of the tone of Nic Genovese's excellent Making Of episodes. You’ll see shots of the Crew filming for the movie interspersed amongst riding shots in each segment – you’ll feel as if you’re there with them, drinking Cariboo and capturing clips. Genovese is listed, along with Dylan Dunkerton and Kyle Norbraten as the film’s principal cinematographers and Curtis Robinson, Matt Miles, and Matt Dennison are credited with additional cinematography. That’s one of the things that make The Coastal Crew’s videos so good. Filmmaking for them is a team effort led by world-class riders. While still artistic, Arrival is about showcasing riding, not just time lapses.
Arrival was edited by Dylan Dunkerton and his clever use of visual transitions - a Glidecam shot into the viewfinder during the Whistler segment and a cross dissolve from cracked red earth to wet coastal loam were particular standouts - make the viewing experience smooth and seamless. The music selection is catchy and we’re sure you’ll be adding a few songs from the soundtrack to your riding playlist.
Arrival accomplishes two unlikely feats: it brings new life to the ‘getting ready to go ride/loading the truck’ trope and somehow manages to create a truly unique Whistler segment. Credit for the Whistler segment should also be given to Matt Dennison. Dennison of I'm Faster Than You and I Only Ride Park fame co-directed this section and his comedic sensibilities make it instantly relatable and entertaining. You’ve never seen a Whistler segment like this, but you may have lived it.
The riding throughout the film is uniformly excellent. You can expect bikes and dirt flying sideways at all times. Kyle Norbraten’s segment is a major standout of the film as he pushed himself to 360 a 15-foot drop and flip his first stepdown. Logan Peat’s dirt jump/slopestyle section will be a surprise to many, his trail is filled with cedar bridges and he’s got a huge bag of tricks. Stevie Smith also brings an unexpected touch of freeride to his part, in amongst the warp speed downhilling. Arrival is foremost a freeride film and with riders like Matt Miles, Ryan Howard, Mitch Ropelato, Bernardo Cruz, and The Coastal Crew, we think this'll be your new favourite pre-ride stoke movie. You'll want to pick up your bike or a shovel after watching it.
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| Growing up we were looking at mountain biking from the outside. After many years of hard work as riders, builders, and filmmakers we worked our way into a position where we can express mountain biking the way we see it. Kyle Norbraten, From The Inside Out |
The Coastal Crew first came to prominence through the Kranked video series. Their trail building for Ben Boyko in Kranked 6 landed them a spot riding in Kranked 7 and their Kranked 8 segment is considered one of the best video parts ever. Nothing exemplifies the time and effort The Coastal Crew put into their films better than the trails they build. Each of their segments is a masterclass in cedar bridges and sculpted dirt and this movie contains some of the most amazing trails we've ever seen. Arrival is The Coastal Crew's entire ethos distilled into 35:04 of digital video. They built, rode, shot, and edited almost everything in the movie and that's what makes it so special: it's a film by riders, for riders. They’ve arrived.
Photography: Harookz
Video: The Coastal Crew
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Follow Me - Whistler Scene - "It's On (Instrumental" - Heavy Rock
Strength in Numbers - Radioactive - Imagine Dragons - Sort of a house vibe, but works
Not Bad - Rude Rock Intro - One by One - The Black Seeds - Chill Raggae Style
Not Bad - Rude Rock - All Stars - Grafton Primary - Hard Rock
Sunshine Coast - Trail Wizard - Knolly Video - Zeppelin - Classic Rock
So many other styles work well as highlighted above. Unfortunately the rap just doesn't do it for me.
Having said all that, who doesn't make imaginary video's in their head whilst listening to music, purely because you can visualize yourself pulling that perfect slo-mo whip just as the band reach that epic chorus you love
With the exception of WTTE and Life Cycles, most bike films are becoming pretty formulaic these days as has been mentioned above. I would actually prefer to see a little more real world riding where riders are ripping through the sort of single track that the majority of us can access. I think of the scenes with Shandro and Wildehaber or Hunter, May and Simmons in Strength in Numbers when I imagine what I would like in a bike movie. Those tracks were natural tracks set in incredible scenery. Whereas we can't all necessarily access that kind of scenery, those trails are probably closer to what many of us ride. Therefore seeing how these tracks can be ridden by pros, that is something I can better relate to rather than somebody hitting a 60 ft table top at 1000mph whilst doing some mid air topiary.
I'd also be interested to know out of all of the people who commented here, who will actually purchase a copy (legally).
It was like all of the best parts of the trail were cut and hashed together, but we would like to see some of the regular trail riding too where the wheels don't leave the ground, or some background video where bikes aren't even in the shot.
Second, why do people want narration in their bike/ski/snowboard/skate films? I want films to be more like Arrival. The equation of individual rider segment set to music is what these movies should be. Let the athletes and there skills shine through, not over the top editing and gaudy narration. We need to go back to the style of films in the early 2000s, name of rider currently riding, rocking music, amazing shredding, repeat.
Would love to know how much building / location scoping / days went into a 30 min movie
when i inserted tha current pearl jam record, the lilloet scene felt soooo much better with "getaway" in the background... rock n roll music is about havin fun and shreddin your instruments... equals to shredding bikes!
everything is epic now. epic car. epic haircut. epic movie. epic album. epic shut the f*ck up.
saying "epic win" doesn't make you sound any better, either. and for f*cks sake, don't ever say it in person.
The film wasn't epic
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Great film though and massive props to him giving us a free show. Looking forward to his next production
awsome, can´t stop watching.