Behind the Lens - Aaron "Mono" Bartlett

Dec 2, 2010
by Tim Lake  
Aaron "Mono" Bartlett is 1/3 of what you know as MTBcut and one of the more well known British Videographers. He's also the main man behind top Blockbuster hits such as Foot Out Flat Out and Foot Out Flat Out 2.
In between riding goon style and growing terrorist style facial hair, Aaron kindly answered a few questions for us about what he's been up to.

Videos, Wild Pictures and Interview inside!

First up, what's your name, and where are you currently living?
Aaron Bartlett and I live in Tavistock in South West England.

For all the people that don't know or haven't guessed where the name 'Mono' came from, care to explain?
Mono is my nickname, short for Monobrow - I have 1 eyebrow. I'm currently trying to meet it up with my moustache, so I have a big O shape on my face...

What made you want to start filming bikes?
What made me want to start filming bikes? Well this one time I was at the woods digging a hole and this bike came up to me and said "you know you should really film me on this radical awesome jump" and to be honest it went from there, I've never looked back! No, but seriously it all goes back to 5 maybe 6 years ago just pissing around with my parent's old camera filming mates and making local DVDs.

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What setup are you currently shooting with?
Current camera is a Sony EX1 (thanks to Stu Thomson) and I'd like a 7D over the winter to add a bit of variety to my footage. We'll see how it goes, I've just bought a house though so probably I'll end up buying a f**king sofa or something instead...

How long had you been riding before you decided that you wanted to film mountain biking?
I've been riding since I was maybe 14/15, so probably a year or two before I started getting the hang of filming in any kind of way which wasn't shaky handed, wide framed, slow to react zoom finger and edited to death metal. Does that sentence even make grammatical sense?

Did you already know a lot of the riders when you decided to film for your first full length film "Foot Out Flat Out"?
The first FOFO was mainly riders I had met or had some contact with at races, so I'd say mostly yes.

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FOFO was a massive hit with the UK Race Scene. How pleased were you with the success it had?
I wouldn't say that the first FOFO was a massive hit to be honest. At the time I was so proud when it hit the shelves (especially seeing it in Halfords), but in hindsight now it was really just a side show to the only other downhill bike film that came out that year which was 3Focus (which was a lot better to be fair). But to be honest I can't be too hard on it, at the end of the day it was my first film and I worked bloody hard on it, so I should be pleased with how well it did.

Did it inspire you more to carry on shooting MTB?
I'd say yes it did inspire me. As part of FOFO in 2008 I went to the Fort William World Cup for the first time and that really inspired me to shoot more World Cups for 2009. I'd also got friendly with Paul Roberts who shot some of the Nationals that year as well and it turned out we ended up working together on FOFO2.

Foot Out Flat Out 2 Trailer:
Views: 54,830    Faves: 1,180    Comments: 122



This year you're working with Stu Thomson and Scott Marshall for MTBcut. How did that come about?
I worked for MTBcut last year in '09 at the Canadian rounds and Worlds in Australia and I suppose this helped me to get the job for this year as well. It's been great working with Chain Reaction Cycles and Lapierre International which I got all through MTBcut. Stu's awesome to work for and we've got some big plans for the company looking forward, can't wait to be honest. Marshall did many of the daily edits at World Cups last year and is awesome as well, independently he's releasing his own film this year and I think it will be dubbed the new Earthed... Keep an eye out!

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Most memorable shoot?
Most memorable rider shoot would have to be this year in Morzine bunked up in a house full of stinky foul mouthed Kiwis for a week (WynTV, Brook MacDonald and Sam Blenkinsop). I'll be uploading that pretty soon as a web video, it's pretty damn funny. As for most memorable shoot in general there is no question that it would have to be the 20 minutes I spent shooting the Mega this year for Lapierre hanging out the side of a helicopter.

Who do you think the big starts of the future will be in MTB?
Future stars? Fraser McGlone is one to watch. He's a first year junior this year so I think he'll get on some World Cup rounds. Other than that I think Lewis Buchanan has proved this year that he can mix it up with the older guys and riders like Brook Macdonald, Shaun O'Connor and Danny Hart have done great to step up so well from Juniors.

Views: 3,815    Faves: 83    Comments: 5


How are you finding living the lifestyle that lots of people dream about, traveling all over the world?
The best part about traveling is sitting in economy and being cramped up in stupid tiny little seats next to some grumpy fat old fart who wants to small talk while I'm trying to watch Kick Ass. The other great experience I had while on a plane was last year on the way to Australia when I foolishly wore some really rough cut and quite slim jeans. The chafage was almost unbearable, I tell you I had to get up every hour to go to the bathroom and take them off so I could rub the insides and back of my legs - can't believe how much it hurt. The rest of it sucks, I hate my job.

If you could film anyone, anywhere, who and where would it be, and why?
I'm still yet to film with Peaty. If I could choose anywhere to jet him out to it would be New Zealand I suppose. But realistically I'd love to go and shoot with Blenky in NZ, I've had the invite, but I'd have to do it for fun and I just don't have the funds! Hopefully I'll get some work in the near future which means I can go!

Views: 44,081    Faves: 557    Comments: 98


What was the wildest thing you've seen this year?
Danny Hart's final turn in Val Di Sole. Dungey at Southwick AMA wrapping up the overall. Er and rapping Korean taxi driver in NYC. Oh oh and Brook MacDonald's bowel problem.

Views: 19,031    Faves: 179    Comments: 28


Have you ever made any big mistakes while on a shoot?
Big mistakes? Don't think anything really big, but I had some problems with my mic this year, especially in Val Di Sole. Other than that I've been lucky I think.

What projects are you currently working on?
I'm not working on anything in particular right at the moment. Just working on a little video for a local bike shop who've helped me out since I started riding and I'm editing up a few rider sections I filmed this year to upload to the web. Then I've got a bit of winter work to get started on in the next few weeks when we'll be shooting the next Mojo Trail Diaries.

I heard you got pretty wild at the end of season party in MSA. What happened there?
Ya the Mont Sainte Anne after party was awesome until I got my shoulder dislocated in the mosh pit, haven't done it for like a year! Cheers to all those who stood around and laughed while I tried desperately to get out of the pit. Bellends!

What football team do you support and how well are they doing at the moment?
This is a bike forum not a football forum, but if you really want to know I'm a big Scouse fan, the red variety. - (Aaron didn't want to answer this question because at the time, his team were almost bottom of the Premier League...)

Foot Out Flat Out 2 was your first big, full length covering the World Cups and filming some big riders. What would you say was the most difficult part of producing that?
FOFO2 was such a pleasure to work on. Paul Roberts helped me film it and it was awesome to work with someone else on a film. Stu Thomson also helped to get me out to the Canada WCs and Australia for Worlds so without those guys it wouldn't have been as good as I think it turned out. As for difficult it wasn't difficult really until it came to editing in time for the deadline VAS Entertainment had given me to get it out on time before Christmas. We had a few huge problems to overcome in 2 weeks of solid editing. That included re-uploading over 60 hours worth of footage off tape and editing the whole thing in what was left. Then I had to convert it from PAL format to NTSC format. I really don't know how we managed to do it, but what I do know is that it took a long time of being couped up in Wales at Paul's house not seeing the sun. But it was all worth it now seeing how well it has done over this year, really happy about that.

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Do you prefer a day of shooting amazing riders, or a day of ripping down crazy trails?
If I'm honest the reason I got into filming was because I love riding so I'd have to say a day of top quality riding takes the biscuit. Especially seeing as I don't get to do it all that often!

Do you think we will ever see 3D mountain biking movies?
Well for "real" 3D you need to be filming on two cameras so maybe some of the freeride filmers will try it first.

Any thanks you want to give?
Thanks to Stu Thomson, my girlfriend Vikki, my parents, Paul Roberts, Tim Smith, Jacob Gibbins, Nigel Page, Laurent Delorme and anyone else that has helped me out along the way who might read this!


Cheers Mono.
Be sure to check out MTBcut's edits in the future!

-Tim Lake
www.southside-productions.co.uk

Author Info:
timlake avatar

Member since Nov 23, 2007
30 articles

5 Comments
  • 3 0
 "The chaf*ge was almost unbearable, I tell you I had to get up every hour to go to the bathroom and take them off so I could rub the insides and back of my legs - can't believe how much it hurt."

Had a giggle when I read that...

Great blog Tim, really enjoy this series, keep at it buddy. I actually have a good idea for you, I'll contact you...
  • 1 0
 Awesome coverage. Great stuff. So cool to see a re cap of peaty taking champs and Beaumont taking it home in val di sole.
  • 2 0
 Noice.
  • 1 0
 great work
  • 1 0
 dude is hilarious!







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