Must Watch: Changing Seasons with Mark Matthews - RAW
Mark Matthews has the eye of an artist when he builds his trails. He finds a picturesque landscape, identifies a line that complements his riding style, and spends hours in the forest, turning his vision into a creative masterpiece that translates beautifully to the screen. His newest line and the surrounding trail network provided the perfect setting to showcase speed and style against the backdrop of a lush Pacific Northwest forest. Complemented by the raw sounds of Mark’s bike on the trail we hope you enjoy ‘Changing Seasons.’
 | “When all my travel and project plans came to a halt this Spring, I had to pivot and direct all my focus back to trail building. Normally I build all winter but this year it’s constant. I decided to go outside my comfort zone, regularly post YouTube vlogs, and document my journey of solo trail building throughout the year while we are social distancing. The result was a brand new jump trail and a brand new fan base who came along for the ride! After four months of building, I knew it was time to put together something rad to showcase my trail and the area surrounding it. This is my first time shooting a raw video and it was a massive endeavor! We underestimated how much work it would be. Sometimes single cable cam shots took all day, and the visuals were only half of the equation because the sound design is so important. Between the building, filming, and hours Scott spent in the editing room - a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this project. It was worth every inch of effort! ” |
| “When Mark and I talked about filming a raw edit we thought it would be a pretty straight forward project with a bit of extra work capturing quality audio. A few days into the shoot and we realized that wasn’t the case. With a self-imposed parameter of no slow motion, the sheer number of shots needed to fill out a video of a reasonable length was significant. From the beginning we decided to build the edit around a series of long cable camera shots that would put the viewer into the scene. With my homemade, gravity powered cable rig we knew this would be a time-consuming task. What we didn’t know is that we had just committed to a nine-day shoot for a one minute and thirty seven second video.” |
| “I gotta say, I was so stoked to be a part of this film; working with these committed, hard working creative dudes is always a great time and a good laugh. First off, having a rider who is next level skilled, dedicated, and consistent makes the photographer’s job so much easier, and that is certainly the case with Mark. On top of that, you’ve got Scott’s insane creativity and attention to detail which never ceases to blow my mind. It was so rad to see their vision come to life after each new clip was added to the bank. The weather didn’t always cooperate, so when the sun was out, we spent time finding new angles, having a laugh, and looking for chanterelles. This project has been such a highlight for me this year, it’s awesome to work with such a good crew and I’m stoked to keep making magic with these guys.” |
In order to have continuous audio that traveled with the rider during the cable camera shots, we devised an audio setup we could mount on Mark’s bike and allow him to ride unimpeded. After we captured footage of each section of trail, with the help of a small audio recorder, a good microphone, and a whole lot of gaff tape we captured audio of Mark’s riding for syncing in post. His line choice was so dialed that everything matched up and created the perfect blend of visuals and audio.
We had all the pieces in place – an amazing crew, a beautiful forest, prime trail conditions, and the right equipment for the job – when the weather decided to make things a bit more challenging. We’d arrive first thing in the morning to an overcast sky and spend an hour or two getting the cable camera set and camera movements dialed. Just as Mark was ready to drop in for the first real shot the clouds would part and flood the forest with patches of sunlight. A forest filled with dappled light is a filmer’s worst nightmare – it’s nearly impossible to create a pleasing image. We’d wait for moments of clouds to squeeze in a shot or two but these were some of the most difficult remote cable camera movements we had ever tried to pull off. Sometimes this meant we’d only go home with 10 seconds of usable video after eight hours of work. Despite the slow pace of getting footage in the bag, every time we nailed the shot, it all felt worth it.
This video was a labour of love. From the start everyone put in their all to make it come together. Within days of the final shots being captured British Columbia was hit with a massive storm, dropping a few inches of snow and soaking all the trails we had just finished filming. We squeezed this one in just in time to see this forest in its Autumn beauty.
Supported by: Marin Bikes
Director: Scott Bell and Mark Matthews
Cinematography and Post Production: Scott Bell
Photography: Jarrett Lindal
Trail Building: Mark Matthews, Dougal Browne, Trev Or, and Paul Young
Special Thanks: Ryan de Milliano and Kurt Beaton
Must Read This Week
98 Comments
youtu.be/yPAxJSo0acI?t=242
The dude absolutely sends it.
I think the beauty of RAW sound is something we all can agree on.
I was never a fan of hub buzz anyway.
Old school MTBs -> Gravel bikes
Mid school MTBs -> Slope/jump bikes
Late-mid school MTBs -> jib bikes
New school MTBs -> MTBs
Great to see you continuing to kill it.
That moment at 1:20
adrenalin push fo sho.
Cheers!