The dog days of summer lend themselves to productivity. The light is out late, the air is warm on the breeze even in the late evening and the sessions can go for hours. Light fades from white to gold to blue to black, making one session feel like four all melting together. With long open days and free reign to conceptualize and create a new build in Montana at the Legacy Bike Park, Brandon Semenuk has pieced together one of his best trail bike edits yet.
Film by Isaac Wallen & Benoit Lalande. Photos by Ian Collins.
Love Semeneuk but at the level he is riding and the super creative trails they are building for these videos I can't figure out for the life of me why they keep changing the angle so often, with so many close ups. It takes away from the lines and riding. ridiculous editing. Maybe it's just a matter of taste, but it's 1 thing most people here I think can agree on.
I'm sure he still has lots of input, but maybe at this level there's a lot more (corporate) cooks in the kitchen? Not sure.There's a big difference between putting every shot together vs. approval of the final edit; maybe if he personally watched it over and over and over the headaches would suggest they should smooth it out.
update - here's the reason: benoitlalande.com Everything this guy edits is cut like this.
Kinda makes me wonder what they'd do with it after. The whole row of floating tables is probably something on a handful of people in the world can ride. I'd imagine they'd probably flattened some of that stuff, while keeping the general line of the trail.
If we only still had (27.5) bikes that could be ridden on something like this as well as trails.. Good luck having fun on that trail with a 40lb 29’er.
@emptybe-er: Sorry to hear that you cant have fun on a 29 but just because you dont manage to does not mean others dont know how to jib/jump a full 29er
@PHeller: His single continuous jump line shot in the green grassy hills from circa 2017 (where he switches bikes mid run) is near my house and I can confirm, they tore it all down immediately after filming so I'd afraid the same fate came to this build.
@RockCrawler: What the do you know about jibbing and jumping? It sounds like probably not very much. It’s not a matter of learning how to adapt. 29’ers suck for anything but going faster in a straight line. They help people that suck with traction and stability and the cost is they aren’t as fun. I’m so tired of people acting like it’s not a fact despite the most impressive riding consistently happening on smaller wheels. You can easily see that as wheels get smaller, skill is higher.
@emptybe-er: I'm sorry that you dont know how to jib with a 29er. Regarding me, I know more than enough about it.It seems to me that you just dont have the strenght to jib a 29 which can simply be fixed by hitting the gym. And why do you think that just because someone rides a 29er that he doesnt also ride smaller bikes? I got a Privateer 161 as my main Bike, a full 27.5 Status as a Bikeparkbike and a BMX. The only aspect where skills matters truly on small bikes is whilste going full out on Downhilltracks. Nothing impressiv in crusing down a Jumpline as smooth as Highway on a 27.5 or 29 when I can hit steeper/bigger Jumps on a BMX
@RockCrawler: Seems you’ve hit the gym too much and have grown muscles between your ears. If you would’ve grown up blue collar and earned your muscle the right way you wouldn’t need a gym to ride your wagon wheeler.
Borrow pits - Shire was digging deep holes to generate material which gets below any hint of organic coloring into that grey glacial deposit. We’ve been building at Legacy for 3 years and the dirt is killer. The pits get filled with all the surface organics.
they're genuinely f*cking awful. it's just a continuous stream of distracting bullshit and faux pas a high school photography student would have grown out of by now.
whoever edits and films brandons videos please, i am begging you, greatly reduce or fully eliminate the following: mid trick quick cuts (sometimes multiple times wtf?), over zoomed in elbows to knees in frame shots, quick cut random guy in the sky shots, tilting your camera as the rider passes, inconsistent shaky high to low and side to side pans, and cutting every single clip before the 2.5 second mark. just let a 6 second clip play out where takes off, lands, stays in frame, and then maybe even hits a corner. you do not need 5 different cuts within that 6 seconds its just horrible viewing
No issues with the editing here and I'm old + a professional video guy. These tricks deserve to be seen here twice from 2 different angles to be appreciated. Also, I'll bet this track is FAR shorter than this 2 minute video makes it out to be.
That being said, there are other videos out there that Semenuk has been a part of with different editors that made me want to vomit from nausea.
username checks out.
But to counterpoint your counterpoint, I don't mind the fast cuts from a videography point of view, I'm sure its technically excellent film making and would score well at cannes, but from a riders perspective the fast cuts in the middle of interesting bits of riding are distracting. It's difficult to tell what Semenuk is actually doing when the shot cuts mid trick. Riding edits of late seem to have forgotten that they aren't film school projects designed to show off the cameras and editing skills, they are riding edits who's purpose is to show off bikes and riding skills.
@jomacba: you think? I thought it looks bigger but not like a slash. I’m secretly hoping for an updated Remedy… Either way, Skills trump Wheelsize/playfulness…
only thing not 100% on point here was color correction in some shots, other than that, great vid, creative build and some sick af riding. i want more, i need more
A couple things… we can all agree Semenuk is one of the greatest bike riders of all time, in any discipline, but this style video has run its course I think and it’s actually distracting as hell. Additionally, this is the weakest edit he’s put out in years. One-hander-lander to bar then bounce off 4 damn Lilly pads and end with a one footer? This is not up to his own standards.
update - here's the reason: benoitlalande.com
Everything this guy edits is cut like this.
Hey legacy, you gonna let us on that trail? I'd be excited to injure myself on it.
atleast we know it can be done...
whoever edits and films brandons videos please, i am begging you, greatly reduce or fully eliminate the following: mid trick quick cuts (sometimes multiple times wtf?), over zoomed in elbows to knees in frame shots, quick cut random guy in the sky shots, tilting your camera as the rider passes, inconsistent shaky high to low and side to side pans, and cutting every single clip before the 2.5 second mark. just let a 6 second clip play out where takes off, lands, stays in frame, and then maybe even hits a corner. you do not need 5 different cuts within that 6 seconds its just horrible viewing
That being said, there are other videos out there that Semenuk has been a part of with different editors that made me want to vomit from nausea.
A solid Value Village purchase by Brandon the frugal and fashionable consumer.
Either way, Skills trump Wheelsize/playfulness…