Journey and Union : The Journey

I've always been into film making, making small videos of riding, from events I've been to, things I've done etc.. but embarking on this project, I knew it would come out good, with the people I've had the chance to work with and the places I've had the chance to go to have made it brilliant. And to fit it in around my riding was a task sometimes, but this years work has paid off, massively.

I'm Tom Caldwell, a 17 year old amateur film maker and rider from North West England, UK. I own and run a film and creative media company by the name of Flatout Films. In early 2011, I decided to produce my first full feature length film documenting mine and my friends passion to ride in the most creative and aesthetically pleasing way possible. I tried to express the story of the film throughout the introduction, so listen carefully.

Journey and Union.





I first started shooting my good friend John Eland at Wharncliffe, and we were after a banger of an opening section to set the film off. Purely because he is probably the fastest rider I personally know. We turned up at Wharncliffe only knowing part of the place, and we were after sender lines and fast rocky terrain. We found a huge double line from a steep drop in. John scoped it out and he had it perfect after a few runs. Heres the opening section.





One of my personal favourite sections is Danny Hawkins section. Ever since I've known the guy, all he's done is send stuff and throw huge whips. Mainly on a DJ bike - now he's thrown his leg over a decent Freeride bike, its turned into complete moto. We hit up Cannock for a late summer shoot and got some awesome light with some crazy changeable weather. Section below.

Montage of Danny Hawkins at Cannock.



Good old Danny.

Now another one of the sections that turned out great was that of Duane Walkers. I met this guy mainly through Laurence-CE Photography http://www.laurence-ce.com and Facebook, and aswell as being an awesome guy, he can't half ride a bike. We sorted a few shoots out within a week, the first one being at MTB Pursuits, Harthill, Cheshire, where we sessioned and filmed some pretty big tables.


We went on to finish his section with a more AM style shoot at Coed Llandegla, North Wales. We took the cablecam up onto the black run, with the help of Rob Kennerley where the whole forest was completely shrouded in mist and fog, all day. This made for a pretty unique part of the video, as I cant say I've ever shot in fog before. His section below.



Another great trip from this year that stood out was mine and John Eland's trip up to Innerleithen. We were originally just after a riding trip up there because its such a long way for us, then we came up with the idea to film a section, as I wanted a part to play in my own film, because the love of riding is what it all comes down to!

Playing with fire and long exposure proved to be very fun. Some great evenings had up by Inners and Glentress.

The days we were there we perfect too, not a cloud in the sky, and the trails were beyond great. I had the idea of strapping the contour to the back of my bike looking back at John, so we tried it, and it worked, brilliantly - and came out with some great footage. Section below.



And there it is. Half of my 2011 in pretty much a 20 minute video, pictures and a blog.
I hope I've put it together well enough for people to understand the story of the video, the Journey it takes to get from the top of the trail to the bottom, the journey to get to the riding spot, the journey of riding of riding a bicycle purely for fun. And the union of the people who ride, the group of riders who I ride with aswell as document through film, and how they make it a hell of a lot of fun.

Here's to more awesome riding and filming with my mates.
Huge thanks to all the riders and people who have helped me produce this.

Cheers to the guys at Helitape and MJ Cycles.
http://www.helitape.co.uk
http://www.mjcycles.com/

Give my Facebook page a like! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flatout-Films/188152771224156

Check my site - http://www.flatoutfilms.co.uk

Cheers,
Tom Caldwell.