La tercer, le troisieme, the third production visit to the Red

Hey all, like the usual I greet you with the warmest smile. So yesterday we got back home at 2am from what I would call a very productive and developmental weekend. First of all I was blessed to have the company of the two biggest goofs in the world. It was very special for me to share the whole process of production with Jacob and Valeria =) Beyond talking about specific shots or what we did I want to talk about sharing that process of production with amazing people around me. Lets start with Jacob, haha. So with him it has always been an ongoing thing between shooting awesome stuff and having the biggest laugh about it at the same time. If its not him nailing his head with rock ledges it is him forgetting daisy chains at the top of 90 foot over hung twelve climbs. To say the least, having to climb the route all the way to the top only to find that the locking device was messed up pretty much sucked. And although we had many complications like these during our trip, its always ended up in a laugh or a smile. The fool does not know any better ;) I am seriously lucky to be working with him. My other companion for this trip was a beautiful surprise. My friend Val decided to join us on our poorly planned last minute trip to the Red. Val was our guarding and saving angel. Either she spent the day finding the car key that Jacob lost all of the time or she reminded me where I had placed my jacket! We were supposed to take her to easier beginner climbing routes but with time constraints and the need to film people on harder routes we had to get her on moderate to advanced routes. To everyone's surprise she kicked butts! She is definitely one of the strongest natural climbers I have ever seen. Her unconditional support belaying, reminding, saving, cheering, smiling, and helping us was essential in our documentary. Thanks VAL!!!

On a side note I got very inspired this weekend and have a lot of new ideas of how to shoot the documentary. I want to film every route that we film in very different ways. I want to underlie every route with a different feel to it through artistic filming elements. If its a very intense 5.13 then the cinematrography around the climb will be intensive (close ups, face expressions, etc) along with the B-Roll and music. If the climb is very aesthetic then the shots will go along the lines of flow and beauty (Long distance shots, out of focus - in focus play, etc..)

~S

Roc-to-beer-fest

Jacob pretty much summarized our visit to the RRG during the Rocktoberfest. I think that that weekend in particular gave us a lot to think about when it comes to the community of climbing in the RRG. A lot of different things happened, some were very wild and some were not, but the interesting part is how different people reacted to all of the different activities that happened during the festival. For me it was a realization in a way. Although I want to unite everyone with our climbing documentary that is going to be an impossible task. The fact is within the community of climbers there exists a very wide range of diversity. Maybe the documentary will not be able to unite all climbers together but at least I hope it creates a general sense of mutual understanding and peace. In other words, dirty smelly hippies and fraternity college students might not be the best fit for each but for purposes of the conservation and furthering of the sport of climbing in the RRG they must come together with a unified thought process. One common goal, to keep enjoying what the world of the RRG offers for them.... A COMMUNITY OF CLIMBERS. Enjoy it, protect it and share it.

cheers, ~S

Fall is Prime

Last weekend was our first big weekend of production.  It was Rocktober Fest and the Gorge was packed full of climbers and hippies.  We mainly went to shoot Broll footage since every single crag was packed with people.  There was also the festival which got pretty nutty.  Every big outdoor climbing vendor was there and there was plenty of competition going on with crate stacking and a dyno comp.  We happened to capture some fun footage that unfortunately will only be released on a blooper reel or in the unrated version of the film.  HAHA!!

 This weekend has been such a beautiful weekend to capture footage at the Red River Gorge.  We got in last night at the perfect time to go capture the sunset from the natural bridge.  It was beautiful and we even witnessed a proposal on top of the bridge as well.  We will post the time laps of the sunset soon.  It was super awesome.

This weekend we brought down our friend Val with us.  This was only her second time climbing ever and her first time outside.  She is crushing like a ninja.  She will be wicked strong before the season is over.

Today was a great day of capturing Broll.  We did not have anybody to film in depth on any routes so we go some shots from the top of the routes looking over to other crags and around the gorge.  We also had a good day over getting pumped and wicked tired.  We went to Miguel's for some pizza after the sun went down and on our drive there this is what we ran into.  There was a pretty crazy forest fire right along the side of the road.  Not that forest fires are a good thing but with a beautiful clear sky it actually looked pretty cool with all the stars.

Anyways, tomorrow we will be filming our buddy Drew and some of his friends on some pretty crazy routes.  We are starting to get some new ideas on how we are going to shoot the climbs.  We are going to try out some of our tree climbing skills and be a little adventurous with some of our shots.  Can't wait to get to work tomorrow and actually film a climb.

-JT

The first visit of the season

Hey =) smiles it is... I am sitting in my room getting ready for the first visit to the red river gorge of the season. I am still in the process of getting most of the equipment we will be using to shoot the film so this time there will be not a lot of shooting. I might do some experimentation with the GoPro camera I just got. I am planning to do a lot of observation and walking around the Muir. Hopefully I get a lot of inspiration and shooting ideas. Jacob and I have been talking and getting mutually excited for the creation of the film. I hope this blog shows the whole process behind the dream, the project and the creation. Right now we have officially started with the planning and landing of ideas. Besides the blog, we are also creating a website that will include all of the New Media projects that we come up with throughout the semester. Cheeers and lots of love!!!

~S

Where do we Begin??

Today Santi and I sat down for our first real planning meeting for this project.  It is developing nicely and we are coming up with some great new ideas.  Trying to incorporate everything that we want to show people is going to be difficult to do with just one film.

We have decided to go about creating this film with a lot more aesthetic visual concepts with an underlying story of the community of climbing so that we aren't just mashing together a bunch of cuts of different climbs into a one hour film.  We want to portray a variety of people, all with a different purpose, coming together as a community in climbing.

This is only the start of our visions, but as we continue to develop we will continue to post.  Being able to capture a passion on film and then sharing it with others is an ongoing dream of ours and we are super excited to begin working on this project

-Jacob