The Collective - A Mountain Bike Film

The Collective

I have been watching MTB movies for close to 10 years and this is my equal favourite with ‘Ride to the Hills’. For a bike fan, new movies are the next best thing to riding your bike. The energy and movement in watching riders in action blows away static magazine and catalogue shots and makes the sport into something real. Most bike movies follow the same successful formula, lots of shots of riders pulling cool moves in rad locations and on the latest and greatest toys. For a long time the way the were put together was pretty basic: shoot some video footage, whack on a rock soundtrack and edit the shit out of it to make it short, sweet and snappy. For a long time that was fine with films covering everything from XC to dirt jump and the rise of DH and then freeride. As audiences grew so did the budgets and before long bike films were being shot on 16mm film and heli shots and epic locations became the norm. Rock star deals, big promo budgets, lots of corporate sponsorship and hard rocking soundtracks were par for the course.
A few years ago it was time for a change and a small group of elite bike riders, film guys and photographers got together to put out a bike film that was unlike the movies that had been before them and ‘The Collective’ was born. The collaborative efforts allowed the riders to work alongside the filmmakers and create something new, a 16mm film that did more than just show hundreds of 10 second clips edited to a punk rock soundtrack. The Collective gets inside the head of the rider and shows the beauty of the terrain and locations better than any movie that has come before.
Getting the Collective shot obviously took a lot of travel as the locations are awesome. From the red rocks and dirt of Utah to the deep green forests of the North Shore the locations are almost as much the star of the different scenes as the riders. Creative filming gets the best from the locations so wire cams can follow riders through technical sections and over road gaps like no movie before. The long shot formats of this movie also highlight the difference between this and other movies as the usual 3 second clips are extended to show the run in, setup, big gap/smooth move/jump and then the run out all from a single (and usually moving) camera. The results are breathtaking and give you a better feel for what actually just happened.
The film also likes to put sound bites from the riders in to give you a quick glimpse inside the riders head and set the scene for the next section of the movie. A massive proportion of MTB riding is mental so getting a glimpse of that opens up a new idea of what it takes to find new things to ride and be creative on a bike.
Music wise you get a real mix of stuff from punk and hardcore to more cruisy and laid back hip hop, jazz and reggae helping to give each section and rider a feel of there own.
My favourite highlights from the film would have to be the Romaniuk, Leech, Morland and Simmon’s sections which are all unique and amazing and best of all beautiful to look at.
Ryan Leech shows off his amazing Trials and Street skills in a 100% urban section with his signature precision of riding rails and skinnies and even a chain barrier. The progression of trials moves into street riding and the development of smooth constantly flowing lines really show off what Ryan is all about. The gritty feel of the urban environment is nicely shot in a monochrome colour scheme and blends the action well with the terrain.
Dave Morland shows off his hand crafted Gargamel trail on Whistler Mountain that seems to flow down the mountain like it grew up out of the forest. The fact he is riding a full blown race rig of a bike shows just how easily downhill becomes freeride simply by taking the bunting away. Some super tech and flowing sections on this trail give a real ‘alpine’ feel and leaves you wanting to ride trails like that every day.
The Romaniuk/Hunter section is probably a bit more of your usual freeride hucks and jumps but is so well shot and give such a good vibe of the way these two riders feed of each others style it just gets you pumped to ride. Lots of big gaps and flowing transitions at mach one in this section.
For the Wade Simmons section the screen fades to black and white and texturises the Shore terrain in a way I’ve never seen before. Heaps of log drops, super tech terrain and gaps are all flowed in the usual Wade way. Cable cams are used to awesome effect in a road gap sequence and to fly over the lip of the jump gives a unique perspective.

There are a hell of a lot of really good bits right through this movie in addition to all my favourites and even the extras on the DVD are a lot of fun. Anyway, you need to see this one to make up your own mind. It’s awesome you won’t regret it.

Check out:

www.thecollectivefilm.com

and the sequel Roam is out soon.