Video: 5.45 Rouleur - riding in London as you seldom see it

thehat wrote:

I made this film with a few of my friends at Gorilla Face. It's intended as a dramatic short for the Sundance London comp and the v/o was required to add a narrative and meet the competition criteria (fully take your points about the v/o, trust me it was de-Raphad a few times before the final cut..).

Shearer27 - yep, flipped it to fill a hole in the edit. Film aimed at some of the non-cyclists out there so thought we'd get away with it. Good spot..

Thanks for your comments

All credit to you. Hope you had fun making it.

Don't worry about the negative comments, think of it this way: someone makes a film about the sport / hobby they enjoy. They share it. Others complain / moan. Its called the Internet!

Thanks for clearing that up!

I like the edit and look forward to seeing the full film.

I work in TV, editing documentaries. I also cycle round Regents Park.

The film is nicely put together: can't fault the production values but, as many people have pointed out, the voiceover drags it down.

Are the words taken verbatim from interviews with the guys? If so, why not just use the audio from the actual interviews?

Scripted voiceover of this kind is a bit suspect in something purporting to be a documentary.

Learning what motivates the cyclists is perfectly valid - but if this has been scripted then you're putting words into their mouths.

Shoot (or record) some actual interviews and use these as the basis for the voiceover track. Then it's a documentary - not just a promo.

e2_irish_guy wrote:

I work in TV, editing documentaries. I also cycle round Regents Park.

The film is nicely put together: can't fault the production values but, as many people have pointed out, the voiceover drags it down.

Are the words taken verbatim from interviews with the guys? If so, why not just use the audio from the actual interviews?

Scripted voiceover of this kind is a bit suspect in something purporting to be a documentary.

Learning what motivates the cyclists is perfectly valid - but if this has been scripted then you're putting words into their mouths.

Shoot (or record) some actual interviews and use these as the basis for the voiceover track. Then it's a documentary - not just a promo.

I'm a DoP and part-time BBC camera op (and occasional RP cyclist). You can't fault the production value for docco style work but I feel it falls a bit short for the type of short film that was aimed for here.

I agree that using interview for the VO would have been a much stronger and I actually think that intercutting interview footage would have made it a more complete film.

@jasecd

I agree. I gather this is a promo for a longer doc which I'd be interested to see.

It would certainly carry more weight as a documentary if it incorporated actual first-person interview footage.

That would elevate it above and beyond being just a slick promo. It's something I would watch (I'm interested to know more about these guys)

Unfortunately, this version is something I struggled to engage with.

geargrinderbeard wrote:

Nothing pleases me more than smashing it past the carbon riding rapha crew in the morning on the single speed steelie with full backpack. Simple pleasures and all that...

Let's have a race, mate

I'll wear as much Rapha as I can fit on me.

Up at 05:45....just back from 2 months working in Tel Aviv...up at 05:30 to go to work (for 08:00) Sun-Thurs...and more often than not 'just coming in at 05:45' Fri/Sat.....mmmmhhh BEER!

ha ha, Seriously? Never given it a thought. Waste of a an extra '.'
how about 0545 24 hour clock, ok or is that a big sniff on the aldi bibs?

Certainly has.. but the question is why?

bikeboy76 wrote:

Reminds me of that Brad Pitt perfume advert: Pretension.

Yeah, I didn't need to see much of that to know I don't want to see the documentary.

If you've never tried riding through the city in the small hours you should. Ride through London early on a Sunday morning in the middle of summer, and it's literally like 28 Days Later (that's how they filmed it).