From Global-Flat To Cambridge-Flat To Video

for a little while i've been a member of global-flat.com. it's a site dedicated to BMX riders who practice the discipline of flatland freestyling. as you may know, i too practice this discipline, and i've been fortunate to meet with some very good people from Mass on this site.

on Oct. 25 i hooked up with a bunch of guys from the Boston area. they congregate in a street hockey rink in Cambridge right on Charles St. upon my arrival i first met Rick. we first corresponded over global-flat.com. he told me that he too was a 35 y/o getting back into flatland freestyle. though married, and with children, he has made an effort to get back into a sport that he enjoyed once as a teenager. so we had a couple of things in common sans the marriage and children.

later in day more riders began to show up, and the scene was becoming more active with rider pulling off all kinds of spinning moves. initially all i could do was watch and envy at their skills, hoping that one day i could do all that.

i got to know some of them and found out they too were in their 30's, and though there were a few in their 20's, it kind of solidified my impression that, at least within the states, flatland freestyle was being practice mostly by the older crowd who lived through the glory days of BMX during its roots in the late 70's and 80's.

conversely, on an international scale, flatland freestyle is dominated by a younger crowd.

it's funny when you meet people who share the same interests as you. there's this phenomenon that occurs where you seem to do better at executing moves in the presence of others than alone. or perhaps it's just me trying to impress them, and i just got lucky. either way i felt as if anything can be possible so long as i practice with a peer group.

for example, i've been trying to nail down a pedal kick tail-whip (non-foot jam style). on rare occasions alone i'd get it, but it's mostly a miss. but in front of these guys i was able to get it down no problem. it even seemed like an effortless move. last night i tried several attempts of them in my "backyard", and damn it if i couldn't get it at all. what happened?

well, back to my story...

so i brought along my camera in case i had the inclination of recording my experience there. the guys seemed pretty cool with me taking some videos of them. so i started shooting manually, following them around trying to get some good angle shots. these were nothing but random videos that were taken of any riders as they rode by me. a few times i mounted the camera on a tripod provided by another rider name Rich (the second rider to show up at the rink). this way i could be in some of the footage.

after spending 5 hours with these guys, i decided to retire, go home, and review all of the videos taken that day. i recorded about 5GB of MPEG1 video, 640x480 @ 3000kps on my Sony DSC-H9. what was i going to do with all this footage? put it to music, of course. i told the guys that i would most likely make a music video out of them, and post it on Vimeo and YouTube. no one objected to the idea.

so i spent that week importing all these videos into a Final Cut Xpr project, picking and choosing which clips of footage i liked best. tried to keep all the riders well represented throughout the project while at the same time maintaining the actual time line of recorded events. i added a few scenes of myself, but mostly focused on the more experienced riders.

once i had initially selected all of my clips, i began to think about the music i wanted to use. like most of of my projects i was going to pick one song and use that, but i didn't have anything that would cover the 8 minute run-time. so instead i decided to use multiple samples of songs about 1~2 minutes in length. i'd mix up the tempo and style using Drum n' Base, down-tempo, and hip-hop tunes. i chose six song from my iTunes library i felt worked well in in certain portions of the video. the end result was a nice mix that, not only would keep the viewer entertained, but seemed to play well with the video.

later i started to notice moments in the video where some unintentional choreography took place between the riders and the songs. this gave some ideas, and decided to rework the video to get more of this incorporated.

i don't know why i never though of this before. that was one of my intended design for my AMV, Dyson's Revelation.

so i continued with the process where it started to take me into a different direction. more editing was done, and more thought went into the presentation.

in the end i took it about as far as i was willing to go. this video project almost became an obsession. i wanted (almost needed) to complete it by the end of the week; no more. it took some good time away that could have been spent riding. especially now that time is becoming so precious cause the air is getting colder, and i don't have a place to go ride during winter season when the snow starts to fall.

i've posted the video on both Vimeo and YouTube. so far the responses have been positive. and though this project took time away from riding, it was a lot of fun to work on. it left me thinking that i'd like to do more of these kinds of videos. perhaps i will, if the guys let me. and who knows, in time i may get better and have a nice featured moment in one where i'm doing more than a mere pedal kick tail-whip.

all-in-all meeting these guys was a good experience. one i hope will continue as i practice the discipline of flatland freestyling. global-flat.com is a great place to meet other riders in your neighborhood.

peace,
@riel

iApp Post: Flash for Free, FilterFX

normally i would post something like this on my twitter feed, but this iPhone app, i felt, could use a little more attention seeing is how useful is has been, and, therefor, give my personal recommendation.

FreeTheApps has released a handful of free apps for the iPhone that adds some useful functions for your photo taking needs.

the first is Flash for Free. this app helps to increase the clarity of any photo from the camera roll by providing 9 levels of brightness.

the second is FilterFX. this gives the user the ability to add some fun filters to any photos. the app includes the following filters:

• Vivid
• Cool
• Warm
• Vignette Black
• Vignette White
• Black & White
• Sepia
• Vintage
• Soften

check out some sample photos. the original taken on the deck of the USS Massachusetts using my iPhone 3G [S]. the rest were processed using FlashforFree and FilterFX. turn on the captions to see which filters were used, or go to the photo gallery to see them in detail.

these are just two of the apps available from FreeThe Apps, and there are several more. go check them out, and enjoy.

peace,
@riel

Flatland Session #2: A Casual Day

hey folks!

here is my premier video on Vimeo. it's the second installation of my Flatland Sessions

[Vimeo detail]

this video was captured on the 4th of August, 2009. it serves as a follow-up from my last video to show off my progress. it's a casual session i decided to record using my brand new iPhone 3G [S]. the video was just an excuse to play with my iPhone, so i'm not putting a great deal of effort here. however, i've gotten a little better. more time practicing would've been spent if it weren't for all this rain we've gotten over the summer up here in Massachusetts.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR SET!
throughout the video you'll notice weird color shifts. in combination with the music i've chosen, this is an attempt to mellow out the mood of the video. just something i thought i'd throw in to help spruce up an otherwise boring video.

[end]

unlike the first captured flatland session where i condensed the length of the video by utilizing Fade In Fade Out Dissolve, i decided to leave this video intact and instead focus on using some kind of neat visual effect over a mellowed-out down-tempo tune.

one reason for not chopping it up, was because, where as the first session was captured in 720x480 resolution; the video resolution capture on the iPhone is 640x480 (the horizontal field of view is narrower). this posed a problem as i was riding in and out of the frame more often than before. also the video was shot from the ground and not from a tripod. i felt this too had a limiting affect of the field of view. in order to stay within the frame longer i had to be farther away from the camera.

another reason was the audio. unlike the first where i completely removed the audio in favor of a background music, i decided to leave the original audio in. i have yet to figure out how to mix the audio correctly in Final Cut Express 4 (FCE4) as it separates the audio from the video into its own track.

a third reason was simply time. the video for Session #1 contained over 40 minutes of stock footage from multiple angles. so i had a "40 minute" reason to shorten it down and highlight the important parts. in Session #2 only 00:11:50 of stock from one angle was taken. it didn't seem worth the effort just to shave off two minutes.

i did attempt to condense it, but did not worked out very well. still, i think final cut turned out just fine. in fact the end result came out looking really sharp for a VGA quality video compare to that from the original iPhone video, which contained a lot of grainy digital noise due to the low light conditions. the end-quality of the video was thanks to the process of taking the final video exported from FCE4 as an MPEG4 (@ 9000kbs), converting it into a DVD/MPEG2 video (@ 7000kbs) using Burn.app, then cleaning and polishing it up - using some pretty hefty video enhancements - by running the MPEG2 video through Handbrake, and back out to an MPEG4 video (@ 3000kbs). with all these conversions you'd think there be a loss of quality. well, there is, but you can't really tell, because 1) without the original stock there's no basis for comparison so you don't know what to look for, and 2) even if you could tell the loss of detail is way in the background.

unfortunately, because of YouTube's rule regarding video runtime - they limited to no more than 10 minutes per video - i couldn't keep both sessions under the same roof, and , therefore, i had to find another home. Vimeo was perfect. so long as i keep my uploads to 500MB per week, my videos can be as long as i want. and the quality of videos on Vimeo are always good. i was really stoked when i saw how sharp my video came out. plus if you like the video, you have the option of downloading a copy for yourself. however, you have a week from the date of publish to do that, and you'll need to be a member.

feel free to stop by at the actual site and leave a comment.

peace,
@riel

Memories of Mountain Park, Holyoke

"This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down."

this quote is from the book "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien. it's a riddle posed by Gullom to Frodo, who responded frantically with "I need more time!" TIME being the answer.

I open this blog entry with this because over the summer - during a week vacation in the month of august - I made a pilgrimage to Holyoke, MA to bask in the presence of a childhood memory taken away by the hands of TIME. that memory was an amusement park called Mountain Park.

Mountain Park (MP) [1, 2] was once situated on the side of Mount Tom, Holyoke. it opened in 1890, and it had been there nearly 100 years. but due to financial difficulties, and perhaps a lack of interest in keeping the park operational, then owner, Jay Collins, decided to shut MP down in 1987. that was my freshman year of high school. not once did it ever occur in my mind to think that it would ever be closed for good. in fact the decision to close was quite fast and without any warning.

during the mid to late '80s MP wasn't the most elaborate amusement park around compared to other amusement parks like Whalom Park, Canobie Lake Park, Rocky Point, and Riverside (known today as Six Flags New England). but it wasn't without its charm. MP was decorated with aging art and decor from the early life of the park (circa 1897) to designs from the late '70s ~ early '80s.

the park's carousel - dated from the earliest years of MP - carried with it beautiful artworks that would serve just as well as framed paintings in a museum.

after the closing of MP, the carousel did survive extinction. it was moved to the town center of Holyoke where it operates to this day as one of the oldest carousels in the U.S. now known as The Holyoke Merry-Go-Round.

most of the coolest (and darkest) artworks, during the later years of MP, were found on two specific rides; the Pirate's Den, and the Dinosaurs Den.

these rides are (or were) called "dark rides"; a completely enclosed passive coaster ride that moves slowly along a track from one darken room to the next, bumping through double doors, taking left or rights turns. the riders would observe spooky animatronics and visual effects over haunting soundtracks.

i grew up always having an over-active imagination. the hellish and dark images depicted on the outside of the buildings that housed these rides were enough to keep me from riding, but not enough to keep me from standing outside fixated on the artwork with my curiosity wondering what i would see inside.

both the Pirate's Den, and the Dinosaurs Den were two of three rides i never rode until the final days of the park. in the summer of 1986 when i was 12 years old, i finally decided to ride them both. i remember feeling pretty anxious simply because i didn't know what to expect during the rides. it turned out to be quite fun, and i can't remember how many times i went back on each ride.

another ride i waited too late to truly enjoy was the main roller coaster, the Mountain Park Flyer [1, 2].

a wooden roller coaster that stretched alongside of the park. as a kid i had a fear of heights that kept me off the Flyer, but in the end i managed to get over it. getting on the Flyer that first time would begin of my love of roller coasters.

most of the rides in MP were pretty standard rides you'd find anywhere else, even today. recently i visited Canobie Lake Park, and was surprised to see a hand-full of the same kinds of rides that i remembered as a kid at MP still employed today.

though MP is gone, it seems that it may make something of a come-back. Eric Suher, a native of Holyoke, and owner of the Iron Horse Music Hall, the Pearl Street Nightclub and the Calvin Theater in Northampton, bought the property of MP and wants to "bring Mountain Park back to what we remember it being." i'm not sure exactly what that means, but the current plan is to hold outdoor concert venues [1, 2] there. i guess time will tell as to whether or not this memorable mountain site will ever be rebuilt to its old glory, though i'm sure it won't have the same charm i remembered as a kid.

the land where MP once stood - what little trace of the amusement park that once existed - has now been cleared and renovated to accommodate these concert venues. but before the bulldozers and the hardhats, all that remained of MP was nothing more than a desolate land [1, 2]. a ghost town with the remnants of corroded lumber and rusted steal beams of building structures hardly recognizable. vegetation's growing with the dominating force of nature within areas where concrete once paved the way from one enjoyment to the next. the tall iconic skeletal frame of the Flyer torn down succumbing to the will of gravity as its coaster carts once did.

my pilgrimage to the land of MP was short lived due to the construction activity. but from the little i was able to see the only thing that was left was a sign posted on one of the utility poles at the parking entrance. it was difficult to read the faded words "The Great Slide Show". the paint had very little life left.

"This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down."

this quote is from the book "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien. it's a riddle posed by Gullom to Frodo, who responded frantically with "I need more time!"

TIME being the answer.

the very TIME that faded Mountain Park into our memories. :(

peace,
@riel