The Bike Films

One of the specific topics I make films about are bikes… mostly me and my bikes.

You can view this album in HD on Vimeo.

A 5-9 adventure from Composite on Vimeo.

A short bivi trip after work one day and straight into work the next morning.

Full report here: https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/emuandcomp/thepuddingclub/emma/2014/06/after-work-mini-bivi-ride-report/

Filmed on Olympus SH-21.

The Welsh Ride Thing 2014 from Composite on Vimeo.

Once again Stu and Dee put on another great bikepacking event this summer.

Unfortunately I had to come home a day early due to a knee injury, so I couldn’t quite make the video I had been hoping to but I’m fairly happy with this given the circumstances.

My ride report here: https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/emuandcomp/thepuddingclub/emma/2014/05/the-welsh-ride-thing-2014/

More information: http://www.bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/pages/WelshRideThing.html

Shot on a Canon 600D, GoPro HD and an Olympus SH-21.

In To The Wind from Composite on Vimeo.

We left Great Orms Head in North Wales to attempt the Welsh Coast to Coast. Unfortunately the weather and logistics got the better of us and we weren’t able to make it to Worms Head in the south as planned. That aside we had a great 3 days riding bikes and sleeping in the wild.

Full ride Report here: www.composite-projects.co.uk/2014/04/welsh-coast-to-coast-ish/

Filmed by myself and Ian Barrington, edited by me. Shot on a Contour HD, GoPro HD an Olympus SH-21.

Riding The Currents from Composite on Vimeo.

My March bikepacking trip took me back to mid Wales. I had my first stay in a mountain bothy instead of biving and I really enjoyed it. My route ended up going through a number of wind farms so I thought I would use that as a theme.

Full ride report here: https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/emuandcomp/thepuddingclub/emma/2014/03/my-first-bothy-ride-report/

I bought a Olympus SH-21 for taking pictures on bikepacking trips as it it’s small and light weight. It turns out it shoots HD video so I set myself the challenge of shooting a whole video on it to see what it was like. I’m pretty happy with the results.

“Night Owl” by Broke For Free (http://brokeforfree.com/)

Gravel Grinding from Composite on Vimeo.

Video from a bikepacking trip I went on in mid February. I had been hoping to avoid the worst of the very wet winter we have had by riding mostly gravel and forestry roads. Full ride report here: https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/emuandcomp/thepuddingclub/emma/2014/02/mid-wales-gravel-grinder-ride-report/

I’m not really that happy with this video. It’s been a little while since I had used the GoPro and I had forgotten how to get the most out of it. A lot of the footage I got that would have told the story better was actually unusable, so I had to just make do with what I got. It’s not a disaster but it’s not what I had in my head to make.

Bikepacking Shropshire (May 2013) from Composite on Vimeo.

I got the train out to Church Stretton and rode to Marshbrook staying on the Blazing Bikes camp site. The next day I rode back to Birmingham.

The route back ended up being longer and more hilly than I had originally planned. It was 76miles with 7500ft of climbing which normally would have been fine but with a loaded bike it ended up being harder than I thought it might. I still enjoyed it, though some bits were definitely type 2 fun. I would certainly do this sort of route again, I would just be a bit more prepared for it next time.

Ride report here: https://www.composite-projects.co.uk/emuandcomp/thepuddingclub/emma/2013/05/marshbrook-bike-packing-report/

I’m not entirely happy with this video as I think I should have just got more footage considering the time I was riding that day. I think generally speaking it captures the mood of the trip which is ultimately always my goal with any of these little films I make.

Spring Snow from Composite on Vimeo.

We got out riding in the snow. Martin didn’t just bring his bike. All shot on 2 GoPros.

Isle of Man March 2013 from Composite on Vimeo.

Shot over 2 days riding on the Isle of Man in March 2013. It was shot on 2 GoPro’s and a Canon 600D. Pretty happy with this one as shooting while riding can mean a lot of work to do in the edit to make something worth while. This time however it all came together fairly easily. It’s also been a year since I did my last bike video so it was nice to get back into the groove of making them.

I did a lot of work on the colour as I was keen to give it a look, but it was difficult to match footage from days with completely different light and weather.

A ride report can be found here: composite-projects.co.uk/2013/03/the-isle-of-man-ride-report/

Bikes are: blue Kona Dawg, white Orange Five, white and red Specialized Stumpjumper.

Kinver and Back from Composite on Vimeo.

I have been planning some bike packing for this summer and I needed to test ride the first part of the route; Kings Heath to Kinver. Here’s a video of my riding it on the first hot, sunny day of 2012.

I was trying to capture the ebb and flow of riding this sort of route, where one moment you are ripping down single track, bouncing off roots and hoping there’s no dog walkers and the next you are cruising a farm track with the sun shining without a care in the world.

Long Mynd February 2012 from Composite on Vimeo.

Visited The Long Mynd in Shropshire for the first time recently. There is some really good riding, I’m slightly disappointed I hadn’t got there sooner but glad I know its there now. Tried some stuff in this video I hadn’t done before such as pan and scan, split screen and some colour correction. On the whole I’m mildly pleased with the video, just shame it was so overcast on the day and the lighting so crap.

AstBUG-MTB August 2011 from Composite on Vimeo.

I have been trying to put together a mountain bike group at work and I thought I would make a video of one of the rides. I’m really just trying to show what sort of riding we would be doing in an effort to try to get a few more people interested.

This ride was on the bridle ways and country lanes of South Birmingham.

Snowdon April 2011 from Composite on Vimeo.

Pudding Club goes to Snowdon. We thought it would be cool to go ride the highest peak in Wales, so we did. 🙂

Bikes: Blue Kona Dawg, Silver Whyte 19, and the Black Orange P7.

3 Days in Wales – Part 3 – Doethie Vally from Composite on Vimeo.

Shot in March 2011 this video is a taste of what we got up to on a 3 day trip to Wales. This is day three, where we rode Doethie Vally, just north of the Brecon Beacons.

This is actually my favourite of three videos. I was going for a “touch of Wales”.

3 Days in Wales – Part 2 – Afan Forest from Composite on Vimeo.

Shot in March 2011 this video is a taste of what we got up to on a 3 day trip to Wales. This is day two, where we rode Afan Forest, Y Wal Tral (The Wall).

I was attempting to give each video its own atmosphere and feel. This one was aimed at giving a feel of what its like to actually go ride your bike in these beautiful, serene locations.

3 Days in Wales – Part 1 – Cwmcarn from Composite on Vimeo.

Shot in March 2011 this video is a taste of what we got up to on a 3 day trip to Wales. This is day one, where we rode Cwmcarn, The Twrch Tral.

Life Cycles Re-cut from Composite on Vimeo.

This was my entry for the Life Cycles re-cut competition.

A Better Tomorrow from Composite on Vimeo.

This is my first go using my new GoPro HD. I was trying out different mounting positions around the bike to see what worked and thought I would make a little video from it. I got a bit carried away in that I realised I had enough footage to cover the whole track, so did an impromptu music video. This is the first time I had ever used Final Cut so I was learning as I went. I shot it all in 720p @ 60fps so I tried out some slow-mo to.

The track is “A Better Tomorrow” by Nedos & Composite One (me). You can download the track for free from Sound cloud.