Questions for semi big movie companies, and smaller up and coming ones

RockNRollNghtClb

RockNRollNghtClb

Active member
Ok so I've always been curious about these things and these questions are mainly directed at movie companies like Level 1, who are fairly big but not like WME and companies like STEPT who are up and coming.

questions for companies on the same level budget wise as Level 1

When you fly to other countries to hit handrails do the sponsors pay for ALL the expenses?

(hotel rooms, gas, plane tickets etc)

When you fly to other places to hit rails do you bring shovels, lights, bungies winches with you on the plane? Or do you ship it ahead of time? Or do you rarely bring a winch with you if you are flying somewhere?

(This might be a dumb question but whatever) When planning a trip for rails, or powder or anything really how do you decide what athletes you want to bring on the trip? Do you contact the majority of them and see if they are available and whoever is available you chose from them? Or do have a set selections of athletes for the trip and just plan it whenever they are available?

Noticing that most of the Level 1 crew picked up fs700's do your sponsors pay entirely for your cameras, computers, tripods, and lenses? I cant imagine they would, but thats a hefty wad of cash for a fs700

If an athlete logs a ton of footage and has a banger segment put together but their sponsors wont give you the money you want/need will they just not have a segment?

At the beginning of the season do you have an idea of how you want to theme/edit your movie or is that pretty much all done in the editing process? Do you usually let your riders pick their songs? If you are paying for permission to use the song on average how much do you have to pay?

Give a rough estimate of how much time you spend editing one segment.

How do you sort your footage? Do you make folders with all the riders names and put their shots in that folder?

DO you have a list of all the supplies you need to go on a trip that you look at everytime you pack? How do you keep track of all your shit?

What do you find to be the hardest part of making a ski movie each year?

Companies on the same budget level as STEPT

(A lot of the questions apply to companies like you that were posted above too)

But one's i feel specific to you guys:

Do you guys (Stept in particular) Plan to switch from 7ds to somethings else such as the GH3 or some other camera in the near future?

Im really curious to know if companies like you guys pay for gas, hotel rooms, and camera equipment as well.

Is it tough for you guys to get money from your sponsors? Are trips ever limited/cancelled due to the amount of $ given by sponsors?

I know level 1, when flying elsewhere besides the states to hit rails will have a guide to show them some rails wherever they may be. But When you guys drive from place to place hitting rails do you pretty much just scour the streets for spots on your own? Or do people help you guys out too?

Do you guys make a decent profit off of your movies? How do you split up the money?

And lastly which goes for both companies riders,

How the fuck do you make huge ass lips for urban features? Do you use a support to hold up all of the snow while building it? Do you cut out blocks like you do in the backcountry?

For example when Clayton and Cam are filming rails in Alaska and you bag a tight shot, dont you go "Fuck I wish that shot could go in my segment in the Stept movie instead."

Does it ever bug you watching a movie and you end up disliking the music in your part, or the vibes or the way its cut? If so have you been able to change that? (Im talking about if you are an athlete that was in a TGR or a WME movie)

I know this is a shitload of questions, but these are just things I often wonder about when watching ski films.

Itd be real cool if people from these companies or like these companies would respond if theyve got the time!

 
I interned for level 1 this summer, so I'll answer what I can.

When you fly to other countries to hit handrails do the sponsors pay for ALL the expenses?

(hotel rooms, gas, plane tickets etc)

Can't really say...

When you fly to other places to hit rails do you bring shovels, lights, bungies winches with you on the plane? Or do you ship it ahead of time? Or do you rarely bring a winch with you if you are flying somewhere?

Anything that is small like a bungee will usually be brought on the plane. However, when a winch is necessary they either have to ship it or find one to rent in the location they go to.

(This might be a dumb question but whatever) When planning a trip for rails, or powder or anything really how do you decide what athletes you want to bring on the trip? Do you contact the majority of them and see if they are available and whoever is available you chose from them? Or do have a set selections of athletes for the trip and just plan it whenever they are available?

Availability, loyalty, ability, travel budget (of the athletes) and a wide range of other factors go into picking athletes for trips.

Noticing that most of the Level 1 crew picked up fs700's do your sponsors pay entirely for your cameras, computers, tripods, and lenses? I cant imagine they would, but thats a hefty wad of cash for a fs700

Level 1 bought 1 FS700 this summer along with three 5d mark iii. That was their biggest investment in camera bodies in a while, but actually cameras are usually bought individually by filmers. This allows for more flexibility on their side projects

If an athlete logs a ton of footage and has a banger segment put together but their sponsors wont give you the money you want/need will they just not have a segment?

Hmmm. I don't know how well I can answer this, but let me just say that usually this doesn't happen since companies tend to work closely with the sponsors of their athletes.

At the beginning of the season do you have an idea of how you want to theme/edit your movie or is that pretty much all done in the editing process? Do you usually let your riders pick their songs? If you are paying for permission to use the song on average how much do you have to pay?

I am not positive of when the theme is usually developed, but i think its near the mid/end of the season (dont hold me to this one). Athletes have a lot of say in their song and if they choose to can play a large role in the editing of their segments. I'm not positive on the permissions.

Give a rough estimate of how much time you spend editing one segment.

Its hard to say since multiple segments are being edited at once, but keep in mind that Sunny took a solid 3 months of editing for 50 minutes.

How do you sort your footage? Do you make folders with all the riders names and put their shots in that folder?

The sorting is all done within the title of the clips, which will have date/location/athlete/details/more. these clips are in folders that are named by the day/location of the shoot. This allows for easy searching of athletes without losing location sorting and other details.

DO you have a list of all the supplies you need to go on a trip that you look at everytime you pack? How do you keep track of all your shit?

Again not totally sure on this one, but everything has a name and phone number on it to keep track of. As far as supplies, idk if they use a list, but they HAVE to get it right so they are sure to double and triple check.

What do you find to be the hardest part of making a ski movie each year?

I cannot say here haha.

Sorry for the patchy answers, I really only know about the summer part of the process since I've never been on one of their shoots. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions!
 
^^ thanks for sharing that insider info man . that was cool to read? what kind of stuff did u do for level 1, and can you speak more about the experience, meeting the crew and stuff?
 
good questions, good answers from schaikovsky ^

When you fly to other countries to hit handrails do the sponsors pay for ALL the expenses?

Companies like L1, LOS etc have budget from sponsors for trips. Usually this includes housing/food/gas and maybe some extra depending on the $. Think about like a company getting a lump sum at the beginning and then having to manage the money accordingly throughout production.

When you fly to other places to hit rails do you bring shovels, lights, bungies winches with you on the plane? Or do you ship it ahead of time? Or do you rarely bring a winch with you if you are flying somewhere?

Packing is kept pretty minimal, filmers bring all the camera/computer gear they need and not much clothing. Shovels are must for a backcountry trip, but winches don't travel. Things like that get rented when/where they're available.

(This might be a dumb question but whatever) When planning a trip for rails, or powder or anything really how do you decide what athletes you want to bring on the trip? Do you contact the majority of them and see if they are available and whoever is available you chose from them? Or do have a set selections of athletes for the trip and just plan it whenever they are available?

Usually a roster is determined going into the season because you know who's sponsoring the film, from there it's a matter of picking the right crew for the area based on (avail)ability.

Noticing that most of the Level 1 crew picked up fs700's do your sponsors pay entirely for your cameras, computers, tripods, and lenses? I cant imagine they would, but thats a hefty wad of cash for a fs700

Cameras and gear are usually individual filmer purchases. Sometimes bigger companies will have a company camera or a few, and rent the equipment they need to pull off an idea (ie: Phantom for slow motion). There's a reason most ski filmers don't live lavishly haha

If an athlete logs a ton of footage and has a banger segment put together but their sponsors wont give you the money you want/need will they just not have a segment?

Usually an athlete won't log a ton of footage with a given company unless there sponsors are already committed to the film.

At the beginning of the season do you have an idea of how you want to theme/edit your movie or is that pretty much all done in the editing process? Do you usually let your riders pick their songs? If you are paying for permission to use the song on average how much do you have to pay?

Depends on the filmmaker. Some guys go out with the intention of filming the best skiing they can and developing a theme out of their trips/shots, but others have a specific idea in mind beforehand that they tailor their shoots towards it (ie Sherpas).

Give a rough estimate of how much time you spend editing one segment.

Varies depending on a lot of factors (amount of footage, whether the editor was also the filmer, organization etc) but it's definitely not an overnight thing. I would guess 1 weeks work per section...? Pretty variable though.

How do you sort your footage? Do you make folders with all the riders names and put their shots in that folder?

Anywhere from complete clusterfuckery to very organized date/athlete/trick/line. Definitely the ideal is to have every shoot categorized by date, with each athlete's shots labeled as such.

Do you have a list of all the supplies you need to go on a trip that you look at everytime you pack? How do you keep track of all your shit?

Again, depends on the crew. Some dudes run a pretty loose program (throw it in the bag and hope for the best), while others are super meticulous. Usually it falls somewhere in between. Definitely a list of the essentials that must be in the bag has to be checked off.

What do you find to be the hardest part of making a ski movie each year?

I haven't made a full ski movie on my own, but from what I can tell its overcoming the adversity you face on every single shoot, and learning how to roll with the inevitable fuck ups that are going to happen. Hope those answers compliment the above ones!
 
Wow. So many questions but a lot of really good ones. Too bad some of them won't get the respect they deserve.

There's an article in Powder this month that talks about why we don't see more girls in ski movies and it comes down to sponsor support for them and opportunity/cost for them as well.

Shooting, no matter where, what, or who comes down to leverage. In a ski movie producer's dream world the who, what, and where all align. In reality, production companies do what makes them better off. Better off could mean getting paid up front by a sponsor or willing to take a shortterm loss it will give you a better shot at making the best movie of the year get you'll recoup the losses in sales. A production company could be better off by filming a skier you don't want to ski in a place you don't want to film for a type of skiing that you don't want. It's ugly and there is no science to it.

 
yea for sure. I'm kinda low on time so I'll be pretty brief. Basically I just did whatever came up. This includes everything from editing bonus features, touching up individual clips (moire, color, etc), shipping out orders, making errands, manning the store, shooting product shots/getting event shots, organizing the camera gear, selling camera gear, folding shirts... the list could go on forever.

It was an awesome experience, especially since making ski movies is something I am possibly interested in as a career. For the most part, they did a great job on keeping me busy with stuff that was fun and interesting, although as one expects, I still did need to do my fair share of boring work. I got to know the guys at Level 1 really well, and also met tons of althletes/industry folk. If anything, I found the most interesting part of it was actually learning more about the business side to freeskiing, although I also learned a ton about making ski movies.
 
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