Why Do Mountain Bike Films Do So Bad?

Would you have considered the Down videos as a "huge success"? They won awards for their time, but I still wouldn't have considered them as a success unless you are comparing them to what has been done before.

Fair enough :) Sure, for their time, definitely a success. It seems though that you are purely measuring success on a monetary level and by that, no mtb film has been a success.

They were better as is the Collective now, but the numbers are still not close to impressive. This all depends on how you define successful. I liked the film, as did you, so they were successful on that level. But the fact that such a small number of the mountain biking population did not buy the film would ultimately be considered as a failure on that level. I'm not saying that it was a bad film, because it wasn't. It just wasn't good enough to sell to even a tenth of the MTB DH/Freeride population.

Mountain bikers are cheap. Downhillers (yes I know this is a terrible generalization but here it goes) really could care less about freeriding so to make a film focusing on slopestyle and the shore pretty much rules out any pure-dh fans. I rode with a guy this weekend who just saw Roam and asked me, "are all freeriders idiots? the snake went into the snake hole?…come on.." Just some food for thought there.

Most people do not watch a mtb flick over and over unless they love it. The rest of the population will see a movie once (usually at a friends house or on youtube or at the premiere) and then never watch it again. I bought the movies I bought because I wanted to support films that I felt were worthy of supporting.

There are obviously some problems with the films that are currently available, and many of you will disagree, but there is no reason why there can't be a mtb film that attracts more mtbers..

My trail-riding friends have zero-[HTML_REMOVED]no interest in freeriding. My dh friends don't either. My freeride friends find most dh boring to watch and view epic trail riding as a waste of time. Because of the HUGE divide in biking you are never going to have a film that appeals to the masses like it seems you are suggesting can be done. If you are sure it can be done, all the power to you! I will surely watch it and if I love it, i will buy it.

I would like to ask the people who don't worship the Collective/Roam/Disorder what the problems are with these films and others, and why they wouldn't buy them, and what would have to be changed in order to appeal to you.

I far from worship the collective, but I did use them as an example since they are still on the top of the field. I couldn't tell you a thing about any of the recent NWD flicks; I would rather watch static :)

To be honest, I bought the collective after seeing it at a friend's house. They tossed it on as we were eating breakfast and it got me so stoked to ride. Up to that point I had not felt that from a single mtb flick. I bought Roam sight unseen figuring that it would be even better. The first time I saw it I felt it was a continuation of the first one and did very little for me. I had to watch it a couple more times to see if I was missing something. if I had the time (and really cared enough to bother), I would take the segments from the first and second that I liked and put them on a disc so I wouldn't have to watch the rest. I don't care about dirtjump segments and I have seen enough Leech.

I dug Stripped for its hiphop/snowboard feel from start to finish. I didn't like how rushed a few of the segments and transitions felt though. I could defnintely live without Metzger's segment and all the dirtjumping.

I can go on and on here but I will give someone else a chance :)

I would really like to see more DH race/big mountain films and fewer godawful freeride movies.

more dirt jumps… building in the underground but mtb lol

Good freeriding moviing with every aspect of freeriding. Good music such as rock or alterative (personal preferance), not to much slow mo and not very much dirtjumping. Also do long clips like collective not short ones like NWD. DH clips are also good if its really fast. I dont lke watching DH but I find cedric gracias parts some of the best just because it is so fast and upbeat.

first off, The Collective was very well done. its one of the only films that gets me outa my chair and on my bike even in the middle of winter.

I get 100[HTML_REMOVED]#37; of my MTB/BMX content off the internet. this content consist of vids my friends make, cool short riding vids i find on this forum, video content i find on MTB news sites/blogs…the list goes on and on. look at the STUND series - good riding, good filmin, chill atmosphere - FREE and just a click away. I think the internet offers the same type of content you would find in a MTB vid minus quality and refinement you get when you buy a DVD. MTB'ers are grimy, so that doesn't stop em.

one question does arise. would releasing Free MTB vids (like stund) over the internet have a negative affect the MTB film/media industry?

I think most mountain bike films are pretty good but i don't like the national geographic commentator talking about the extreme epic-ness of riding. its just silly. And I don't really like trials or any street riding in the middle of a mountain bike movie id buy a trials movie or a bmx movie if i wanted to watch those things but then again one of my favorite movies is SHIFT!. I preferred the old style of filming from Jorli Ricker and Bjorn Enga than the kind of stuff in Collective, my personal preference. I think the old guys have more skill but the newer filmmakers will get better and better.

i like street/ dirt jump films…

because they are geared/editted more for the general public (who has no idea what freeriding is) instead of the riders.
bmx videos do better with a similar size market because people who ride want to watch them… better music, no slow motion, bike sounds, tricks that aren't landed clean arnt put in the video…
my two personal favourites for bike videos are Ride to the Hills (mtb) and criminal mischief (bmx)
I wish there could be another movie like ride to the hills!

no MTB flick has yet told a story… for years it been "see what we can do" but I think now the wow factor has fizzled and its time for something else. I think the Roam guys are on track with their new project but we'll see.

My personal favorite movies are Roam and Between The Tape. I loved Roam, I prefer it to The Collective, because I liked the inclusion of some downhill riders like Tyler Morland, Nathan Rennie, Steve Peat etc … those segments were amazing. I didn't care much for the dirt jumping, I find I skip that segment regularly. I enjoy watching some of the freeride stuff as long as it isn't repetitive slopestyle type stuff like NWD. I think Roam struck a good balance between creative lines and tricks.

My personal favorite movies are Roam and Between The Tape. I loved Roam, I prefer it to The Collective, because I liked the inclusion of some downhill riders like Tyler Morland, Nathan Rennie, Steve Peat etc … those segments were amazing. I didn't care much for the dirt jumping, I find I skip that segment regularly. I enjoy watching some of the freeride stuff as long as it isn't repetitive slopestyle type stuff like NWD. I think Roam struck a good balance between creative lines and tricks.

I agree… I think the thing everybody loves is the fast flowy jumps (kinda like the end of ROAM) because everyone wants to ride trail like that

Filmguy, I hope you plan to pay some dividends from your movie's sales to nsmb for all this free intel. You seem keen on big sales, profits etc. Probably is rubbing some peeps funny. And probably a good idea not to include what you plan on calling this lil money maker project so when it comes out people don't avoid it so not to feed-the-greed.

make a movie cuase you dig bikes, the bush and filming. not to make $$

I think that films like the oldie "Hidden Pleasures" are where it's at for me, the riding isn't great, the production isn't great, but the soundtrack was different (not all rap/metal) and you could tell, it was just a bunch of guys out having fun on their bikes. For that same reason, I much prefer Drop In to any released video, although the later seasons have become a lot more Jackass stuff with less riding it seems.

I think that films like the oldie "Hidden Pleasures" are where it's at for me, the riding isn't great, the production isn't great, but the soundtrack was different (not all rap/metal) and you could tell, it was just a bunch of guys out having fun on their bikes. For that same reason, I much prefer Drop In to any released video, although the later seasons have become a lot more Jackass stuff with less riding it seems.

I still watch, to this day, season 1 of Drop-In for that reason alone. The overall fun that was had during that season shows and makes you laugh and want to ride.

I haven't seen any episodes since season two…sorry to hear they went the way of the jackass though…