Initial ideas

1. Initial Ideas & Context
Your Name

2. Pre-proposal
• Tell me in no more than 20 words, what is your FMP idea?
My plan is to create advertisement for a new mountain bike product. It will consist of a TV advert and some
sort of posters for inside of bike shops
• Why have you decided to make it?
I have decided to make this because of my interest in camera work and mountain biking and especially the media world
of mountain bike filming. I feel as if my strongest skill is camera work and filming so I think that this project will suit me
very well and allow me to progress and advance my interest and skills in camera work. I really enjoy in my own time
watching mountain bike short films and more and more often now, mountain bike bands are making adverts that could
be seen as a mountain bike short film so I’m hoping to appeal to that target audience and fit into that genre category
• What about your project makes it important to you?
I’m looking at going into a career that involves camera work, whether that is filming for films or Tv or cinematography
I’m not sure yet, as well as that, I’d like to go into the media side of mountain biking so experiencing camera work
within that genre would be helpful. Plus, I’ve always wanted to make some sort of mountain bike media piece, for as
long as I was interested in filming I’ve wanted to, but I’ve never had the chance or the equipment to make one. So
having this chance and more than good enough equipment, I want to take it and prove to myself that I could make
what I’ve been wanting to for a long time.
• Outline some of the initial influences on your idea/work and some
potential research targets (remember, research isn’t just a paper based
activity)
Most of my main influences for this project will be big bike brands such as Trek, Commencal and Specialised
and their adverts as many bike brands’ adverts have the same kind of skeleton. Another influence of mine will
definitely be the Pinkbike presenter Ben Cathro and his work wit a mountain bike based production company
called Sleeper Co, their mountain bike videos often incorporate riding, comedy and b-rolls or even bloopers.
Another influence for my work will by a photographer called Andrew Leinster who specialises in mountain bike
photography. It wouldn’t be the first time his work has had influence in my own as I really like his work.

3. • What effect do you want to have on your audience when they see your project?
Ideally, it should work as an advert would and make the audience want to buy the product. This will hopefully done by
influencing the audience that the product is as great as the manufacturer thinks it is and that it’s also some sort of
facilitator for good times and very skilful riding. It needs to leave the audience not only wanting to buy the product but
excited about it, make them want to tell others about it and how amazing it is. But like many recent mountain bike
adverts, they no longer only try and push the product, they follow the skeleton of a mountain bike short film, a fun
mountain bike watch, so I want my TV advert to have the same effect, not only appeal to the audience that want’s to buy
it, but also for the people that will maybe want to watch it again, appreciate the add for it’s cinematic features and not
the promotions.
• Describe the tone/mood/style of your project [which production
techniques/characteristics are you employing?]
For my FMP I want the tone and mood to be very professional, not slapped together or in a relaxed style, I want it to
come across to be made by a professional production company as much as I can. But that being said, I don’t want it to be
very serious as I’m hoping to have some parts of comedy, maybe a joke said by the rider or a mistake, just something
funny. As well as that, it needs to have a cinematic style whilst being informative about the product. I’m hoping to follow
the style that most mountain bike ads have, for example the use of tracking shots, close-ups and a fast cut montage.
These techniques can help improve the informative aspect of the advert as shots like the close-ups could easily show
certain sell points of the product that I would be trying to sell.
• Why have you decided to make your project in this style?
I have decided to make my project in this style because whilst it fits the usual style of mountain bike advert that I’d like
to replicate with my own project, it also gives me a chance to improve on skills that I already have, that being camera
skills and understanding the use of certain features like the ISO and their effects. It also gives me a chance to work on my
editing skills as well as learning some new features of the software I’ll be using, that being premiere pro, photoshop and
possibly after effects. It’s also in this style because it will heavily rely on my camera work, which then gives me more open
time to focus on camera techniques which also then benefits me in the long run as I would like to try and progress
possibly into a university course and career that involves camera work.

4. Initial Reaction
• My initial reaction to the FMP was that I wanted to try and make something film based as that’s where my
interests a mainly focussed. My first thought was to try and make a short film, but once I was left to think
about it myself, I actually realised the complications to it, one main problem being trying to get whiling
cast to participate in my film. But it was then I realised how much cinematic techniques are used in
mountain bike films/ adverts, which recently have started to merge together, and I realised how it would
be easier for me to try and complete whilst grouping together two interests I have whilst pushing me
towards a field of media that I am interested in, the media side of mountain biking.
• I feel as if my strongest skills are filming, print work and maybe not as strong as the other two, but I feel as
if I am improving on my editing skills as I start to grasp how to use premiere pro. This project will help me
improve all three as they are the only skills I’ll be using, plus, they definitely are the skills that interest me
the most and the ones I find most enjoyable. I wanted to create my project around something filming
based as that’s the base for the career that I want to pursue as I go through life. Although I don’t know
exactly what I want to do, that being filming for films, TV, sports or something else, out of those options
sport and films interest me the most, and as we progress through social media and how it can be used, I
start to notice how more and more technical skills from films are being used to create sports films. So
creating this project will allow me to explore almost bets of both worlds.
• Because I feel as if my print work is pretty strong too, I believe that creating some sort of advertisement
poster or banner could help me not only enhance my grade but possibly open up another door of careers
that I could look into and possibly explore further.

5. Mind Map

9. Mood Board-TV advertisement

10. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
• Straightaway looking back at the TV ad mood board I have created, there’s an obvious skeleton that is used
when it comes to making mountain bike adverts. There was a repletion of shots as well as mood that we
can see in my mood board. Shots like the initial establishing shot, more than often the director chooses to
establish the brand and product that the advert is about in 1 shot, the shot of the product, in this case the
bike in an angle that allows the audience to see the brand name. As well as that we can see that basically
every add was filmed in summer, this is definitely chosen because the company is trying to portray that
the product creates a sense of joy with whoever uses it, so shooting in summer allows the natural summer
colours to increase the sense of happiness and enjoyment. There’s a repeated shot of the bike too, one
reason to allow the audience to become familiar with it and to let them simply look at it more. In one
advert I watch, Trek very cleverly used different riders riding the same bike, this allows the audience to
see how versatile their bike is because not 1 rider rides the same, and in this case, they all rode very
differently. As well as that, before every rider’s sequence, there was a shot of their bike. Now the D.O.P
clearly very cleverly tried. To have ach bike almost exactly in the same part of the frame which allowed the
audience to easier compare how the bike can be changed for their own enjoyment ass every bike that they
showed, although the same bike, had very different setups.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• My mood board will heavily influence my work when it comes to production. I want to copy the same
ideas of the first sot establishing the bike and brand, certain angles like from the side and far away, I wish I
could do it exactly the same and track the rider but that would require equipment like a drone or cable
cam. I’d also like shots of the rider as well, they need to be a part of the advert, like in most ads, they try
and use a professional or famous rider to promote the bike, a product shown being use by a professional
will attract the attention of more people than a product being used by an ordinary every day person. So
my plan is to pretend that my father, who will be riding for me in the advert, is some sort of famous and
professional athlete. Like you can see in my mood board, and is commonly used, I intend on using close
ups on the bike that I will be promoting to advertise what parts will be on the bike.

11. Mood Board- Poster/Photography

12. Mood Board Analysis
Is there any repetition in the images you have collected? Repeated
colours/images styles/fonts/tone/mood
• One repetition is the choice of colours, they're either very bright, colourful and bold, or very dark or dull
colours used there’s no real in between. Unless it’s black and white. One thing I noticed was that no
matter what the advert was or even if it was and advert, wheel position seemed to play a big part in
making the photo represent the movement better. Obviously when looking at a photo, it doesn’t fully
portray the speed of the riders or their movement, but certain wheel placement can help interpret what is
happening therefore add more to the photo. For example in one of the adverts on my mood board, the
back wheel of the riders bike is loser to the camera than the rest of the bike due to him leaning the bike
slightly towards the camera as the bike is in the air. Just from that, we already know he’s going fast enough
to get air time, but also adding style whilst in the air too. In another photo a rider is entering a turn but
having to turn his bars the opposite way, we then know that he is clearly going fast enough into the corner
that the bike is trying to fight back. All of these aspect build the photo and what is happening in them to
add extra for the audience. The fonts used for the adverts are all very bold and square which is most likely
because, if you could calla font aggressive, that type of definitely is and therefore, a good match for the
subject of mountain biking as it’s a very aggressive sport.
How will your mood board influence your final product?
• The photography side of my mood board will definitely influence my product a lot, the colours and angles
of the shot are really intriguing to me, but the poster side I'm going to follow less. I’ll still follow the
skeleton, for example the large very central picture and then the text progressively getting smaller towards
the outside but I think that I could possibly break the tradition and do something a bit new. That could be
choice of colour or the type of picture used for the poster. I’m not too entirely sure but with the
decreasing amount of poster for advertisement for mountain bikes, I feel like that gives me more
opportunities and the software's that I can use have improved and given me more features that I could
use.

13. Influence/Inspiration
IFHT films
• One large influence of my work will definitely be IFHT films who created one of the adverts for the new
Trek Slash. I loved their ad as it combines the three aspects that I want to use for my own project, comedy,
cinematic features and informative script writing. They are often one of the production companies that
are chosen to create Trek’s ads and they often use this same style.
• This one advert that I was particularly fond of made by ifht, the directors were, Matt Dennison and David
Wiggins. And the DOP was Harrison Mendel
• The whole IFHT production company always approach their work with the same ideas and same angle, to
sell the bike and make people laugh. They manage to create this comedic video with great production
quality that you initially don’t notice on your first watch through. When you start to notice the cinematic
qualities that are shown in their work, you can tell how professionally created it was. They ever so clearly
approach their work knowing exactly what they want and with a lot of planning, angles and lighting is a
dead give away for this.
• Matt Dennison is actually the co-founder of IFHT films with Jason Lucas, they hit the mountain bike media
world with their first ”How To Be” series on YouTube but actually started making content in 2009 just
making comedy sketches. Comedy is a very clear part of their production’s fame and is actually their first
intentions, but it was their group interests in mountain biking that came to merge the two and create
these ads full of comedic sketches, information about the product as well as riding montages to show off
what the product can do. Which in the long run sells more bikes.

14. Influence/Inspiration
IFHT films
• IFHT films and Matt Dennison will have a large influence on my work. I’m hoping to copy some of the
comedic and cinematic aspects. Watching their work over and over has helped me see what type of
technical sills can work with a mountain bike advert, such as slow motions, tracking shots ad ho some
angles are best for what action the rider is doing. Techniques like if the rider is approaching a corner with
high speed and if they’re going to hit the corner and cause dirt to fly up in the air, a zoomed in shot from
far away just on the tires allows the bike to come into frame quickly and leave fast as well, not staying in
frame a long amount of time which enhances the feeling of speed.
• They have also given me ideas for editing techniques, like for example, if the rider is travelling three or
four consecutive corners, you could take two approaches, one would represent the speed of the rider a lot
better, possibly even portraying the rider as going faster then they actually are and one for intriguing
cinematic aspects. The one technique for the speed would be recording the rider on each corner, possibly
slightly zoomed in and not keeping them in frame for long and in post, you would cut each clip of each
corner to be short to create a fast cut montage of the rider going through the corners. But if you wanted.
The cinematic aspect would be a tracking shot from above, this allows the audience to watch the rider
with more detail as well as the bike and in post, compared to the fast cu montage this would have to be
paced a lot slower. When it comes to creating my own project, my plan is to use some of these techniques
to my advantage, as they worked very well for IFHT and their project so it should work perfectly with my
own and my views.

15. Influence/Inspiration
Misspentsummers
• Another large influence and inspiration for my work is definitely the production company
Misspentsummers. They’re a largely print based production company, making zines and prints for anyone
to buy. But they have multiple branches as they’re more like a collective. Misspentsummers is actually
built up of many photographers that work with the zine editors to produce their work. Misspentsummers
branches off to another zine maker called shredder magazine as well as branching with videographers to
create mountain bike films as well. But it doesn’t seem to matter what they’re making, whether it’s just
prints, zines or films they all have the same kind of style. Even though they’re a collective, they all share
the same style. It’s not that there isn’t any techniques being used with their work, because there clearly is
but their work is more about capturing the mood, tone and vibe that everyone is feeling at the time.
• Looking at the three pictures I’ve used, it proves what I mean wen I talk about how they approach their
work. First one on the left, we can see the technical skills used, raising the camera high and looking down
paired with the fisheye lens helps capture the size of everything as well as being able to capture more. But
the main part of the picture is how the crowd on “HECKLE FEST” is reacting to the rider. That’s what
they’re trying to capture and the picture shows this really well. The colour correction for the photo
enhances the feeling that they’re trying to portray too, the vibrant of the green paired with the strong skin
colour of the crowd increases this feeling of partying in the summer and heckling at every rider that
passes.

16. Influence/Inspiration
Misspentsummers
• I’ll definitely be influenced by Misspentsummers when it comes to my photography side. I love their style
of photos and how they focus on the mood, tone and vibe that they want everyone else to see. I want to
replicate the style very heavily that they use. After looking through they’re portfolio I noticed how they
didn’t lack technical skill at all, but their usage of the technical skills compared to other types of mountain
bike photography isn’t to “show off” technical skill, but to use them to enhance the feeling that they’re
trying to portray and this is definitely what I want to do within my work.
• As well as that Misspentsummers have their film side of their production company. One film made by Tom
Caldwell who had support from misspensummers still manages to follow this style of putting the mood,
tone and vibe first. This film, Tea and Biscuits will almost definitely influence my work but not for my
whole product I only want certain parts to follow this style. My idea is to have the b-roll parts or
“bloopers” to follow this style, I want these parts of my product to help the audience to experience the
mood and feeling that me and the rider will have whilst filming. One techniques that was clearly used
when creating the film to capture these comedic B-rolls and comedic bloopers was to be filming
constantly, either non stop recording are just record any parts that I feel as if might have something
comedic happen in them. Another style that I want use when taking my photos which is definitely inspired
by misspentsummers, is the usage of speed blur. In their photography to represent the speed and
seriousness of some riders, there was a choice of speed blur to represent that and I feel as if it was a very
good choice and I’d really like to use that technique in my own photography.

17. Influence/Inspiration
Andrew Leinster
• Another large influence and inspiration for my work is definitely the free-lance photographer Andrew
Leinster. After viewing a lot of his work, I noticed that his dominant style was to represent his skills and joy
for mountain biking through his photos before everything else. Andrew Leinster the free-lance
photographer likes to take more than just mountain bike photographs, he captures memorable moments
at events for people as well as publishing on his website photos that he has taken in his own time, as he
states that he likes to take his camera everywhere he goes. He’s a very big fan of using black and white but
with very good detail. Like the photo on the left, black and white but when you look into it a lot deeper,
you notice that each side of the rider is very dark, almost pitch black, but he uses the very white light
above the rider to illuminate them which really adds to the whole photo.
• He’s also very fond of side on shots, combing that with speed blur. This is most likely because they’re one
of the easier compositions to use when capturing mountain bikers but they have a lot of other areas for
potential that Andrew clearly explores, like for example the lighting, colouring etc. As we can see in the
middle photo, he has used lighting very well to create this abstract effect. The background is very dark and
grey because of the clouds, but he has placed himself with another light source behind the camera, I’m
guessing natural, which lights up the rider, making him stand out and like I said creates this abstract effect
which instantly just turns this whole photo into something else, it gives an extra factor that draws the
audience in.

18. Influence/Inspiration
Andrew Leinster
• Andrew Leinster will be a large influence when it comes to creating the photography side of my project. I
really like some of the techniques that Andrew uses in his work. I’d like to try and use some features in his
work such as the usage of lighting. I can see from his work that lighting is a very key part of his work, he
uses this one technique involved with lighting a lot which includes this dark edges of the photo, some
photos have large darker sides of the photo than others but the main source of light, which is almost
always natural is often coming from the top down the photo onto the rider. It creates this halo effect over
the rider, and at the same time, it easily and gently draws the audience’s eyes into the rider having the
rider and what they’re doing be the first thing the audience sees.
• I also really like his usage of the speed blur, same again it straight aways draws the eyes of the audience
into the rider but a lot more aggressively than the other style because of how blurred the background is.
Another factor about it that is really helpful, it represents the speed that the riders are traveling at very
well, but it can also be used to portray the rider as actually going faster than they actually were going at.
They heavily blurred backgrounds tricks the minder into believing the rider was going at high speeds when
actually, this techniques can be done when they're not. Working off of that, I would really like to use this
technique when it comes to my photography side of the project, one reason being that it allows me to
take an easy shot that can be well prepared and gives off a whole different effect once taken.

19. Skills Audit- Camera

20. Skills Audit- Software

21. Skills Audit- Software

22. Why are you making this project?
• I have decided that my Final Major Project is going to be advertisement for a new mountain bike made by
Trek. I’ve decided to make these products because of my interests in camera work and mountain biking.
Also, I think that I’d like to try and pursue more mountain bike based media products for further projects
so creating this for my final major project allows me to try what I feel would be the most interesting
medium of media for me. Plus I feel as if my strongest skill is camera techniques and I feel as if camera
techniques within mountain biking and what could be used for certain shots is a very strong point for me. I
have a very good understanding on what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating a mountain
bike film as I’ve watched many myself and in fact I’ve wanted to create one myself for a long time. Talking
about that, I’m a very keen mountain biker myself so I’ve tried to put out social media content and I’ve
done that for a very long time, and I feel as if I’ve progressed with my skills and I feel as if it’s time to
create something a bit bigger and hopefully more professional, so having the opportunity to create any
media product that I want with an expanse of equipment that I can use to create my project. I’m also
making this project because it has certain aspects that will be very easy, for example getting to where I
want to film, getting my actor to where I want to film as well as getting someone to act in my ads, so
having some aspects like that being very easy for me frees up time and effort for me to try and put more
detail, technical skills and effort into more important aspects of my advertisement.

23. Hopes for the FMP
• My hopes for my FMP are to create a professional advertisement scheme for a new Trek mountain bike as
well as improving my technical skills in camera work and editing. I feel as if my interests in camera and
editing work in not only films, but mountain bike media too will help me with the basic understanding in
camera and editing work when it comes to creating my own products, but I’m hoping that the amount of
equipment and time that I will have plus self-reflection will allow me to progress with my skills in both
areas. Not only will that simply help me progress my skills and confidence with the equipment, but it will
hopefully give me the insight into the media side of a sport that means a lot to me but also a possible
career that I feel as if would be a good option for me. I’m hoping that my research will allow me to
approach making my own product a lot mor confidently, that being confidence within appealing to the
target audience as well as having confidence with choosing certain shot types and techniques for certain
situations.

24. Strengths and Limitations
• Strengths
• I mountain bike myself and I’m really into mountain bike films and mountain bike media in general.
Because I enjoy mountain biking and the media side of it, I feel as if I have enough knowledge to try and
make something professional looking myself and doing something I enjoy allows me to put more time and
effort into it as I will enjoy making it.
• I enjoy camera work. Because I enjoy camera work, and it’s a core aspect of my project so I feel as if I’ll
enjoy pushing myself towards more difficult techniques that could bump up the technical level of my
project. Further more increasing my skills and possibly pushing me towards possible future projects.
• I have basic skills in premiere pro and enjoy using the software. I enjoy using Premiere pro and I have basic
knowledge in using it so like the camera work, I will enjoy pushing myself to increase my skill furthering my
technical level in the overall project.
• Limitations
• Budget. A higher budget would allow me increase the production value of my project and use higher
priced equipment for more advanced techniques like a cable cam, a drone or stabilizer.
• Diversity in actors. A diversity in actors could help me advertise to a wider range of target audience which
would then, if the bike was actually being sold, help Trek the company sell more bikes.
• Pro rider. Using a pro rider is clearly a very common feature of bike adverts as they help capture the bike’s
capabilities at full speed and being pushed to the limits as well as making the audience feel as if the bike
could facilitate that type of riding level.

25. Potential Research Activities
• One potential research activity that I could use when researching existing products for my project could be
comparing multiple adverts for one singular product, and how the directors, writers and cinematographers
have taken different approaches to advertising the same product. I would like to compare the different
approaches to lighting, colouring whether there was a script or not and if there was one, the difference
between the scripts and how the all aspects combined effected the overall mood and tone of the
advertisement and whether the chosen aspects we to tailor the adverts for the target audience.
• Another research activity that I could use when researching existing products is to research all types of
mountain bike related media products, for example mountain bike films, mountain bike photography and
mountain bike based magazines. This would help me pull aspects from all mountain bike related media
products and try and put them into my own products, it will help me be able to pull features out of
mountain bike media products that can appeal to different types of target audiences so that when used in
my own products, the aspects combined would hopefully help my products appeal to all target audiences
instead of a smaller group.
• Another research activity that could benefit me when it comes to researching mountain bike related
media products for my own, is look into researching a mountain bike based production company that
creates many different types of media products, for example, the production company Misspentsummers
works largely with print, that being photography pieces and magazines but they do also make mountain
bike films, long and short ones. So it would be handy to see how a production company could have a
consistent style and use that across multiple different mediums and how I could do the same with my own
work as I’m making a TV advert, a poster and photography pieces.