To coincide with the iTunes release of her ode to the history of freeride, The Moment, we caught up with Darcy Turenne to chat how it came about.
Pete had a chat with Darcy Turenne, director of The Moment, a history of the sport of freeride mountain biking on the day the film is released on iTunes. It turns out, the art of film making isn’t all plain sailing.
Who is Darcy Hennessey Turenne?
Nature freak. Snow lover. Filmmaker. Creator. Ex-pro mountain biker. Cat lover (well, my own cat).
What’s your background in cycling and the cycling industry?
I started XC racing when I was 12 and then moved to downhill shortly after. It was the late 90’s and I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a pretty core group of riders on Vancouver Island, Canada. After racing for several years and making the national team a few times, I saw what guys were doing in the freeride world.
There weren’t a lot of women doing that and so I decided to start learning tricks and working with photographers and before I knew it I was a pro freerider.
How did you gravitate towards film making?
I have always written stories and visualised movies in my head, but as a kid we couldn’t afford a video camera. So when I did my master’s degree, I made a documentary as my thesis project and I was able to afford a camera by selling one of my bikes.
From that point on I knew I had found my passion and was finally able to execute the visuals and stories that had been floating around in my head for years.
Photo by Sterling Lorence.
How did The Moment come about?
I was approached by Christian Begin, the original director of the Kranked series. He had digitized all their old footage, as well as a bunch of behind the scenes footage from the making of Kranked that they had never even looked at before.
He told me that he thought freeride mountain biking was old enough now to have it’s history be made into a movie, however, he was too close to the subject matter so he didn’t want to make the film himself. So he hired me as a director and I started to make the film.
Halfway through he pulled out because he had other non-movie projects on the go, so I took over everything and finished the movie on my own.
So what got you inspired to make this project happen?
Mountain biking was such a huge part of my life for so long and I attribute most of my most memorable experiences to the sport. It gave me so much so I thought that making a film about its history would bring a certain sense of legitimacy to the sport that perhaps it didn’t have yet from an outsider perspective.
For instance, the rise of freeride didn’t happen over night and knowing that there was a struggle to make the sport happen makes people more appreciative of where we are today. I gained a lot of new-found respect for the early pioneers by making this film.
Was it easy to get all of the ingredients together?
No. It was like the most complicated jigsaw puzzle you could ever imagine. However, I was lucky that the old film had been digitised. However, it wasn’t organised. It took months just to organise it and know where everything was. There’s still some footage that I probably haven’t seen because it’s buried too deep in a hard drive somewhere.
Photo by Erik Berger.
Is it an easy feat putting together a film like this?
No. I was ready to walk away from the project multiple times. This movie was made on a super low budget compared to most films, so I had to do almost everything myself while working other jobs at the same time.
Near the end I was able to bring in some very talented people to do motion graphics, colour, and sound and pay them from the funds we raised on Kickstarter. I feel like it was actually a miracle the film got finished.
Do you think the industry has almost come full circle and started seeing the value in bigger, better quality productions whether it’s in print or video?
I think the opposite, actually. When I was approaching sponsors to back this movie, 99% were not interested because their focus was on social media initiatives. Basically, high-volume free advertising through their athletes. They tap into the following of a star athlete by having them post short videos to get the high number impressions that they want instead of backing large-scale projects.
Several people told me that long-form video is a dead art. And yes, maybe that’s true, and I totally get having to fulfill a certain amount of impressions, but to me a long-form film is the most powerful medium of storytelling there is and most social media videos that I see don’t make a memorable impact.
However, I was super fortunate that Rocky Mountain Bikes, Shimano, Ryders, and Destination BC saw the value in the project. They fought so hard to support me, despite the medium of long-form story telling being “antiquated” in the eyes of many advertisers. The movie wouldn’t have happened without them.
It actually was really eye-opening (and saddening) to see a lot of companies playing into the short attention span model of advertising instead of backing a real story with emotions and important messaging.
Photo by Ian Hylands.
What did you have to give up to get this film to the point where you could release it?
Well, to be honest, my life for about a year. There was no time for riding, no social life, no money coming in. It was very intense. I’m so happy I was able to finish the film though. Perhaps it’s a bit like giving birth? I know my friends with kids wouldn’t say that’s a fair comparison though.
What kit did you film with?
Red Epics for the final scene, Sony FS700 with Odyssey 4K recorder in ProRes 422 for interviews, and Sony A7sii for b-cam in interviews.
Any disasters?
Thankfully, I can’t say there were. Although, my hard drive crashing in the middle of the edit wasn’t idea.
Favourite moments?
Seeing everyone come back together at Todd Pit in Kamloops. It was a miracle that everyone’s schedules lined up and they were able to make it, despite the forest fires burning out of control. It was super sweet seeing the characters reminisce and act like no time had past. That was the best.
Where next?
Just doing some commercial work and taking some time for myself. Looking forward to a mellow summer of nature time, swimming, and bike riding.
Any thank yous?
So many thank yous! My family and husband for keeping me grounded. All the sponsors that supported the film. All the Kickstarter backers. And my post-production team who had to work with crazy deadlines. The film wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for everyone contributing. I love you all.
