Jamie Houssian: Finding the Flow
“Mountain biking is not just about the cliff drops or the big jumps,” says filmmaker Jamie Houssian. “It’s about flow. It’s about getting into a groove, getting into a rhythm and flowing down the trail. That’s really what we want to convey with our films, that sense of streaming down a mountain on two wheels.”
Houssian is a founding member of The Collective, a Vancouver-based film company that captures the fluid motion of mountain biking with 16mm film and digital video. For the past three years, he’s been caught in the spokes of the sport, filming pro bikers around the world — from the deserts of Utah to the streets of Prague. His team’s first film, also called “The Collective,” was released in 2004 and the second, aptly named “Roam,” will roll out in 2006. Both films were cut on Power Macs with Final Cut Studio.
“All of us in the film crew ride,” says Houssian. “We love the sport and we want to document it in a way that hasn’t been done before.”
Climbing the Grade
To the uninitiated, Mountain bikers are crazed adrenaline junkies who live for insane speeds and big air. But that’s only partly true. “In the mountain biking world, a lot of filmmakers are trying to make the sport look as extreme as possible, make it look crazy,” says Houssian. “There’s an element of that to mountain biking and we do show some heavy-hitting riding in our films. But we feel like the sport is really about exploring and having fun.”
Houssian grew up in British Columbia, prime mountain biking territory. He’s been riding singletrack and hurtling down sweeping fire roads since mountain bikes became popular — and he’s been cutting videos for just about as long. “I started making videos when I was 13, cutting from one VHS machine to another,” he says. “I made three ski videos before I was 18.”
In 2002, he teamed up with action sports cinematographer Darcy Wittenburg and mountain bike photographer Sterling Lorence. They also grew up in the mountains of British Columbia riding bikes. That common passion for mountain biking has fueled their filmmaking.
“For all of us, the varied terrain and beautiful locations are some of the most appealing things about mountain biking,” says Houssian. “That’s one thing that brought us together. We try to document those places, that terrain, and give the audience something more than just shots of people riding bicycles.”
The trio spent nearly a year trailing pro mountain bikers for their first film, “The Collective,” and more than a year rolling around the world for “Roam.” They filmed riders in lush forests, harsh deserts, rolling hills, and cityscapes from British Columbia to Morocco.
The Descent
Shooting in those remote, sometimes wild locations is almost as strenuous as riding in them. The three men lug several hundred pounds worth of equipment, film, tapes, and batteries wherever they go. “Each cameraman has to be self-sufficient,” says Houssian. “We’re at the mercy of the riders. When they’re ready to go, we’ve got to be ready to shoot. It can get pretty chaotic.”
Houssian and his crew have learned how to make sense of the chaos. They shoot each rider from several angles at once with 16mm film and digital video. “Our crew is usually four guys on the cinematography side and one still photographer,” says Houssian. “We have five shooters: two with 16mm cameras, two with digital video cameras, and one still photographer.” Houssian works with cinematographers Darren McCullough, Jonathan Schramm, and Colin Jones.
Handheld and tripod shots are key to The Collective’s films, but they can’t capture everything. The crew employs creative camera techniques and some innovative equipment to really capture the feel of a rider whooshing down a trail. “We use cable cams a lot,” says Houssian. “It’s basically a guy and a camera mounted to a 500-foot cable that’s strung between two trees. Darcy is up there on the cable flying through the air filming the riders. We also use cranes and dollies, if we can get them onto the location. They’re great tools that enable us to get long, flowing shots.”
The crew has used helmet cams to get a rider’s-eye view of a trail. “It’s not the riders’ favorite thing to do, but there are times when strapping a helmet cam on them is the best way to show a piece of trail,” says Houssian.
