THE NORTHERN EMBASSY

04 Dec

Posted at 22:17h in archive by

It’s not very often you see a BMXer make a full length feature film. Adam McKay has done exactly that.

“So I have been making films and shooting stuff for about 10 years. Started with a bunch of random videos and BMX vids and slowly morphed into a love for filmmaking. This love brought me out west, where I went to Capilano U for film. It wasn’t all it was cracked up to be so instead of spending a collective $45,000 between the 3 of us involved, we decided just to make a feature film. Initially set to take place entirely on an island on Lake Nippissing, it ended up being shot over 3 weeks in Toronto, Timmins and Monetville. We shot this thing for just over 10k and a lot of hard work. It is our first attempt at anything of this scale and was an incredible learning experience. We hope to do some more in the future.

A small town boy turned big city player is forced to choose between the career of his dreams and the family he has left.
This film was shot over the course of 3 weeks in the summer of 2011. It is one of the first films ever to be both shot and set in Northern, Ontario. With our main shooting locations being, Timmins and Lakair Lodge on the west arm of Lake Nippissing. Despite a fairly large cast and many locations we managed to shoot the film for a little more thank $10,000. Which my Hollywood standards, is damn near impossible. We could not have done this without the love and support of all of our friends, family, cast and crew. Thank you to everyone who made this film a reality. Enjoy.”

– Adam McKay

30 Nov

Posted at 23:21h in archive by

This is a slight departure from Canadian content, but since I have the advantage of getting it first (by virtue of living a few hours across the border) I’ll post a few things I liked about this video before it lands in Canada.

Spots. I love the abundance of East Coast spots in Talk is Cheap. They have a look to them that works really well with street footage, and there’s a great mix of recognizable classics and new finds.

“It has the vibe of like, Endless Summer.” (That was my wife’s review…. I bet the Cult guys would be stoked on that.)

Alex Kennedy. This one was a surprise to me. He does a bunch of combos I’ve never seen before and he makes everything look really good.

Editing/Music choice. Riding videos have a tendency to turn into a barrage of fast paced clips an sections. Navaz slows things down a bit an lets a bunch of clips run long. This adds an authentic feel to the video, and it fits really well with the eclectic and generally low-key music choices.

Dakota Roche’s behemouth of a nine minute section. This was always going to be an amazing section. It’s pretty clear that both Navaz and Dakota were commited to making this section one of the best in recent memory.

Most people won’t need convincing to pick this one up, but get stoked, this is one for the ages.

29 Nov

Posted at 23:09h in archive by

“Filmed mainly in Edmonton, and Calgary with a couple BC clips thrown in. There was no real direction while filming for this, just clipping on any regular session with the homies. There are some old clips, and some new that I just thought fit in place. Thanks to John Alden, James Van De Kamp, Richard Gallant, Mike Orita, Jaumell Campbell, Trucker Dan, Colton Ponto, Darcy Peters, Andrew Schubert, Jake Montgomery, Eric Marshall, Cory Beal, Andrew White Jeremy Bischler, Ryan Spracklin, Sam Jepson, Nick Lemont, and Matthew Walser for the good times, and thanks to the Embassy for hosting the edit.”
– Isaac Barnes

It hasn’t been easy holding onto this edit all week. So pumped on this! Huge thanks to Isaac for hooking this up. There’s a bunch of rad Canadian riders in this edit mixed with good tunes, good filming, and good editing.

28 Nov

Posted at 23:20h in archive by

We’re a bit late on this one but the Hunt 2 has been out on iTunes for some time now and is available for $9.99. Mike Gray (Toronto) and Joel Marchand (Montreal) are two Canadian shredders that made it into the top 11. If you haven’t already, support these guys and get your hands on the movie here.