indie film Archives - Smarty Girl Leadership

Iceland Challenge Bike Tour Short Film: An Interview with Pedelec Adventures Ebike Photojournalist Susanne Bruesch

July 13, 2015 by Renee Marchol Leave a Comment

Many of our readers have been participating in independent filmmaking as cast or crew for the past two summers. Our blog featured filmmakers Joe Nicolosi and Niall Doran. For this educational report, Susanne Bruesch joined us via Skype from Germany to answer our questions about electric pedal assist bike touring in Iceland. During this adventure she produced a short film together with filmmaker Andreas Gutmann.

Fast Facts about adventure Smartygirl Susanne

She coined the term pedelec as a journalist in her college thesis to describe electric bikes powered with manual pedaling and a boost from an electric motor in contrast to electric throttle powered bicycles
Bicycle Retailer And Industry News reported that Currie Technologies, the leading electric bike distributor in the US, hosted live shows by Susanne Bruesch about her Iceland Challenge project at Interbike (a convention for the cycling industry) where their film had its USA premiere.
She is a photojournalist who likes to push pedelecs to the limit through bike touring. She has toured with speed-pedelecs that support up to 28 mph pulling solar trailers in Morocco and Mongolia. Iceland was her third project under the Pedelec Adventures flag.

One of our guest contributors, Bicyclist Michael Zack, shared his Morocco bike tour diary with our readers. According to Bicycle Retailer And Industry News (BRAIN), Susanne’s travels on pedelecs attract many locals who request test rides of the electric bikes during her filming schedule. This was no exception in Morocco. Our Editor-in-Chief found Susanne Bruesch to be delightfully funny, vividly descriptive as a journalist and inspiring as a maker of documentaries during the video call. Why inspiring? Because she is just like our readers: she is a maker and thusly a creative problem-solver!

BRAIN reported that Pedelec Adventures modified the eflow pedelecs they were using in Iceland with suspension forks, off-road tires to be more suitable for cross-country riding. A major challenge in Iceland was to cross rivers. For this reason, the team used silicone seal to waterproof the motors.

ICELAND CHALLENGE – eflow through ice and fire (Short film Extended) from Andreas Gutmann on Vimeo.

Susanne’s answers from Sunday, June 28th are paraphrased by our editors below.

How did she prepare her equipment (cycling, battery charging and film), crew and self for her tour in Iceland?

In Iceland there wasn’t enough sunlight to recharge our batteries with solar panels as we did in Morocco and Mongolia. So we had to come up with a different solution. We purchased a 4×4 offroad truck that was formerly used by the public technical aid (THW) in Germany to use in Iceland as a support vehicle that would carry the stuff for 4 people, 4 weeks and 4000 kilometers (2485 miles).

What were some challenges unique to the terrain?

Hundreds of miles of vast lava desert, temperatures between 32 and 59°F and lots of rivers to cross. The weather constantly changes. The Icelanders say, if the weather is bad, just wait for 5 minutes. And they are right. By the way, if they say bad weather, they don’t mean rain, they mean rain that hits you like this (shows a horizontal line). All of this is no problem because you are rewarded with spectacular scenery that completely changes within short distances as well. Standing at Europe’s largest glacier, the Vatnajökull in the morning, we arrived at a lovely green valley in the afternoon and spend the night in the hot springs.

What is something unexpected in Iceland that you’d share with first timers on a pedelec bike tour and as filmmakers?

The white summer nights of the north are just too beautiful to go to sleep. We mostly traveled at night time when we had the natural sights such as the big waterfalls, the geysir and the glacier lagoon of Jökulsarlon to our selves in the most beautiful light for filming and photo shooting.

For example, we chose to have dinner at 6 A.M. , went to sleep for a few hours when the sun was already high up in the sky (if it was not raining) had breakfast at 10 A.M. and continued our journey.

Pedelec Adventures Iceland Challenge 2013 Susanne Bruesch

Here’s more about Susanne in her own words:

I started working in the electric bike field in 1997 when this new bicycle species had just started its growth in Asia and was an absolute novelty in Europe. Communicating its benefits and potential in a worldwide network while closely working with promotion and testing authority ExtraEnergy, I soon hit the limits of available terminology. Using the words e-bike or anything connected to assist caused a serious image problem. At least in Europe, back then. While I was still studying languages in Heidelberg, Germany, I dedicated my diploma to this topic and the result was the word pedelec which is now widely used in the industry to describe the sensor controlled type of electric bike.

Publishing pedelec in the international bike media was my start into journalism. Today I am a regular contributor to the leading bike media internationally.

After having tested, photographed and written about electric bikes for so many years, the first e-mountain-bikes appeared on the market and changed my work focus. I really wanted to ride these myself.

This was the birth of Pedelec Adventures. Developing, organizing and riding multi-week expeditions on electric bikes allows me to combine my expertise in the bike industry with my skills and passion as a journalist, photographer, public speaker and cyclist.

Together with my team of bike enthusiasts and professionals in media, e-technology and travel I want to show what’s possible on electric bikes even in the toughest conditions and how much fun they can be even if you’re not lazy!

Helping this industry and market evolve over the past 18 years has been an extraordinary experience and I am looking forward to being part of what is still to come.

Best & thanks for spreading the story!

Photo Credit: 2013 Andreas Gutmann Susanne Bruesch Team Pedelec Adventures

Photo Credit: The Pedelec Adventures team just before their departure for Iceland Challenge, Berlin, June 2013

Valentine’s Day Weekend Make A Film in a Day: Behind-the-Scenes Production Assistant Log

February 17, 2015 by Renee Marchol Leave a Comment

Who will be joining us as guests for our Top 3 Badasses of Spring? Two of the three badasses will appear in our March educational reports. Actress Tricia Hakenwerth and Director of Photography Leo Tutor. Where can you find our third nominee? On the set and leading the company she was born to run. Badass #3 is Producer/Director Elena Altman, founder of the film production nonprofit: MMTB. Readers are encouraged to find out for themselves what makes local indie producers/directors unique and so we’re staying mum.

Where did SmartyGirlLeadership meet these digital shorts badasses? At badass Make a Film in a Day during Valentine’s Day weekend.

The proofreader only allows badass to be used as a noun twice and adjective once per article so this reporter will change to another descriptor.

How many film races have our Editors done? Three so far: one with Team Tacoma of the Seattle 48 Hour Film Project, another with Director Quan Zhang of UC Berkeley, and Make a Film Day led by MMTB’s Elena Altman.

We Editors would not ask our Readers to do anything that we aren’t willing to do ourselves. Write a novel in one month? Yep, did NANOWRIMO. Seasonal Fitness Challenge? Absolutely, did the Eagal Lakes Run. Digital Shorts for film festivals? Right here beside you. We are in your corner so why not video reply on our YouTube Channel, post your portfolio link and share your Vimeos with us on our SGL Facebook. The “solitary” artist has a league of friends.

Photo Credit: Six Sisters’ Stuff Churro Waffles

3 Fun Facts about the Valentine’s Day Make a Film in a Day Potluck

Cheetos and churro-waffle-donuts are the new food of love. Conversation hearts? Nah.
Sports Videographers, including one who regularly covers the World Cup, went undercover as Production Assistant
Bi-lingual Spanish/English Writers were awesomely funny in any language when such SmartyFellas double as Sound Operators pulling pranks on the set with the “dead cat” (wind dampener)

3 Fast Facts Social Intelligence Emotional Intelligence

Notice the Fast Facts shrunk from 10 to just 3 compared to the 48 Hour Film Project educational report? That’s what happens at a 10 A.M. to 7 P.M. film race. Time compresses everything from building rapport to learning equipment. Be ready for that agility mentally.
Tension is higher than on the set of the 48 hour shooting and editing schedule. Why? Because brilliant people have strong opinions and racing the sun adds heat to such personalities.
Let go of ego and stay positive as Production Assistant because you are as much “on camera” as anyone else. The behind-the-scenes word of mouth will spread across social media networks and at mixers if you are a douche to anyone.

4 Technical Tips

Leave your camera and tripod at home if you are in a non-camera role as Production Assistant. Too much equipment clutters foot traffic areas. Space and time is at a premium.
Go lean as Production Assistant. Bring your survival minimum in your PA kit. This can mean Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in a vest of bandolier instead of a full backpack. Unless you are filling that backpack with water for yourself and crew. Think about photojournalist Laina Dawes advice about live concerts in the heavy metal pit: don’t take up much space.
Anticipate clogged toilets so be ready to bring hand sanitizer in case you must take care of plumbing. Rectangular packets of facial tissue work well as toilet tissue too.
Show initiative. If you have special skills such as fight choreography, speak up. Believe it or not, Israeli Martial Arts training came in handy for one PA who could contribute to a scene to avoid stereotypes of a “girl catfight”.

10 Things to Ask an Actor: Part 1 of 2 An Interview with Actress Cami Okins

August 12, 2014 by Chasya Hill

Last Thursday, SmartyGirl Chasya Hill interviewed “Heart Wants” 48 Hour Film Project Actress Cami Okins by phone. Make memorable small talk with actors and actresses by using one of these 5 out of 10 Thought-starters:

Photo Credit: Cami Okins

1. What do you see as the main difference between acting for theater vs. acting for film?

SmartyGirl Cami Okins played Christine Daae in a non-musical theater production of “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux, in addition to her other roles. In live theater, facial expressions and delivery of lines are more exaggerated than acting for film. This is so the audience, even at a distance, can follow the story. Movements are wider, more expansive.

In theater, it’s indoor and live. The audience is present so actors “can’t take it back” when delivering their lines. In film, actors have opportunities to do retakes. The camera captures the actor’s expressions up close on film. For film? The more natural and realistic, the better.

Ms. Okins enjoys using her varied life experiences to connect with the character she is playing. She believes that life experience builds an individual into something. She invites playing different types of people and addressing a range of subjects. Understanding the history of a character inspires her as an actress.

2. Tell me more about the research you’ve done for a role.

Ms. Okins researched the character of Christine Daae as created by Writer Leroux. What was the political climate during the time of the story? How did women dress at the time? In what way could Christine Daae’s Swedish upbringing influence her perspective of Paris? Research informs how a character would operate and react to her world.

3. Can you tell me how “cue lines” signal fellow actors and crew during a theater production?

Cue lines are the end of a sentence before another character enters in theater. Cue lines choreograph when to do what. Imagine the sound specialists, lighting effects crew and actors as a big machine working together.

In film there is more room for actors to improvise. In contrast, theater productions require actors to improvise when something goes awry. For example, when lighting fails, the actor might choose to joke aloud about forgetting to pay the light bill to smooth out the production for the theater audience.

4. How are the physical demands for film different from the energy expended for live theater?

For theater, it can be physical demanding for an actress to communicate climbing a mountain when she is indoors and on stage. She must be convincing enough to help the audience imagine the strain of clawing at a rockface. For film, she might do a retakes for a running scene 20 times. Both take its own kind of exertion.

5. Besides acting, what other roles interest you in the entertainment industry?

Cami Okins has an interest in “child wrangling”. This is a designated role of an adult with training how to protect youth actors from emotional trauma. A child wrangler advocates for the child actor and might suggest alternatives for a shot for a body double if a scene might be too upsetting for a young actor.

Check back with SGL for 5 tips from Actor Alex Hager. You didn’t think we’d leave out the SmartyFellas, did you?

SmartyGirl Actress Chasya Hill enjoys time with friends. Quality time with friends, according to Ms. Hill, can be a walk outdoors or a trip to the grocery store together. She believes in living a rich and interesting life. Weird jobs? Bring it on! She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Actor Chasya Hill

Meet Team Tacoma: The 48 Hour Film Project Seattle

July 25, 2014 by smartygirl 4 Comments

Photo Credit: Team Tacoma The 48 Hour Film Project

My white Nokia smartphone is smeared with mini chocolate donut and I couldn’t be happier. Why?

Tonight was the kickoff production meeting for The 48 Hour Film Project Seattle. These are a few of production crew who aren’t camera shy. From left to right: Jon Spieth, Iver Nitz, Serena Berry and Greyson Boevers.

I feel honored to be Assistant Cameraperson alongside this accomplished crew.

Photo Credit: The 48 Hour Production Crew

What are the crew’s tastes in film? From classic Universal Studios horror movies to the new documentary titled “Fed Up”.

The chocolate donuts and the flowing java were compliments of Writer Serena, who grew up loving Goodfellas (1990). Her passion includes positive representation of African Americans and women in film. She also facilitated tonight’s icebreaker and FAQ.

The genre will be decided in sorting hat fashion by 5 P.M. Friday, August 1st: horror, drama, comedy, or film de femme. As seen in the first picture, we practiced for horror by stringing up the crew’s real life firefighter-in-training!

Writers such as Serena will gather with the executive decision-makers and have a script/shotlist for the rest of us by 7 A.M. Saturday, August 2nd. Actors and crew will be prepared for a 10-12 hour shooting day.