Videographer Interview: Dave King

For a while on this site we’ve been interviewing photographers who are well known in the trails scene – now it’s the time for some moving image makers: video guys, filmers, producers. Starting off on the good foot, we have none other than Derelict’s Dave King – he’s blessed with one of the UK’s best trails scenes on his doorstep, along with the riders that goes with it, and he has the talent and eye to capture it all. There’s no wonder his trails web edits have been clocking up thousands of watchers on Vimeo, and his DVD releases are so highly rated. So we dug a little deeper, and found out what makes Dave tick… read on…

Name: Dave King Hometown: Melbourn, UK Years filming BMX video: Three Where you can see my videos: www.derelictbmx.com, www.vimeo.com/daveking Sony or Panasonic or? Panasonic for life

What are you doing today? What’s the plan? Well at the moment I’m at the office doing my day job. At 5.30 I’m headed home, grabbing my bike and heading to the local trails – Crow – for a chilled evening session with the Derelict lads and then most likely a nuts fire to round off the day.

Okay, what are some of the trails spots you’ve shot video at? I’ve been lucky enough to shoot at Winchester, Wingham, Chertsey, Cothill and many more.

“Thought I would put together another 50 frames per second edit after all the positive feedback on the August one.” – Dave

What are your stand-out favourite trails spots? Favourite spot has got to be Wingham. Will and Louis are super friendly and they have some well-groomed jumps that just ride so perfect. Frog and Robbo’s place is amazing too, I don’t know of anything else in the country that is on that level. I have a lot of respect for the guys that put the hard work in.

And are there any others you really want to film at, that you haven’t been to yet? I haven’t been to Stoney’s Woods this year and would love to film some stuff there. Stoney builds some really creative and unique stuff, the mud is a lovely orange colour and everything is built to perfection, so would definitely make for some nice footage. Oh, and I forgot to mention the fact that Stoney shreds as well.

For you, how does shooting video at the trails differ to filming, say, street, indoor parks, contests, etc? Well I can’t really talk for street or park as I have yet to venture into this area of filming. Indoor parks I’m not really into filming because the lighting is usually pretty bad and loud music playing in the background isn’t great for the audio you capture either. For me I love filming in the woods, nothing compares to it, not even close. I do however have a lot of respect for the street filmers because whereas I’m at a single trails spot for the day which is a pretty sweet deal really, filming street can involve hitting up lots of spots, travelling long distances between them, carrying all the gear around and you’ve also got the risk of getting kicked out of places. Generally when I’m filming I’ll have my camera, my tripod and my fisheye, and on some days my glidecam if I’m feeling up to it – the thing is damn heavy. I would love to get some sort of zipline set up like you see in big budget mountain bike films. That would be amazing to film from, especially in the woods. Some of the footage I’ve seen from those set ups is really inspiring stuff.

“Messing about filming at the woods with some attempts at panning shots and messing about with DOF” – Dave

Ideally… web edit, or feature DVD? For me at this moment in time it’s web edits. It is a shame in some ways, but I think web videos have pretty much killed the DVD off. There have been some good DVDs lately, like Electronical and EndSearch, but then you’ve got things like the Nike Web Video – so if you want to produce a DVD these days it’s got to be of a really high standard if people are going to go out and buy it, especially when there is so much amazing content up online for free. At the moment I am really in to making web edits, it’s great to be able to get stuff out online with minimal hassle and it keeps the Derelict website updated with fresh content. If I had more time on my hands then I would love to get round to producing something on Blu Ray. One day maybe.

What tips would you give to people wanting to film better trails video? Obviously just keep at it, and like anything you will improve. When you’re editing footage remember what sort of shots look best and then next time your out filming try those kinds of shots again. Instead of just using auto mode, learn the manual controls on your camera, you will definitely get a lot more out of your camera if you know what the settings do and how they affect the final image. Try to think of original shots and capture the atmosphere and the scene. I think its a shame if you only concentrate on filming the riding as trails is about more than just this, it’s good to capture everything involved – even though certain Thecomeup regulars may disagree with this. Also you should always ask permission before filming at someone’s spot, that goes without saying really.

What’s your favourite trails video of all time? I’ve got to say Seek and Destroy – it was the first BMX video I ever watched and the trails flow section in that is pretty much what really got me into trails. I’m going to have to go watch that again right now…

“Damo’s a decent kid, he was at the trails on Saturday with me sorting them out resurfacing stuff and fixing stuff after all the rain last week, then we got them running Sunday and filmed most the stuff in that video in a day! Hardly anyone knows about the kid but he is pretty damn good on a bike and real consistant too as it shows in the video!” – Dave

Do you prefer filming trails in the woods, or out in the open? I prefer woods definitely, there is a certain atmosphere that you just don’t get in the open and you can be a lot more creative in your shots. But still I will happily film trails out in the open, like I am at the moment with Bob Manchester at the jumps in his backyard which has definitely been a laugh.

What about dirt jumping contests – how do you see those? They are just that… a contest. They are rad to watch though that’s for sure. Elevation was amazing, BF, no more needs to be said.

If you were going to, say Catty Woods or Bar End, for a video shoot for one day with just three riders – who would you pick, and why? Iain Ward – The dude is too good on a bike and he needs to get back in to riding. Robbo – If you have ever seen this guy ride then you’ll know why I would choose him. Priest – So dialled, pretty much every trick pulled first time, so he’s a treat to film.

“Here’s the Derelict BMX DVD ‘Never Gonna Win’ that I made at the end of 07 and released early 08, with footage all shot over spring/summer 2007 from trails all across the UK. Here’s the main part of the DVD up online for anyone who didn’t manage to get hold of a copy or anyone else that may be interested in some classic trails footage from the Derelict crew.” – Dave

CLICK Derelict BMX

CLICK Dave King’s Vimeo Site

posted by Patrick Best
on 17/04/09