Elevation 5, the latest snowmobile film from Team Summit Productions is in and ready to ship. All of you that have pre-ordered get first shipping priority. They will go out earlier than promised!!
I haven't had a lot of time to promote this year's movie so here's a brief rundown of what you WILL and WILL NOT see on our latest film:
WE CHANGED THE FORMAT: No talking-head interviews this year...I didn't have time to do them. Instead...its just straight-up mountain riding cut to an incredible (and somewhat expensive soundtrack). In between riding segments, you will see some candid, sometimes staged but funny clips of wrecks, $hit talking and general goofing around. Please note, these happy-horse$hit bits are short and we get right back to the riding quick.
The film runs about 45 minutes including the deliberate opening sequence. For those of you that b!tched about the teasers earlier this year having too many shots of snow falling and timelapse to actually build tension and give contrast and payoff to the riding shots...you might not like this part. If you have the attention span of a common house fly and like your sled films to resemble ****...this movie is not for you. Warning: There is actual filmmaking involved with Elevation 5.
THIS MOVIE IS NOT A G-RATED FILM. Like in real life, the riders of Team Summit have been know to drop an occasional F-bomb, S-word or use the Lord's name in vain. While these occur in this movie, they are not overdone or happening every 5 seconds. Total bad-word count might be around 5. If this is going to be a problem with the kiddies...pre-screen it...hit the mute button when the children are watching or don't buy the movie.
THE RIDING: This is a primarily a hill-climb movie. Most of the shots are of hill-climbing. There is also a fair amount of cliff-drops (some pretty dang big), natural hits with some decent air, and a good amount of deep powder riding from some of the best in the biz. We have quite a few helmet cam shots both in the trees and in the pow and off the jumps. Not too many wrecks but a few. You will NOT SEE random or unexplainable shots of our pets, dirt-bike riding or downhill shopping cart runs. This is a snowmobile film.
THE RIDERS: In addition to Team Summit regulars like Shane Kelley, Anthony Oberti, Jesse O'Rourke, Billygoat, Smasher and Hatcher you will see excellent pulls and jumps from other film hotshots like Randy Swenson, Brad Story, Dan Bush, Mark Mesenbrink, Dan Gardiner, Phatty Dyer, Ryan Nelson, Rick Barker, Wes Little, Shawn Nesbo, Trennis Baer and more courtesy of Jim Phelan from Thunderstruck Films and Dan Gardiner from Boondockers.
SLED SOUNDS/ALTERNATE SOUND TRACKS
While I love the sound of a sled rippin' up a big hill as much as the next guy, even the best microphones don't do the sound justice. Mix in the chatter of a few riders standing around the camera and you start to see why I greatly limit natural sled sounds in my movies. The music rights aren't cheap and the last thing I'm going to do is spend a wad on music and then give a viewer the option to turn it off. Doesn't make real good biz sense to me. So, Elevation 5 has sled sounds mixed under the sound track (but not on every shot). If this bugs you...don't buy the movie.
DIGITAL MOTION TRACKING!!! THIS IS COOL!!
Elevation 5 is proud to feature a new technology that I'm pretty sure the other guys don't have in their films...Digital Motion Tracking. About 80% of our movie has been run through a special and painstaking process that takes even the smallest camera movement, jiggle, shake or bump OUT. The hillclimbing and helicopter shots are freakin' MEZMORIZING with this treatment. If you've ever heard of a Cineflex Chopper Mount...this Motion Tracking deal we did is the next best thing. You should buy the movie just to see how incredibly clear this is.
SPEAKING OF CLEAR...Elevation 5 is not available on Blu-Ray. We don't sell enough videos to justify the LEGAL cost of producing Blue-Ray discs right now. However...because I do this $hit for a living...I know how to produce the best possible standard def down-conversion available...period. Our entire movie was shot in HD for the best possible picture capture and then down-converted to an incredible high bit-rate format that when played on a regular DVD or Blu-Ray player...looks amazing. You gotta see to believe. Note: Yes...you CAN play E5 on a Blu-Ray player and it will look crazy-good.
DISTRIBUTION:
Due to the wonderful economy and the fact that our movie isn't a top-selling title each year, we have been dropped by our distributors (this has happened to more sled films than you might think this year). No worries...I would rather the guys that are earning their entire living at snowmobile filmmaking get in there instead of a hobbyist like me anyway. Still...what that means for you is that our website is the only place to get the video this season. We are not going to all of the sled shows...maybe Seattle, Boise and SLC...but those aren't for sure right now either. Too much stuff going on...so, if you want the film...go to our website and order. The pre-order goes through the 19th and you'll get it for $20 bucks with free shipping. Just like a sore weenie...you can't beat it. After that, it goes up to $25 but I'll probably keep the free shipping thing going to help folks out. If you own a sled shop and want Elevation 5 on your shelf, hit me up directly and we'll work a sweet deal. We will NOT be in WPS, IMPACT, ACTION or any of the other distributors this year.
I am only taking Pay Pal this year. No checks. Don't know how to use Pay Pal...? go figure it out or don't buy the movie.
AND LAST...quality. Like every year, I will put our film up against anyone's when it comes to photographic, editing and content quality. You won't see mind-numbingly repeat shots of jump after jump after 'put a bullet in my head'...not another JUMP. It's a good mix of riding on some mod, some stock sleds by a bunch of guys that love the sport and do NOT take themselves too seriously. If that sounds good to you...check out this years flick.
Jeff Aiello
I haven't had a lot of time to promote this year's movie so here's a brief rundown of what you WILL and WILL NOT see on our latest film:
WE CHANGED THE FORMAT: No talking-head interviews this year...I didn't have time to do them. Instead...its just straight-up mountain riding cut to an incredible (and somewhat expensive soundtrack). In between riding segments, you will see some candid, sometimes staged but funny clips of wrecks, $hit talking and general goofing around. Please note, these happy-horse$hit bits are short and we get right back to the riding quick.
The film runs about 45 minutes including the deliberate opening sequence. For those of you that b!tched about the teasers earlier this year having too many shots of snow falling and timelapse to actually build tension and give contrast and payoff to the riding shots...you might not like this part. If you have the attention span of a common house fly and like your sled films to resemble ****...this movie is not for you. Warning: There is actual filmmaking involved with Elevation 5.
THIS MOVIE IS NOT A G-RATED FILM. Like in real life, the riders of Team Summit have been know to drop an occasional F-bomb, S-word or use the Lord's name in vain. While these occur in this movie, they are not overdone or happening every 5 seconds. Total bad-word count might be around 5. If this is going to be a problem with the kiddies...pre-screen it...hit the mute button when the children are watching or don't buy the movie.
THE RIDING: This is a primarily a hill-climb movie. Most of the shots are of hill-climbing. There is also a fair amount of cliff-drops (some pretty dang big), natural hits with some decent air, and a good amount of deep powder riding from some of the best in the biz. We have quite a few helmet cam shots both in the trees and in the pow and off the jumps. Not too many wrecks but a few. You will NOT SEE random or unexplainable shots of our pets, dirt-bike riding or downhill shopping cart runs. This is a snowmobile film.
THE RIDERS: In addition to Team Summit regulars like Shane Kelley, Anthony Oberti, Jesse O'Rourke, Billygoat, Smasher and Hatcher you will see excellent pulls and jumps from other film hotshots like Randy Swenson, Brad Story, Dan Bush, Mark Mesenbrink, Dan Gardiner, Phatty Dyer, Ryan Nelson, Rick Barker, Wes Little, Shawn Nesbo, Trennis Baer and more courtesy of Jim Phelan from Thunderstruck Films and Dan Gardiner from Boondockers.
SLED SOUNDS/ALTERNATE SOUND TRACKS
While I love the sound of a sled rippin' up a big hill as much as the next guy, even the best microphones don't do the sound justice. Mix in the chatter of a few riders standing around the camera and you start to see why I greatly limit natural sled sounds in my movies. The music rights aren't cheap and the last thing I'm going to do is spend a wad on music and then give a viewer the option to turn it off. Doesn't make real good biz sense to me. So, Elevation 5 has sled sounds mixed under the sound track (but not on every shot). If this bugs you...don't buy the movie.
DIGITAL MOTION TRACKING!!! THIS IS COOL!!
Elevation 5 is proud to feature a new technology that I'm pretty sure the other guys don't have in their films...Digital Motion Tracking. About 80% of our movie has been run through a special and painstaking process that takes even the smallest camera movement, jiggle, shake or bump OUT. The hillclimbing and helicopter shots are freakin' MEZMORIZING with this treatment. If you've ever heard of a Cineflex Chopper Mount...this Motion Tracking deal we did is the next best thing. You should buy the movie just to see how incredibly clear this is.
SPEAKING OF CLEAR...Elevation 5 is not available on Blu-Ray. We don't sell enough videos to justify the LEGAL cost of producing Blue-Ray discs right now. However...because I do this $hit for a living...I know how to produce the best possible standard def down-conversion available...period. Our entire movie was shot in HD for the best possible picture capture and then down-converted to an incredible high bit-rate format that when played on a regular DVD or Blu-Ray player...looks amazing. You gotta see to believe. Note: Yes...you CAN play E5 on a Blu-Ray player and it will look crazy-good.
DISTRIBUTION:
Due to the wonderful economy and the fact that our movie isn't a top-selling title each year, we have been dropped by our distributors (this has happened to more sled films than you might think this year). No worries...I would rather the guys that are earning their entire living at snowmobile filmmaking get in there instead of a hobbyist like me anyway. Still...what that means for you is that our website is the only place to get the video this season. We are not going to all of the sled shows...maybe Seattle, Boise and SLC...but those aren't for sure right now either. Too much stuff going on...so, if you want the film...go to our website and order. The pre-order goes through the 19th and you'll get it for $20 bucks with free shipping. Just like a sore weenie...you can't beat it. After that, it goes up to $25 but I'll probably keep the free shipping thing going to help folks out. If you own a sled shop and want Elevation 5 on your shelf, hit me up directly and we'll work a sweet deal. We will NOT be in WPS, IMPACT, ACTION or any of the other distributors this year.
I am only taking Pay Pal this year. No checks. Don't know how to use Pay Pal...? go figure it out or don't buy the movie.
AND LAST...quality. Like every year, I will put our film up against anyone's when it comes to photographic, editing and content quality. You won't see mind-numbingly repeat shots of jump after jump after 'put a bullet in my head'...not another JUMP. It's a good mix of riding on some mod, some stock sleds by a bunch of guys that love the sport and do NOT take themselves too seriously. If that sounds good to you...check out this years flick.
Jeff Aiello
I have to also say that I had a movie premiere night at my pad in Revelstoke last weekend, annual thing and although I didn't have EV5 yet 
