Trek Bikes DOCUMENT at the Tour de France
7/7/2009
We arrived in France over the July 4th weekend to begin shooting the next phase of the “Document” series for Trek Bikes. Pat Buckley is producing the Tour de France section of the series and Manny Marquez is directing.
We began in Monacco. Manny hadn’t arrived yet, so Pat directed AND produced the first episode. Pat recently directed a festival favorite flick — “William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet”, so he was a great stand in while we waited for Manny to show up.
The folks at Trek had been working with us for a while and were cool with letting us upload the episodes directly to YouTube without review. This way we were able to get the videos up within a day or two of the actual shoot.
The first video went live on July 5th:
The strategy was simple:
- Tell stories along the route of the Tour that seldom get covered.
- Avoid standard race coverage.
- Follow the human stories.
- Look for the unexpected.
The next episode, shot in Montpellier in the south of France, provided a rare opportunity to see what it’s like to ride in the team “follow car” with coach Dirk Demol.
Joining Dirk is actress Christine Taylor. How Manny wrangled his way into the car with Ben Stiller’s wife is still beyond me.
-bap