KjK Blog

It’s common knowledge that over the last few years I have been suffering chronic, and often acute, depression. It’s a difficult thing to bear; sometimes near impossible. Yet, perversely, there are compensations (for me at least), which have managed to keep me sane during the hardest times.

Part of my pathology is that I’m relentlessly driven to find things to occupy my time and mind; leaving little or no space left for brooding.

This film, in much the same way as my kite-making films, brings together two things which still stir passion in my heart; even in the depths of the blackest depression: kiting and film making.

This year was my first trip to the North American Buggy eXpo (NABX), widely regarded as the best kiting event on Earth. Whilst there I met and got to know a great many good people, and made some very dear friends. Friends who still want to know me, even during my darkest moments.

Next year NABX is celebrating its 10th Anniversary, and Flexifoil, one of the major sponsors, will be marking their 40th Anniversary at the event. It promises to be a very special few days indeed.

If you are a die-hard kiter, or brand new to the sport, a trip to NABX has to be on your list of events to go to before you die; it really is THAT good.

The music in this edit is Spanish Fly [Flamenco Dub, Pt.1], from the album Sub Conscious, by Phutureprimitive. It’s one of those tracks that I love so much that I often set it on repeat, and leave it running all day.

$10 buys you an absolute gem of an album; go on, treat yourself: http://phutureprimitive.bandcamp.com/album/sub-conscious

So, here, after many months of delays (I know, I know, I promised this film would be ready for the end of March), is Kite Making Three.

In a way the delays have proved a Godsend. You’ll probably notice that there’re a distinct improvement in the time-lapse shots as the film progresses. Those in the first third of the film were all shot using my home-made dolly, with which I had been more than satisfied. But during an (all-too-brief) improvement in my finances, I finally invested in a rig from TL Pro, one which came with the ability to “move-shoot-move”. That, and the ability to perfectly time the travel of the dolly and number of shots taken, meant that I was able to exercise control over my time-lapse shots in a way I hadn’t considered before. The result was that for the first time I was able to conceive a shot and know how to execute it; rather than just set up the dolly and “see what happens”.

As is generally the case with my films, KM3 is no different in being part a parcel of a wider project - predictably one involving another kite!

I started this kite back in October 2010 and fresh from finishing the last in my Calvin & Hobbes series, was searching for a new look.

As you’ll know, if you’ve seen any of my previous kites, cartoons have a special place in my heart. But this time I wanted something a little more contemporary; something that spoke to a wider audience than Calvin.

Of the plethora of choices Family Guy stood out head & shoulders above the rest: it has a synergy with the Calvin strips of Watterson, not visually perhaps, but more in the way it comments on our world. Perfect fodder for a kite then.

I knew from a very early stage that there was only one image I wanted to adapt; something from a scene in which Lois, dressed in fetish gear, says “the safe world is Banana”, before smacking Peter, fully bedecked in a leather gimp outfit, in the mouth.

That wasn’t quite enough though. Great for one side of a kite; but what of the other?

In stepped Quagmire: who better to be on the reverse of the kite, watching Lois & Peter at play?.

Knowing what I wanted to do, I then needed to think about the kite to use as the basis of the build. My love affair with Ozone’s snowkites is well known, and so it was only natural that I expand my quiver: this time though I evicted the moths from my wallet and splashed out on a brand new 12m Manta M3.

Two days after the kite arrived it was deconstructed into its component parts (having never been flown), and adorned the every available space in my flat.

Very shortly after dismantling the kite the delays started. I blame my friend Mark for the first of them.

We were in my study one afternoon, looking at a few of the time lapses I’d shot for the early parts of Kite Making Three, and discussing our plans to visit Nevada in early 2011, when Mark pipes up “you should build one of these for the guys at NABX you know”.

That conversation was responsible for diverting my attention (I’m easily distracted) for at least three months!

January rolled round as the NABX kite progressed and brought some excitement with it, in the form of an ambulance ride to A&E. A week in hospital, and strict instructions to take it easy after that, meant more delays. I finally finished the NABX kite in March, and was looking forward to getting back to work on my own kite, when yet more hospital time beckoned. Two weeks this time.

My health improved to the extent that NABX was back on the cards and during the event I meet so many wonderful people, and started so many video projects, that it was not until the end of May 2011 that I picked up work on the Family Guy kite.

All the delays proved a boon though. I’d been through a steep learning curve on the NABX kite, and with the video work, so much so that when I came back to this project I found that I was able to progress very quickly - whilst filming the entire process without undue delay. Even so, it was still several month’s work until the day finally arrived when I closed the trailing edge.

Now it’s over I’m still glad I did it, still happy with the design and quietly proud of the result. I do think this is my last cartoon though. Time to move on a I think!

Things you might like to know:

Process:

Moving images shot at 24p 1920×1080
Ripped using MPEG Streamclip to APR(HQ)
Edited in FCP using APR(HQ) - I can’t be bothered with proxy codecs
Exported for Vimeo using H.264 (highest quality, multi-pass encoding), AAC Audio codec, highest quality 44.100/320kbps

Timelapses shot at full size jpeg 5616×3744 (raw takes too much time to convert)
Batch processed to 4096×2731 in PS (4k being the highest res FCP can handle)
Imported into an FCP project with sequence set up: 4096×2731, square pixels, APR(HQ) codec, editing timebase 23.98fps
Exported as .mov ready for re-importing into my editing sequence.

Gear:

Canon EOS 5D MK2
24-70mm F2.8L
70-200mm F2.8L
Steadycam Merlin
TL Pro Stage Zero Dolly
Final Cut Pro 7
After Effects CS5

Music:

Trentemoller “Take Me Into Your Skin” from the album “The Last Resort”

The Chemical Brothers “Container Park” from the album “Hanna”

I’m slowly gathering together a “links” page where I try & point you in the direction of all things kiting; people, places, and events, that are worth shouting about. Basically, if it’s on there, it’s worth your while checking it out!

http://kj-kites.com/links/

This is a short, and very rushed, edit, of some of the footage taken during our testing day at SNOzone in Milton Keynes.

We really seem to be getting somewhere with this rig now: downhill it behaves very much like a sit-ski, although is more stable, and is able to carve turns just like a skier would: it’s fast too - the first couple of runs the guys surprised me - I had to straighten out my run to keep up with them!

So it seems that we only now need to do a few tweaks to get it working as we ideally want: Sean has an interesting idea about a braking mechanism, which should make using the rig around camp much easier; we want to lower the centre of gravity a little, to see what effect that has; and we’d like to try some different skis with short & long radiuses.

http://www.getspiked.co.uk/spikedchallenge/index.htm

http://www.facebook.com/pages/British-Disabled-Athletes-Snowkite-Across-Icelandic-Glacier-World-First/196546960393750

Over the last year or so I have been not to secretly involved in organising an expedition in Iceland.

Three members of the British Disabled Ski Team want to become the first disabled athletes to cross the Vatnajokull Glacier in Iceland by snow-kite.

This is a hugh challenge. Not only do I have to teach the guys how to kite, and becoming damn good at it too; but I also have to design the rig they’ll need to snow-kite successfully, as none of the guys have the use of their legs.

We’re making unbelievable progress; the guys are turning into very competent kiters, the rig is working well beyond our wildest desires, and we’ve secured various sponsors to help us: not least of which is that Flexifoil are building bespoke de-power kites for the guys to use throughout the crossing.

The only thing we need to do now is secure a video production deal, and to help us do this we’ve put together a showreel of our progress so far. Our aim is to get to 1,000,000 hits by the end of the summer, so please, watch the video, visit the site, follow us on FB and Twitter, and tell your friends!

Icelandic Challenge Website

Facebook page

2012 is shaping up to be a spectacular year at Ivanpah Dry Lake.

NABX (North American Buggy eXpo) will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary - and the guys are pulling out all the stops to make it the best yet.

That, and the fact the Flexifoil will be celebrating their 40th anniversary at the event mean that if you’ve ever promised yourself you’d go, 2012 is the year to keep that promise.

Expect a challenging Out & Back trial, buggy racing for every level from complete novices to seasoned pros, buggy world speed record attempts, fantastic nightlife, and the friendliest crowd you could ever hope to meet.

You might even experience the transcendent feeling every kiter can describe, but very few people understand: AoxomoxoA.

It can best be described like this (not my words):

“If you fly stunt kites to win competitions, you won’t understand, but if you fly to give pleasure and entertain the audience, you might find AoxomoxoA

If tangled lines are an irritating frustration, you won’t understand, but if you find untangling relaxing and theraputic, you might find AoxomoxoA

If you buy rare and expensive kites and hang them on the wall, you won’t understand, but if risk hand-painted washi-paper kites in the elements, you might find AoxomoxoA

If you’re struggling to be the fastest buggier in the country, you won’t understand, but if you dream of buggying across dry lakes in the gentle zephers at 2am, you might find AoxomoxoA

If you build your own kites to save money, you won’t understand, but if you sew to try new ideas, you might find AoxomoxoA

If you wouldn’t lend your kite to a stranger, you wouldn’t understand, but if you’re ready to loose or destroy anything you fly, you might find AoxomoxoA

If you enjoy buzzing noisy stunters on the beach, you wouldn’t understand, but if you’ve found the pleasure of a simple, reliable single-line delta, you might find AoxomoxoA”

The tune is Phutureprimative’s “Rapid Cognition” from the album Kinetik.

Here’s the result of my time at the first ever Flexifoil Team Rider event, to which I was invited as a result of the short films I shot at NABX.

The guys seemed to like what I did in Nevada, so asked me and my camera to come to their team meeting in France a couple of weeks ago.

In March this year I spent a week in Kite Buggying Nirvana at the NABX event (videos coming shortly). While there I shot a few short videos of the Flexifoil team riders and, rather than frequent the casino floor (where I was staying), loosing money hand over fist, I spent my evenings either getting drunk with the guys or editing.

It seems that this was a good plan (well, not plan, “plan” implies intention - I was just doing what I always do)! Soon after returning to the UK I got a call from Craig Sparkes, inviting me and my camera to the inaugural Flexifoil Team Rider event in France.

Over a long weekend in mid April I had the privilege of meeting the whole Flexifoil family. We had an amazing time, spent mostly finding new and interesting ways to fill our time while we waited for the God of wind to make an appearance.

Obviously the old saying applies: “what goes on tour, stays on tour”, but all I will say is that I now know that, when they’re not kiting, youngsters play beer pong and REAL men play JD pong.

No wind on Friday, a fitful 8mph on Saturday, and finally, on Sunday morning, shortly before we all had to pack up to head home, the God of wind turns up with 16mph. Turned up with a hangover though, and presented us with a gnarly offshore breeze. No kite surfing then.

But this was a Flexi event, and these guys will always find a way if there’s wind.

The tide was with us, so out headed Will, Dave and Richy to show us how it’s done in a buggy. Finally some kiting to finish off the weekend!

So, here is my video of the first ever Flexifoil Team Rider meeting. I hope you like it.

If I’ve missed your name from the credits please know that it’s not personal! There were so many people to meet and talk to that my brain was overloaded with names; or possibly JD.

Other things you might want to know:

Edited in Final Cut Pro
Post in After Effects CS5
Titles inspired by an AE tutorial from Andrew Krammer
Shot on a Canon 5Dmk2 using a 24-70 2.8L and 70-200 2.8L
Other gear: Steadycam Merlin, Indykit Matt Box on homemade rails.

And, yes, you might have caught a glimpse of the new Blade 8.5.

I’ve just finished updating the video page of the site. It now has a focus on my videos rather than other people’s, and is fully embedded HD loveliness. Take a look:

http://www.kj-kites.com/video/video.html

I little while ago I got in touch with Matt Taggert at Ozone, with an idea for a project. I’m going to NABX this year and as I’m always keen to support kiting events, decided to build a kite for them to raffle at the event - the proceeds going to support the event.

I had recently dismantled my own 12m Manta M3 to use as the basis for one of my won designs, but as the NABX kite would be raffled I though I should get Ozone’s permission to replicate the Manta. They were brilliant, and even said that they would supply a new bridle and speed system; saving me days of work. So, over the last few weeks I’ve been working on the kite and having finished have just updated my site with a new page about the project: check out http://www.kj-kites.com/nabxkite/

If you’re going to NABX 2011 this kite is up for grabs, so buy a few raffle tickets!

Here’s a link to the NABX site, http://www.nabx.net/ and a link to Ozone’s page about the Manta; which is, in my humble opinion, one of the very best open cell de-power foils money can buy.

It seems that my latest film, “Kite Making Two”, has caught the attention of a few people: check out the latest issue of Powerkite magazine, page 57, for a short interview.