Help Fund Sub-4 Miler Erik van Ingen's The Real Maine Movie

Bump!

Bump :)

unbump

Why?

I love running and am a fan of the guys in the film, but it was a terrible documentary. Huge disappointment, low quality film. Van Ingen's a great runner, but as a filmmaker he's more concerned with filming from low angles than capturing any scenes of substance whatsoever.

The FloTrack teasers were more telling about the life and training of an elite college runner than the entire documentary itself, and I was under the impression that portraying that was the entire point.

Why don't you use your east coast private school connection and fund it yourself. You're the one selling advertising space here. Put up your own money for something you think is worthwhile.

$4,500 cost to make the film? Would love to see a breakdown of that..

$500 camera

$2000 macbook

$1500 summer cabin & beer

and another $500 of i can't add

The Real Maine is the only thing of its kind for running and track and field. Look at surfing, look at skateboarding or any other extreme sport and they're making videos like this that capture the artistry of the activity, not just the activity. You want to know where the future of the sport is (if it will have a future)? It's in The Real Maine.

Sack up, give the guy five bucks, because unless you want the Sunday school teachers of Competitor Group and the middle-aged women of Runner's World or the old, greying men of Running Times ruin this sport, we need to rally and support a guy that's willing to put on film the truth: four guys who talk about jerking off five times a day in a morning run. Van Ingen is the only guy out there willing to tell the truth.

Prefontaine's Trailer wrote:

The Real Maine is the only thing of its kind for running and track and field. Look at surfing, look at skateboarding or any other extreme sport and they're making videos like this that capture the artistry of the activity, not just the activity. You want to know where the future of the sport is (if it will have a future)? It's in The Real Maine.

Sack up, give the guy five bucks, because unless you want the Sunday school teachers of Competitor Group and the middle-aged women of Runner's World or the old, greying men of Running Times ruin this sport, we need to rally and support a guy that's willing to put on film the truth: four guys who talk about jerking off five times a day in a morning run. Van Ingen is the only guy out there willing to tell the truth.

I'd rather donate if said runner/filmmaker had actually bothered to make a film ABOUT anything. I watched it w/ my non-running girlfriend, and even though I'm the biggest running geek in the world and the same age as these guys (have run against them, rather behind), I was even more bored than she was.

You're supposed to learn something in a documentary. Or get a taste of something that inspires you.

Instead, I sat there watching a very short film that even got delayed in production yet failed to have any scenes that were enlightening, educational, or even as interesting as watching Chris Derrick talk about a sausage log in the FloTrack teasers. For all the hype and all the time it took, a huge disappointment.

What happened to all the footage of things actually happening? Of them actually training? Workouts? Food? Drama of any kind that wasn't manufactured by the whole "people transferring" thing that no one really cared about?

Again, all the respect for Van Ingen as a runner, but his film sucked. And I say that as a runner starved for running media. Still wasn't good enough to whet my appetite.

I enjoyed his movie and watching him race this spring. I was happy to get the chance to shake his hand after one of his races at the olympic trials. Best of luck Erik.

The movie was terrible. I told my entire XC team to watch it and I lost all credibility as a coach. There was no story and no point. Honestly, having them curse for no reason also meant that I couldn't send it out to parents or my younger runners. My wife is obsessed with documentaries and watches whatever is free on amazon prime (which are generally terrible)and she fell asleep 13 minutes into this. This was by far the worst running movie I have ever seen. All hype.

ficustree wrote:

The movie was terrible. I told my entire XC team to watch it and I lost all credibility as a coach. There was no story and no point. Honestly, having them curse for no reason also meant that I couldn't send it out to parents or my younger runners. My wife is obsessed with documentaries and watches whatever is free on amazon prime (which are generally terrible)and she fell asleep 13 minutes into this. This was by far the worst running movie I have ever seen. All hype.

100% agreed. I have a teammate who took an INTRO class in documentary studies and made a better short documentary film, which--while faulty and not about running at all--was far more entertaining, enlightening, and purposeful.

Van Ingen's effort was half-baked and pretentious.

The stuff about Masters's transfer was clearly added last minute for some drama as well; the electronic devices in a tree w/ a horrible mixed/balanced phone interview was one of the most awkward, pretentious, and unlistenable things I've ever witnessed.

What kind of documentary auteur doesn't even bother to balance his audio levels and expects to be taken seriously when he makes a film? Seriously enough for $4.5k?

Regardless, this kid is doing something legitimate. It was good to see what those guys were doing day to to day. They lived in a cabin and trained on gravel roads. It's easy to be jealous.

As someone who grew up on skate videos, I give these guys props. Just a movie about runners gettin' it in and having a good time. Fun to watch.

If you like this type of thing, you should watch Anton Krupicka and Joe Grant's ascent of Long's Peak via Kiener's Route. Burly as hell.

http://vimeo.com/44180862

Orrr wrote:

What happened to all the footage of things actually happening? Of them actually training? Workouts? Food?

So, in a nutshell, you were looking for "the Secret" from a bunch of guys who are at a very high level, and you didn't get it, and now you're complaining and can't just enjoy art.

Ho hum.

Holy hell, didn't realize there were so many film critics. The kid is trying to draw interest to the sport. I don't care if it could have been better, people are just being harsh. Spending $4500 to make a film isn't much, those complaining about audio levels, most filmmakers hire audio people to do that. Erik showed a lot of promise as a cinematographer, and probably gained some experience editing and working with narratives. I'm sure he wants to do more with film and learned from the process.

Securing funding is also a huge part of being a filmmaker, and finding creative ways to do so is important for small projects. Sure, you didn't like it, don't kick in money.

Since there are so many documentary fans on Letsrun, what are some of your favorites? And spare the crap about your wives and athletes hating you all for showing it to them...It was a student film...most student films aren't all that good in the first place.

I enjoyed it. I already know what they were doing for training: they were running. It's base phase; what secrets were you looking for?

rojo wrote:

Erik has already met his minimum fund-raising goal of $1,000 but the more he gets the more posters he can make, etc.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/80857009/the-real-maine-movie-poster

Erik went to college down the road from Cornell in Binghamton and I've seen Erick bust his but for years to be great. Not only does he have a big work ethic, but he's a true fan of the sport as he always was at our crappy home meets watching even when he wasn't racing.

I also love the fact that he told me he was inspired by my buddy Chris Lear's Sub-4 Book to become a sub-4 guy himself.

therealmainemovie.com

rojo wrote:

Erik has already met his minimum fund-raising goal of $1,000 but the more he gets the more posters he can make, etc.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/80857009/the-real-maine-movie-poster

Erik went to college down the road from Cornell in Binghamton and I've seen Erick bust his but for years to be great. Not only does he have a big work ethic, but he's a true fan of the sport as he always was at our crappy home meets watching even when he wasn't racing.

I also love the fact that he told me he was inspired by my buddy Chris Lear's Sub-4 Book to become a sub-4 guy himself.

therealmainemovie.com

Seriously? What nauseating cronyism. You're using your running website to try to drum up some money for a friend, whose attempt at a documentary isn't fit for the $0.99 bargain bucket at Blockbuster? Shame on you.

I agree the content could have been improved upon. While I like his sense of realism in showing the Millrose Mile and XC Regionals "failures", it would have been nice to show some more of the "successful" highlights for each of the runners (particularly for Feigan as there wasn't any in-season footage of him) to show how the summer running in Maine did have some kind of positive outcome and that it was worth something other than the brotherhood bonding. Ok, Merber ran his 3:35 after outdoor NCAA qualification so there was no video footage of that, I can understand that, and van Ingen pretty much did all of the footage him (outside of the Millrose race), but it's too bad he couldn't pull in other positive footage taken by other people. Just my two-cents