FlatWebTV: The interview

Flat WebTv is approaching its 4th episode, and growing by the episode, it's time for an interview with its creators Justin Huey and Anthony Buglio to find out a lil' background of who they are and what goes into making an episode of Flat WebTV.

Firstly I am interested in how long you guys have been riding for?

Anthony: I got my first bike in 1987 (Dyno Compe). So the easy answer is 24 years. A badly broken leg (a hit and run accident that destroyed my GT Pro Freestyle Tour!), university and jobs though really slowed down my riding from 1991 - 2001. I got back into it "seriously" when I moved to Japan in 2001. Prior to 1991 I rode a little of everything. After the leg brake, I tore down my halfpipe and stuck to flat.

Justin: Well I have been riding off and on for about 12 years or so. Like many people life has its ups and downs, so much of that affect my ability to ride on a regular basis. Now I ride atleast 1-3 times a week. 

When I was younger I road a little bit of every thing, but as I got older I really started to get into flatland. Actually it is kind of funny, the thing that sealed the deal to ride all flatland was a GT Stunt Show were I saw with Gabe Weed. He let me ride if bike and I fell and hurt my knee. Hahaha.

How did Flat Web Tv come about?

A: Justin had this idea to do a flatland talk show. He mentioned it a few times. We talked about it, then put it off, then talked about it more. Finally we just sat down to try an episode, and that was episode 1.

J: Well for years I have wanted to do an online show. I kept talking to people but no one really wanted to delicate any time to it. One day I sent out a mass e-mail to the riders in the area and Anthony was the only one that showed up for the taping. The rest is history.

What comes across to me watching the show, is that you guys are flatland fans, you can see you love all that is flatland, would that be pretty accurate? I don't see any agenda...

A: That sums it up for me. I'm about to turn 36 years old, and at the risk of sounding like a pretentious old fart, I've finally learned that having that type of agenda in any part of life is bad (for me). I survive much better when I'm just enjoying life, no ulterior motives. I love the sport. It's the longest running theme in my life for a reason: to me, there's nothing more beautiful (except Nana).

J: You hit it 100%. We are fans I still get star stuck when big name riders comment on our show. Yeah like I have said to a lot of people, I love the sport and I want to see it in the spot light and be what we all know it can be. I could go on and on about this but what it comes down to is that we aren’t doing this to make any money, we are doing this because we want more people to see how awesome this sport is. I have even receved a few emails from people that aren’t even into flatland that like watching the show. We know that this show isn’t for every one, but we hope the thousands people that are watching it like it. I hope it inspires people to do more for the sport.

Anthony-two footed death truck.

Set the scene on how an episode of Flat Web Tv goes down? What equipment do you use to produce the show? 

A: Justin can answer this one more completely, but from my perspective it happens very organically (which might help explain to some folks why it seems "rough" at times). Justin and I talk all the time. A few days before we shoot, we'll go over what we think might be interesting, just at the topic level. We make it a point not to discuss in any detail the topics before the camera goes on. Then once the lights are on and the camera is rolling, the topics we've chosen just come out naturally. We've only ever scripted the opening sentence. Everything else is just off the cuff. Even though this has the potential to look "amateur" at points, I prefer the honest reactions (even if we looks like fools!).

J:Well before the show even gets taped, Anthony and I get together to go over the items that we are going to talk about and refine the flow of the show.
Then on the day that we shoot the episode we go over it again. Then we set up all the equipment, crack open a beer and tape the show. Oh and it is always done in one take.
As far as equipment goes here is a list of stuff we have been using
• 2x Sennheiser Wireless lapel mics
• Sony HDR-FX100
• Canon T2i
• Skull Candy Headphones
• Behringer 4-Channel Mixer (now we can do audio checks lol)
• Lowel Pro Halogen lights (Soft box, Umbrella, and flood)
For all the post-production we use Final Cut Studio 1 on an old Black MacBook (on its last legs, but still does the job)
Maybe we will do a video on that some time…hmmm…

A few people on flatmatters have commented about the drinking, burps on the show, I guess the question is, will the drinking continue? 

A: Yes. I can appreciate that underage kids might be watching the show, and that is the only thing that would make me rethink the drinking. But on a nice saturday afternoon here in Portland, after our riding session, the whole crew goes to a pub and we have a few pints and talk flatland. That's the model for the show.

J:  I have seen the comments, but I don’t think that we will stop any time soon. I do think that we will drink less. On episode two I had to many ;-) If you look at a lot of the Primetime TV show lots of people are drinking on the show. So I will leave it at that.

What if any are you own criticisms of the show? 

A:We have really been concerned with the pacing and have taken to heart a lot of the comments (public and private) from the community. We would love to have more original content, and that will come with time. Technically, I know we really want the show to be flawless from a camera, audio and lighting perspective. I was so bummed my audio spiked in episode 3. I think we are happy with the improvements, episode to episode. I see that continuing.

J: Well I would like to do more with the show. I feel that we need to do some on location stuff, live stuff. Really just do more. Oh and fix the audio problems that we have had. 

Justin-no handed spinning crackpacker.

I’m excited to see what you guys do with the interviews, you mentioned in the last show, interviews with Spaceark crew and Matthias Dandois, when do you have these scheduled in for?

A: We are shooting for the 15th of March for the Space Ark edit. This will be a continuing theme I think. Show on the 1st of the month, then a short edit on the 15th.

J: Well the SpaceArk one will drop in the middle of the month, and the Matthias one needs to be redone because of a software glitch. I hope that I can get back in contact with him to re-tape it. For the next show I’m working on lining up a well known rider right now.

Is the show starting to feel like a job now?

A: Not for me, it's too much fun, and Justin and Marie are fun to hang out with anyway. For Justin though, he is putting a lot of time and energy into this and he is mostly stuck with the editing, so he might have a different answer!

J: I guess that depends on how you look at it. I will say that it doesn’t feel like work, but the wife and I spend a lot of time on our company and are hoping some day we break even. I love BMX and all of Action Sports for that matter, I would love to have Everyday Paradise be my full time job, but that will some time before that happens.

Right now we (my wife and I) have three other projects that we are working on for Everyday Paradise in the next year and a half. We have two other web show that we working to get rolling. One that is more of a mainstream BMX Freestyle Show, and the other covers my other passion of motorsports. The third thing is still in the planning stages and a few people out there in the community that I’m working with to get it rolling. This one will really help every one.

How do riders and sponsors contact you about the show? 

A: Justin can answer this one.

J: People are free to get in contact with us on the website www.FlatWebTV.com and stay up to date with us on http://facebook.com/FlatWebTV.

I mentioned the beer on the show, which to be honest didn't really concern me, but I know with flatmatters I do feel a level of responsibility as far as corresponding with kids messaging all the time to try and not come across as a dick, do you guys get a lot of mail know asking questions about flatland, and do you feel any responsibility on how you come across etc?

A: First part, as far as receiving emails about flatland, no not really, not yet. We are not really in a position I think to give too much advice or have too much information that isn't already out there in various places. We're happy to get questions though, and I think between us and the Portland crew we have a lot of experience that might benefit a beginner. If we got enough questions I can see us answering some in a "mailbag" sort of format.

Second part, as far as feeling some responsibility, yes, I think we do feel some responsibility, and we think about it a lot. For example, and this may sound weird, but I wish I wouldn't have said "Jesus" in episode 3 (when talking about the REASON DVD). I'm not religious, but I can appreciate that some people may be. The beer though, I don't see us drinking as something that should offend viewers. If we get intoxicated and the show suffers, yes, I can see that annoying a viewer. I don't think we are going out of our way to promote drinking. Look at countries that have a less uptight stance on drinking and you see far less underage abuse. We Americans have too many hang-ups. I'm sure someone is offended that I have tattoos as well.

J: On some level we are all role models weather we like it or not. So I do feel some level of responsibility, and I'm planing going back and bleep out some of the profanity in earlier shows and I definitely think we will limit the alcohol consumption, on our second show, it did suffer when we drank too much, and it gave a bad impression.

We talked a lil about the flatland fan, the show at the moment is geared towards current news and topics, will you ever be covering older stuff, like you may have favourite riders of yours from back in the day you get ahold of for interviews and suchlike?

A: Yes, I hope as opportunities arise we'll expand into broader range of original content. My roots go way back so I would be stoked to interview Kevin Jones or John Huddleston or guys like that who really motivated me at a young age. Even good friends like Bill Freeman, I mean, that guy is a rolling Flatland encyclopedia (but Flatmatters already got the scoop on him!). There's an event coming up in Cali that a lot of old school riders will be at. I'm going and if I can manage to not be too star struck I'm going to try and get a couple interviews.

J: The format of the show is really open right now. We are doing a lot of news and current events, but I definitely think that we will start to have more original content that very well could cover anything from any time.

Any shoutouts to wrap this up guys?

A: Thanks to the flatland community worldwide for constant motivation and my mom for buying me my first freestyle bike.

J: Yeah I'd Ike to give a shout out first and for most to our viewers. Second I want to thank all the people that are out there pushing the sports to new limits, to Anthony for taking a chance on me with this show. Most importantly I want to thank my wife for putting up with all of use, supporting all that we are doing, and for being a great photographer, videographer, and sound woman.

Thanks guys, great stuff!