In a world where, thanks to technology, we see countless videos on a daily basis, there’s definitely an appreciation for film work that has a lot of quality, time and effort put into it in comparison to 15 second clips filmed during a quick session. Our good friend JC Pieri is an example of a film maker that is always producing high quality videos that really show more than just the crazy riding that went down. The other day we were fortunate enough to get a sneak preview of his latest video project “GTTNSIDEWAYS” that he worked on with Coco Zurita. This video is much more than just your typical BMX video and incorporates some amazing locations, Coco’s motorcycle, car and riding and some great film work. We were beyond psyched on this video, so we figured it would be cool to talk to JC and Coco to find out a little bit of what went into the 10 days they spent working on the video! Check out the interview below along with the trailer. The full video will be online February 15th and you will not be disappointed!
Alright, guys! Let’s talk a little bit about your Gettinsideways project that is about to drop on people. When did the idea of working on a project together again come about? Was it something that was in the works for a while or did you guys have this planned for quite some time?
JC I met Coco 3 years ago during a trip with my friend Arthur to Woodward West. I filmed Coco for a video project and we really liked working together. One year later I came back to California, like I do every summer, to Ben Snowden’s and I asked Coco if he wanted to film a short movie about him. We filmed for 2 days together between Woodward West and downtown Los Angeles and we made the short movie “Live fast” The “Live Fast” video project is definitely one of my favorites. It’s exactely what we wanted to show and it was a way for me to test the 4K format on my new Canon 1DC.
This year I said to Coco that I wanted to come to USA again and I proposed a plan to make a new short movie with him. He was excited about it. Then, after I spent 12 days in Miami with my friends Danny Josa and Michael Beran, I spent 10 days with Coco between Woodward West, San Diego, Salton Sea and Los Angeles
Where did the title “Gettinsideways” come about?
Coco “Gettnsideways” comes from doing motowhips and doing what is fun for me. I like the feeling of changing directions in the air and the way they look, so the title represents that.
JC, you had to make the trip back over to America from France for this one once again. How many times have you had the chance to visit now?
JC I have already visited America 7 times now. One time with the school, one time with my father and five times for holidays by myself to ride bikes in California. I really love this place. I have met so many good people here and I have had so many unforgattable moments in California.
I’d imagine you guys were working on a pretty tight time frame for this one. How long did you guys have to film for this video? Out of that time, how long do you think it took in hours total in filming time?
JC I spent 10 days with Coco, and we planned every single day out to film something different.
Here was the plan :
– Woodward West: Motorcycle
– Salton Sea: Intro with motorcycle
– San Diego: Riding (Tony Hawk’s warehouse, Elliot’s vert ramp, and some random skatepark around San Diego)
– Los Angeles: End of the motorcycle, car and a little bit of riding
We spent only a few hours filming every day because we were on the road most of the time since we wanted to film at some specific times, like a sunset at Salton Sea. We also planned to film the night scene in LA on thanksgiving night because we knew no one would be out in the street.
JC, What would you say your favorite location of filming for this film was?
Salton Sea was definitely the main location where I wanted to film. I remember 3 years ago I went to the Salton sea, which is an abandonned area, with my french friend Christian Van Hanja and I was like, I need to come back here and film more stuff. I told Coco that the Salton sea is the best spot to film our intro. We spent a sunset there to film the intro and it turned out amazing.
We found an abandonned house with a lot of really old stuff inside like a piano and some clothes. It was a little bit scary inside because you didn’t know if someone was there or not.
After we filmed everything we needed, I said to Coco that I would love to stay here during the night and shoot some stars because there is no polution, no light and the sky is so clear, so it’s perfect for that. We booked a hotel pretty close and we came back during the night. It was amazing.
What about you, Coco? Was there a part of the filming that you were especially excited about?
You know what, I was really happy that we had the chance to film at the best vert ramp in the world, Tony Hawks Ramp. That was my biggest treat for this project.
When it comes to California, the weather is usually pretty predictable. Was there any times the weather played a factor while filming for this one? I know I saw a pretty rad shot that involved fog.
JC I never came to California at this time of year. Everytime I come during the summer and I always see Woodward West with some awesome sunsets and clear nights. This time there were no sunsets, no stars and a lot of fog. I was sad to see this bad weather but it ended up being perfect for the short movie.
Coco Like you said, LA weather is almost always perfect. We had the chance to film up in the Stallion Springs Hills right near Woodward West where we got a few cold and foggy days, which made for some cool motorcycles clips.
The plot of this film is a little different than traditional BMX videos with a pretty balanced focus on Coco’s motorcycle, car and riding. Why did you guys want to incorporate all of these parts together into the video?
JC I have done a lot of BMX videos and I really love it, but the concept is still the same; show the best of the rider. This is another concept more about what I want to do in my life. I mean that I want to create different content that has a story, not just all of the banger tricks for BMX or extreme sports. We tried to create a script around Coco’s life and that’s why you have the motorcycle, car and BMX, because that’s all he does everyday.
Coco I liked this project because it was a great way to link up all these amazing and different places like the Salton Sea, downtown Los Anegels and Stalion Springs.
Coco, we’re assuming that is your motorcycle and car, right? Can you tell us a little bit about them and what the story is behind them? They both look pretty custom.
Yeah, the bike is a ’98 Harley Davison Sportster that was custom made by Fab Slims. We modified almost everything but the engine and fork on it. I really like the Bobber style and the 70’s bike styles. As far as the GTR goes, I really haven’t done much to it. It already comes with 530 horse power, but I do have plans of building it up this year so I can do a couple of races here in California. I am a huge fan of cars and racing.
JC, aren’t you also a big enthusiast when it comes to cars and motorcycles? I feel like I’ve seen some of your work around automotive things like this in the past.
I had the chance to film some luxury cars this year, but the first time I ever filmed a car was with Coco when we filmed our first short movie “Live fast”. It’s always a pleasure for me to try to film something new and different. I’m excited to see if it will work or not. This time I was also excited to use my drone to film the motorcycle. I think we got some nice shots in the Salton Sea with it.
JC, what would you say your favorite part of working with Coco is?
You know when you think about something, when you have something really specific in your head, it’s sometimes hard to explain it to someone. But every time I said to Coco that we should do this like that or like that, he immediately understood. He’s seriuosly a really good actor. Most of the clips were filmed first try. I love to work like this. We are now really good friends and we had a lot of fun doing this. I came with a script and Coco and I bounced ideas back and forth. We then created our own short movie sharing ideas together.
Coco, what would you say your favorite part of working with JC is?
How technical he gets when it comes down to get the perfect photography on the video and also how flexible he is when deciding what, where and when to film. He is just easy to work with and that’s important.
JC, I know you have a pretty extensive setup goes for your work. What all did you use for equipment on this project? It looks like you’re working in 4K these days.
You know filming is now my real job, so I invest every single Euro I get into camera equipment. This time we used the same camera, my Canon 1DC and we filmed in 4K like our last video. Two new things for this year were a new canon 50mm Cinema prime lens and I brought my DJI Phantom 2 drone with my Gopro hero 3+. I didn’t know if it was possible to bring my drone into the USA but I tried and it worked out. We filmed some aerial shot with the drone in order to add something different like the intro with the motorcycle in Salton Sea. The good thing is that Youtube now allows us to upload videos in 4K, so you’ll be able to watch it in 4K on my Youtube channel on February 15th.
If you guys had to pick a favorite part of this film, what would you say they would be? Any reason why?
JC For me my favorite part is the intro at the Salton Sea because I really love this spot. Coco was perfect for this scene, and I really like the aerial shot we got with the motorcycle.
Coco I love Salton Sea, too. It’s such a rad and creepy spot with a bunch of abandon houses and things. I felt like I was in a horror movie almost… hahaha!
Was there anything that you guys didn’t get a chance to make happen that you wish you could have looking back on this project?
JCEvery time we wanted to film something, it seemed like we arrived late at the spot because we spent so much time on the road to go from one spot to another. We filmed the all intro with the aerial shot in 30 minutes. We were really lucky because the only day we went to the Salton Sea, it was sunny and not windy at all.
Coco There was a couple of different spots that I wanted to go, but we didn’t have the chance to go due to time. One of them was the Cove skatepark and the other one was an amazing abandoned pool that when we when to check the spot out, it was covered on concrete.
Is there any chance we’ll see another film from you guys in the future?
JC> Definitely, I really want to film Coco in Chilie now, but we will need a little bit of budget from sponsors for example to make it happen!
How can we keep up with you guys these days?
JC Pieri
Instagram: @jcpieri
Facebook page: JC Pieri Visual
Website: www.jcpierivisual.com
Coco Zurita
Instagram: @CocoZurita
Website: www.cocozurita.com
Do you guys have any shout outs or thanks?
JC I would love to say thanks to all of the amazing people I have met in the USA during all of my trips, because they are the reason why I come back every year. I filmed so many video projects here and I’ve spent some unforgattable times here. I will definitely come back pretty soon for sure. Thanks Kurt for this interview, I’m happy to see that you like our new video project and I hope people will like it even if it’s different than a regular BMX edit.
Coco Thanks to Woodward West, Tony Hawk and Elliot Sloan!
Anything else you want to say?
JC We really had fun filming this short movie movie, and I think there is a message behing this video, “the secret of happiness is to do what we like to do”!
The FULL “GTTNSIDEWAYS” video will be released online February 15th, so make sure you keep your eye out for it! Check out the trailer below!
Coco Zurita – LIVE FAST from JC Pieri on Vimeo.
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