Patrick Best Interview

There’s probably a good number of people saying “who is Patrick Best?” when seeing the title. Well, he’s the man behind the filming, editing and general production of the Welcome To Deluxe video that we had been premiering here the last few weeks. When Patrick isn’t busy working on the second Deluxe video (that’s in the process of being filmed now) or building trails, he works in the design field. I figured there’s a ton of people out there who are into photography, filming and editing and design so this was a no brainer to shoot him a few questions and find out a little bit about his work and how BMX has influenced his life. Let’s check out what he had to say. I think if you are into photography, film or design, this one will be an interesting read…

Name: Patrick Best

Location: Hackney LDN, UK [& Dorset on sunny weekends]

Years riding: First BMX was 8/9 years ago! These days I ride about 10 days a year which is sad

Years filming and editing: From the start I was using shitty family cameras and Windows Movie Maker so 8/9 years.

All right, so since we dropped the entire Welcome To Deluxe video online that you handled, we figured it would be cool to find out more about your work. How did you initially get involved with Mark and Deluxe?
I met some guy from LDN at my local park who was in town doing work experience at Ride [UK] which at the time was actually made in my local town. As I was getting into design and photography at the time I sent Mark an email and ended up doing a week of work experience in my summer holidays. After that we kept in touch and I would go in to the office to use their scanner for my own stuff, as well as Mark coming up our trails.

What was it that first got you into filming and editing? Any reason in particular that made you really want to get into it?
Not sure really, probably because I am crap at riding. I really started mostly taking photographs, but I wanted to film at the same time and that mostly took over. I made a scene video that was BMX and skateboarding combined, filmed on borrowed cameras and edited on Movie Maker. We did a premier on my classroom projector at lunch break.

What was your first camera setup?
Well yea it was a borrowed JVC [I think] 1CCD thing. I had an EOS 5 for photos which was sick tho. My own first Videocamera was a Canon XM1.

What kind of setup are you working with these days?
Got a Canon XH-A1, but have also been filming with a borrowed EOS 550D. And I shoot my photos mostly on an Olympus Trip or a Bronica 6×6 thing.

Any sort of dream setup you wish you had in your camera bag?
My future reality set up is gonna be a 7D or a 60D with a couple of modern lenses and a few old K mount lenses with EOS adaptors.

How did the Welcome To Deluxe video come up for you? What were your first thoughts when it came up?
I did a couple of webedits for Deluxe at the start, but Mark is well into full length BMX videos so he wanted to make one as soon as it made sense. I was really excited to be involved as it was always going to mean chilled days at amazing trails with quality riders to film and watch.

How long did you guys film for? Approximately how many tapes or external hard drives did you fill up in the process?
We filmed WTD in half a year. We went on the UK trip, we did the intro at Barend on Halloween and then I went to film with Max at Peynier. Not sure how many tapes it was in total, probably under 10.

You travelled to some of the best trails spots around the U.K in the making of the video. What would you say your favorite place to film at was?
Really tough question as every spot is great in its own way and that is really what trails is about. My job as a filmer is not only to show what riding happened but show the distinct differences of each trail spot. The run-ins, trail huts, tools, etc. So I can’t really have a favorite.

Which section from the video came out best in your opinion?
Max’s ender section. Awesome person and amazing BMX manipulator. Peynier is a really beautiful village and spot, and I love the vibe there with the villagers just strolling past the jumps and appreciating what goes on. Probably my favorite piece of riding in the whole video is the clip of Max on the big line [Bavaria] doing a whip on the jump he is keeping low before the trick jump; it is pure MX style and so natural from Max.

Go to The Union for more videos.

Was it hard to focus on filming with all these perfectly groomed trails right there in front of you?
I’m not a great rider [especially as I ride so little now] so I’m not overly seduced by the jumps, as riding likely would end in injury [as it did on the recent France trip]. However I really enjoy helping fixing up spots before a session, digging a little is kinda like a way of riding them if you know what I mean.

You guys ran into a lot of rain during the trip, right? How did that effect the way the video turned out? Would you say it hurt the video much?
Yeah, we got quite a lot on that trip. The summer in the UK has definitely changed in the last few years, lots of rain at strange times. On that UK trip we missed out riding Digmore trails because of a thunderstorm, which was a really big shame. Light was a little difficult sometimes too. The Villij section would really have looked much better if it hadn’t been grey weather, and that spot really deserves the best.

If you could do it again, what would you want to do differently?
In regards to filming I wouldn’t do much different. I have my filming style that I pretty much stick to and it works for me. In terms of the trip I think we should have found a river or lake to swim in, as all trips need a bit of that.

Since then, have you worked on any film projects in or outside of BMX?
Not really, even fitting in making WTD during my degree was pretty difficult. Other than some filming for the next Deluxe video I haven’t done much film work. I’m looking to do more now that I’ve graduated. As much as I love photography, the moving image is going to be more and more relevant in our tablet computer and smartphone media world.

Who are some of your biggest influences when it comes to your film work?
BMX wise it’s all pretty subconscious really, I actually don’t watch many BMX videos but the style of filming is there in my head you know. That said Prettyshady Joe is a big influence; the Prettyshady DVDs and website are their own kind of perfection. I also really like the way that Bobby Valentine uses a camera, he is really good at capturing trailsness.

Outside of BMX I guess I look to kinda extreme ends of the naturalistic spectrum. On one end I really love the way the camerawork becomes invisible in Larry Clark films, you really begin to forget the construct and the story is all the matters. And then at the other end there is Kubric and something that is so formal, and considered, and constructed that it becomes almost abstract and surreal.

But then again there is so much tie-in with my design [graphic] and photographic work that a lot of my influences come from there.

So you went to college for graphic design, right? Do you feel like having an artistic background like that has an effect your film work?
I studied Graphic Design and graduated this year, but I think that the name of my course is not right. The less glamorous [lol] name Visual Communication is better. And film is a form of visual communication so yeah it has an effect on my film work. I guess my course was all about the idea and meaning behind something. While in a BMX film the basic meaning is on the surface pretty simple [we ride bikes and it is fun] there is always a lot more going on, and I guess my background gives me some tools to think about the less clear meanings.

How important do you feel college is for something like design? Do you feel like you wouldn’t be where you are today without it?
We you could read my last answer and say “I’d rather not be like that thanks very much,” but I know all of my work would not be as it is now without going to uni/college. It’s a tricky situation now in the world with education, and the politics of the changes happening to university are really questionable. The university as a place of education for the sake of progress, is becoming a place of education for the sake of a job market. And just like in healthcare, profit motive for public good is not something that I think can be trusted.

You really don’t need to have a degree to be a good designer, and if you want vocational training in how to use InDesign then don’t waste your money on a degree just teach yourself and build a portfolio. In terms of terms of technical knowledge you need to read a good book on typesetting [LINK] and you need to read Grid Systems [LINK] and practice, then ask a trained designer to give you a 5-10 minute critiques of your work and see if you can do it. Of course you need to remember that these books and opinions are not gospel and also that most graphic design is boring/terrible but at least you can do it “proper” if you want to.

However there is a lot to be said for university when it comes to the critical side of creative work. This bit is harder and more important. This bit requires reading about ideas, having ideas, talking about ideas and time to let things settle. This bit is hard outside of an institution designed for it. Not all universities will provide this part of creative education, as it is cheap and easy to show you how to use InDesign [actually it is free, see above]. However there are free/cheap alternatives to the university model [e.g. all.thepublicschool.org] or you can go still to uni and have fun.

Do you do much work with BMX. I’d imagine you are doing most of your work outside of BMX. Would you ever consider doing more in BMX?
Yeah definitely, if anyone wants me to do stuff for them then send me an email! While so much of BMX is so unbelievably lame these days, BMX at its best is so legit and is a really great thing to be a part of. When I’m in the woods eating a BBQ and drinking after a session with proper bicycle motocross riders I feel pretty lucky.

I’ve been hearing rumors of a second Deluxe video in the works. Any chance you will be involved with that?
Yeah I’ve been filming for it and I think we have another filmer working on stuff too. It will include footage from a French trip that a lot of the team went on this summer. That was amazing trip and you will see some coverage of it in some magazines pretty soon, as well as something from Protoz for &Forks that I filmed out there. I will be editing the Deluxe video when its all ready and it should be pretty cool.

What kind of advice do you have for people looking to get into filming and editing? How about the design field?
Just do it really; go out there and make stuff. When it comes to anything creative it is really important to learn how to receive and give critique. You have to want people to tell you what they don’t like about your work, and you have to give that opinion value, but you don’t have to agree with it. Also don’t sweat the technicals, do them and do them well but they are not the work.

Where can people check out more of your work?
Gianticebox.co.uk – is my online portfolio of mostly commercial work
Patrickbest.com – is a blog that I do
Iizindustries.com – is a design thing I do with my girlfriend
Patrickbest.tumblr.com – is where I tumble some crap
@TrakkaTrakka – is where I’m tweeting hashtags and talking music
that’s about it…

Anything else you want to say?
Thanks Mum. Big ups to Mark Noble and the Dorchester 4130 crew for a week that probably got me started on all this. And outs to everyone I’ve met thru BMX that was cool.

Go to The Union for more videos.