Simon Mulvaney had made lots of videos for Rampworx over the years including a TV show for the Extreme Channel. He has just been interviewed by a new Rollerblade magazine called Wheel Scene make sure you have a read below.
You may not be familiar with Simon Mulvaney but, if you are a rollerblader living in the UK, I guarantee you will be familiar with his outstanding work. Simon was responsible for the Chaz Sands Invitational documentary that was shown on the Extreme channel, thrusting rollerblading into the mainstream for the first time since it was dropped from the X Games. He is also the man behind many of the Rampworx edits, and last year he filmed a great online video for Razors featuring team riders Chaz Sands and Scott Quinn in Dublin. Simon is currently working on the first Ground Control team video and, as we found out, has quite a few other exciting projects planned for this year.
For the people who are not in the know, tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Simon Mulvaney. I’m 23 years old from Merseyside, England. I’m a freelance film maker and owner of a small production company called Outlook Films.
How did you get involved with the Ground Control project?
I’ve been trying to build up my skills and profile for quite some time now, but what really set the ball rolling was Stew Game calling me up and asking me to go to Dublin with Chaz Sands and Scott Quinn to make a Razors Podcast. Once online, it turned out to be quite successful and got a lot of positive feedback. Jon Elliott ended up emailing me, (which I was really honoured by) telling me how much he enjoyed it and asked if I’d be interested in making the film.
Is there anything you can tell us about the DVD?
Where’s the fun in that!? I don’t want to give away too much; apart from the entire film is being shot on DSLR. I’ll just say that I’m aiming to make it a bit more engaging than most other rollerblade films. My aim is to make the DVD I would have wanted when I was a kid. In years to come, I want to watch it and be reminded of how incredible this industry is, how many inspiring places I was able to visit and how many amazing people I was lucky enough to meet.
Any memorable stories from the filming process so far?
The last few months have been amazing! Apart from getting to meet a lot of my childhood idols and work with an amazing team, the most memorable story for me was not being granted access into the US! The original production plan was for me to spend three months filming in and around California. However, when I arrived at Atlanta to transfer flights I was basically hauled into a back room, interrogated and threatened with ten years in prison! I have no idea why (it must have been the beard), but I ended up being held in a detention centre in Atlanta for 38 hours, then I got put on a flight back to the UK. Luckily, I spent two weeks in Barcelona with Chaz, who was shooting secondary angles with his 550D. He managed to pick up the style I wanted and did a great job replicating it during his time in America. I had to direct the filming through Skype every day from England, which was interesting.
Can you tell us a little about your production company?
My company is called Outlook Films and it provides visual media solutions to a variety of different clients, from rollerblade companies to charities, corporate clients and anyone else who could benefit from a personally tailored film.
What other projects are you working on at the moment?
It’s a really busy time for me as I’m juggling a lot of other jobs with the GC film. I am actually writing this whilst filming on location in Earth Terminal Recording Studio in Hampshire, filming a studio diary for an up and coming band called Evelyn.Is. Amongst other things, I also have a large corporate client I am working with called Morgan Hunt Recruitment. Although, the project that I’m most excited about (apart from the GC film) is a viral advert for a new innovative skateboard product being produced by Nokia. I’m working on that with Stew Game and Jordan Maders, which is definitely something to watch out for! Also, Sim Warren has been in contact with me to get me on board with a short film to promote rolling to the masses, which is currently in pre-production.
Interview by David McNamara of Wheel Scene.
Photo Matthew Dearden.
