For my current work: linetestjournals.blogspot.com/

"Au Soleil" is based on my memories of a cycling trip I undertook across Eastern Europe from Berlin to Istanbul. I travelled with three close friends on a journey lasting one month; we cycled through incredible scenery in the isolated backwaters of Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey crossing the Beskids and the Carpathians. The locals were nothing but friendly and helpful and the trip shattered my many jaded stereotypes. By the end, though, exhaustion left me longing for home.

The opening passage is a quotation from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

The film took me 4 months from initial concept through modelling, rigging, texturing, animation, rendering, compositing, editing and sound design. Most of the animation was produced using blender, and was quite a learning experience: at the start I had no idea what an IK constraint was or how to use the NLA editor, my previous animation experience being mostly limited to boring old arch-viz.

Many thanks to the developers of blender and the other open source programs used in the production pipeline, as well as to the freesound project, and the bands and composers who contributed to the soundtrack.

myspace.com/electricfurs
(unfortunately this page has recently become the victim of vandalism through flash videos in the comments section)

orchestraonthehill.co.uk/

comfortstand.com/catalog/049/index.html


As an afterthought from the journey we started to raise money through sponsorship. Our justgiving pages are still open so if you enjoy the film please do give generously:

justgiving.com/berlintoistanbul2
justgiving.com/berlintoistanbul

Finally thanks to Julz who sat through countless test screenings and sound mixes spotting mistakes.