"Cloudstreet: Soaring the American West"

Cloudstreet is a wonderful professionally made soaring video, but the only comment that my wife made after viewing Cloudstreet was "all the pilots are really old". And that's the problem with soaring, most of us ARE really old. A few millennials in the production would have helped the sport.

Bill, great point. I agree with you. In addition, the 30 second Opera performance (early in th movie) was quite odd. Nothing against Opera singers, but 30 seconds of Opera singing in a 40 min soaring movie? Painful and completely unnecessary.

My favorite soaring video continues to be BY FAR) Sailplane Grand Prix in the Andes. The scenery in that film is absolutely exceptional as is the exciting storyline. The Sunship Game is a close second. Cloudstreet I'll give 2.5 stars. Great footage but the storyline is pretty sleepy.

On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 1:06:21 PM UTC-5, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bill, great point. I agree with you. In addition, the 30 second Opera performance (early in th movie) was quite odd. Nothing against Opera singers, but 30 seconds of Opera singing in a 40 min soaring movie? Painful and completely unnecessary.

My favorite soaring video continues to be BY FAR) Sailplane Grand Prix in the Andes. The scenery in that film is absolutely exceptional as is the exciting storyline. The Sunship Game is a close second. Cloudstreet I'll give 2.5 stars. Great footage but the storyline is pretty sleepy.

Sean, I think we all know what the great racing videos are, and I agree with you those are the best soaring competition videos. But this is not what CloudStreet was billed as, but rather as "four glider pilots on a Soaring adventure", intended for a mass audience, the vast majority of whom never knew that any of this was even possible, let alone what "Soaring" is or really means to those who practice it.

What we as practitioners of Soaring (or our spouses) think is important to a point, but what really matters is how people uninitiated to the Sport think about this after seeing the documentary. After pointing a childhood friend from Colorado at the movie, he watched it and here was his spontaneous reaction:

"Last night I recorded CloudStreet and then watched it this morning. It was awesome! If this is what your passion is then I'll ride with you. That was a fantastic show. I have one regret, a long time ago in Chicago, your father offered me ride in the glider and I was not ready for it. Wish I had taken that ride."

Now of course, notice here there is no desire shown to immediately race in the Andes (or even to become an Opera singer). One ride is a long way from instruction, which is a ways from certification, which is a ways from cross-country soaring, and then competing in the Andes. But I think the point is made. Here is someone who passed up the opportunity to experience something special many years ago and then changed his mind after watching CloudStreet. I think that any efforts to turn heads and eyeballs in our direction (in a positive way) is a great achievement. And yes, HD technology has a way of exposing every wrinkle. But with it, you also get to see every twinkle (of the eyes and of the spirit).

We need more of these positive stories pushed out for consumption by the mass media and these need to address all segments of the population and all walks of life, not just competitive soaring. We need more young people, people of color, and more women pursuing this sport. And although we all support our competitive soaring comrades, we (and the public) are not all destined to become competition pilots.

I just don't understand why we need "more young people, people of color,
and more women" in the sport. I say we just need more people, period.
But we need more of the people with the passion and determination to
stick it out and become glider pilots. Most of the people I see at
Moriarty are "bucket list" people who have no idea of soaring, they just
want to fill a square. We had someone call to book rides for himself
and his wife. He specified that he wanted to fly around the mountains,
just like in that video on PBS. When he was told that couldn't be done
within his budget, he said he didn't want to go. But then I see a new
guy (very few women come out, but there *are* a few) who has the ear to
ear grin and sparkle in his eye and I know he'll be back. That's who we
need regardless of age, color, sex, language, religion, etc.


On 7/9/2015 5:28 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 1:06:21 PM UTC-5, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bill, great point. I agree with you. In addition, the 30 second Opera performance (early in th movie) was quite odd. Nothing against Opera singers, but 30 seconds of Opera singing in a 40 min soaring movie? Painful and completely unnecessary.

My favorite soaring video continues to be BY FAR) Sailplane Grand Prix in the Andes. The scenery in that film is absolutely exceptional as is the exciting storyline. The Sunship Game is a close second. Cloudstreet I'll give 2.5 stars. Great footage but the storyline is pretty sleepy.
Sean, I think we all know what the great racing videos are, and I agree with you those are the best soaring competition videos. But this is not what CloudStreet was billed as, but rather as "four glider pilots on a Soaring adventure", intended for a mass audience, the vast majority of whom never knew that any of this was even possible, let alone what "Soaring" is or really means to those who practice it.

What we as practitioners of Soaring (or our spouses) think is important to a point, but what really matters is how people uninitiated to the Sport think about this after seeing the documentary. After pointing a childhood friend from Colorado at the movie, he watched it and here was his spontaneous reaction:

"Last night I recorded CloudStreet and then watched it this morning. It was awesome! If this is what your passion is then I'll ride with you. That was a fantastic show. I have one regret, a long time ago in Chicago, your father offered me ride in the glider and I was not ready for it. Wish I had taken that ride."

Now of course, notice here there is no desire shown to immediately race in the Andes (or even to become an Opera singer). One ride is a long way from instruction, which is a ways from certification, which is a ways from cross-country soaring, and then competing in the Andes. But I think the point is made. Here is someone who passed up the opportunity to experience something special many years ago and then changed his mind after watching CloudStreet. I think that any efforts to turn heads and eyeballs in our direction (in a positive way) is a great achievement. And yes, HD technology has a way of exposing every wrinkle. But with it, you also get to see every twinkle (of the eyes and of the spirit).

We need more of these positive stories pushed out for consumption by the mass media and these need to address all segments of the population and all walks of life, not just competitive soaring. We need more young people, people of color, and more women pursuing this sport. And although we all support our competitive soaring comrades, we (and the public) are not all destined to become competition pilots.


--
Dan Marotta

On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 5:28:35 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 1:06:21 PM UTC-5, Sean Fidler wrote:
Bill, great point. I agree with you. In addition, the 30 second Opera performance (early in th movie) was quite odd. Nothing against Opera singers, but 30 seconds of Opera singing in a 40 min soaring movie? Painful and completely unnecessary.

My favorite soaring video continues to be BY FAR) Sailplane Grand Prix in the Andes. The scenery in that film is absolutely exceptional as is the exciting storyline. The Sunship Game is a close second. Cloudstreet I'll give 2.5 stars. Great footage but the storyline is pretty sleepy.

Sean, I think we all know what the great racing videos are, and I agree with you those are the best soaring competition videos. But this is not what CloudStreet was billed as, but rather as "four glider pilots on a Soaring adventure", intended for a mass audience, the vast majority of whom never knew that any of this was even possible, let alone what "Soaring" is or really means to those who practice it.

What we as practitioners of Soaring (or our spouses) think is important to a point, but what really matters is how people uninitiated to the Sport think about this after seeing the documentary. After pointing a childhood friend from Colorado at the movie, he watched it and here was his spontaneous reaction:

"Last night I recorded CloudStreet and then watched it this morning. It was awesome! If this is what your passion is then I'll ride with you. That was a fantastic show. I have one regret, a long time ago in Chicago, your father offered me ride in the glider and I was not ready for it. Wish I had taken that ride."

Now of course, notice here there is no desire shown to immediately race in the Andes (or even to become an Opera singer). One ride is a long way from instruction, which is a ways from certification, which is a ways from cross-country soaring, and then competing in the Andes. But I think the point is made. Here is someone who passed up the opportunity to experience something special many years ago and then changed his mind after watching CloudStreet. I think that any efforts to turn heads and eyeballs in our direction (in a positive way) is a great achievement. And yes, HD technology has a way of exposing every wrinkle. But with it, you also get to see every twinkle (of the eyes and of the spirit).

We need more of these positive stories pushed out for consumption by the mass media and these need to address all segments of the population and all walks of life, not just competitive soaring. We need more young people, people of color, and more women pursuing this sport. And although we all support our competitive soaring comrades, we (and the public) are not all destined to become competition pilots.

Agreed. I ordered my copies from the SSA. For the uninitiated, this is a wonderful introduction. The theme was narrow enough to leave the door open for two or three or more other ventures perhaps themed on ridge running, youth adventures, wave flights, or other imaginative approaches. There are soaring videos for those already invested in the sport, but precious few for Joe and Jane Public. My only quibbles with this production is that dates were used in the narrative, thus it's less timeless than it might have been, and the over use of air brakes to hold camera positions.

I hope PBS stations continue to pick this up and show it over the next few years and that it will appear on cable before long.

Frank Whiteley

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/...57_233x289.jpg

Perhaps an alternative DVD cover photo? ;-)

Frank-

As far as "overuse of airbrakes to hold position," I believe the brakes came out three times in the video. Because some of cameras used had extremely wide fields of view (170 degrees), the relative distances are distorted. The shot from the tail mount camera on my glider as I approached the Stemme from the rear looks like the separation was quite large. In actuality, I pulled the brakes open when a minor gust put the Stemme tailwheel within three feet vertically and eight feet horizontally from my canopy. In all other cases when the brakes came out, the separation was similar.

And as far as Sean's and "goto's" comments and criticisms, I don't really care. We made the video we could with our own funding and with the folks who were willing to dedicate themselves to the project for the love of the sport. When YOUR movie comes out, I will gladly watch it. And I won't snipe at your efforts, something you might consider, although from the nature of your posts, I can tell that bitching is about all you guys can offer.

I watched the video with - among others - a young pilot who had been asked to participate in the video. She could not take the time away from work. This confirms what we read in Mark's "Soaring" magazine article.
For the involvement of younger pilots that was unfortunate, but a very nice job anyway.
Jim

Sean

Where is the movie you spent a couple of years making?

I'm sure the people who put a ton of money and effort and years into this project appreciate being **** on.

Your support of the sport is an inspiration.

I do try to live my life with several maximums, one of which is a no complainting policy. If you do not like something, change it, leave it, or learn to love it. Read "Wabi Sabi Love", make the film you want, or don't watch it again. Ask yourself, what change can my comments make, answer none, you will have to make the changes you desire.