Full Name: Carlo Jose Wein
Location: North Vancouver
Favourite Quote: "It's go time"
Your first Alterna snowboard movie came out in 2000, The Struggle. Is it still a struggle today?
It’s always a struggle but we always find ways to overcome our challenges.
Creating snowboard films is definitely not the easiest of tasks, you have so many variables that need to come together for a film to be successful. Good light, snow conditions, crews that mesh well and solid sponsorship are only some of the various elements that need to work well in order to create a solid film.
What is a typical year like for you?
We pretty much film and travel from when the snow hits until around May of the following year. I guess that also depends on the type of snow year we are faced with, when we filmed Shrediquette a few years back we had the challenge of having hardly any snow, we were forced to go to Argentina in July to make up for lack of footage.
This year we traveled to Norway in July to get some "on the road" footy because we pretty much spent the whole season in Whistler. Look out for the save of the century which took place on this trip care of JF FORTIN in the beginning of his segment.
As far as going to Vegas for the asr trade show we have been more successful gaining sponsorship outside of the show it seems its more of a good time than a time to do business.
Summers are now spent at our new office on the North Shore of Vancouver editing and going out fishing and boating as much as possible which is not that much.
One of my favourite video parts is Travis Williams in Breaking Ground. Do you have any favourite parts or sections that really stick out for you in your past 8 projects?
I guess the parts that stick out the most right off the top of my head are Mike Page's Struggle segment, the Poland section in IN TRANSIT, Trav's Breaking Ground segment, JF's Reflection segment, Beardmore's Fast Food segment this year the new faces like Takaharu Nakai and Matt Belzile stood out.
Do you think the internet is killing the video star?
I know that more people are watching our films because of the internet and less people are buying them. When I was in Finland last year all the up and coming finnish groms all had burned copies of almost every snowboard film. Europe is always a step ahead with this technology and North America will follow. We are hoping that added value to our packaging like the insertion of an Apples & Oranges bandana this year will encourage people to buy the DVD.
What do you see for the future of snowboard films?
In my opinion, online distribution is definitely the future of snowboard flicks. People want to see movies right away and if you have your computer connected to your TV like most will in the future buying and viewing your favourite film will be one click away.
The latest project coming out of Alterna is Apples & Oranges. What can we expect?
We shot the film in true HD so that is also a new element. Expect a 20 plus video layered intro that will have you re-watching it for sure. This year in some of the segments especially in Matt Belzile's part we miked Matt for his entire part. Apples & Oranges also has the most cable cams and dolly shots that we have ever employed in any of our productions.
How large is the crew that put it all together this year?
During the winter there are seven production people together and we also contract out additional help during the winter for certain sessions. Myself and Bryant Bell are full time in the office on the North Shore.
I noticed that you popped the question if people would prefer Blue-ray vs. HD-DVD. What are you thinking of going with?
It looks like Blue Ray for North America and HD DVD for Europe. 720p Downloads were also a big request. We will be releasing an HD downloadable version of Apples & Oranges closer to Christmas.
What would you like people to take away from watching Apples & Oranges?
Hopefully after watching Apples & Oranges you get stoked to go out and shred for yourself.
Where and when can people come out to the premieres?
All premieres will be listed on our website www.alternaactionfilms.com
Any shout outs?
Big Shout out to all the riders, production crew and sponsors involved in supporting the creation of past Alterna films and our latest release Apples & Oranges.
