"Extreme Velocity: Mountains and Mud" ATV Video by Tahoe Films

For those of you who thrill watching the Xtreme Games on ESPN and who want to see outrageous footage of 4x4 ATV riders doing astonishing things, there is a DVD available called Extreme Velocity: Mountains and Mud. Produced by Tahoe Films, film exclusively features 4x4 quad back country mountain riding. You won't find any sand riding in this video. The video is available at the Tahoe Films website (http://www.tahoefilms.com), at http://www.totalvid.com, and at some ATV dealerships around the United States and Canada. It is also being distributed by Impact Video, a company that is known for distributing motorcycle, and motocross videos. It has already been shipped as far away as Germany.

This video is the first in what Tahoe Films hopes is a series of Xtreme ATV films, said Thomas Opre, owner of Tahoe Films and producer, director and cinematographer of the film.

Opre started Tahoe Films 16 years ago. It specializes in shooting national television spots, dealer/product sales films, documentaries, and producing national print advertising campaigns, and feature films for the motorized outdoor recreation products trade which includes ATVs, snowmobiles, and personal watercrafts. The company also produces films for the hunting and fishing industry. Thomas Opre has produced and/or directed projects Sea Doo watercraft, Sea Doo Jet Boats, Procraft Marine, Suzuki Outboards, Unocal 76, Ski-Doo Snowmobiles, Ford Motorsports, Suzuki Motorcycles, Celebrity Boats, Parmalat Milk, The Discovery Channel, PBS, Arctic Cat Tigershark, Pizza Hut, Gevalia Coffee, and the Florida Marlins Baseball Team. Extreme Velocity: Mountains and Mud is the first ATV xtreme action video. Plans are to produce a new film each year.

The idea of doing an xtreme action ATV film has roots in another series of xtreme films produced by Tahoe Films. The company has been producing xtreme videos featuring snowmobile riders for the past four years under the title Extreme Velocity: The Sled Heads Series and Opre directed the first Mountain Mod Mania Sled video.

"I enjoy the sports that I shoot and I live the life," said Opre. "I started taking out some of our high end video cameras and 16 mm film cameras so that we could shoot footage of snowmobilers like the Warren Miller ski films. These videos have a lot of intense action sprinkled with good human interest aspects. The common thread in these videos is that all the riders featured eat, drink, and sleep snowmobiling.

"A lot of the same guys we film on snowmobiles are also avid ATV riders who like to go up into the mountains," continued Opre. "So we decided to do a video on xtreme back country ATV action which we filmed last Summer and early Fall. We went from Utah all the way to Northern British Columbia filming different people riding nothing but quads in the mountains and mud.

"The snowmobilers I film are very passionate about their sport and they have interesting backgrounds in their lives," added Opre. "A vast majority of them enjoy motorized recreation and in the summertime when they can't run their snowmobiles a lot of them jump on their ATVs. They do things that may not quite be as radical as what they do on their snowmobiles but still pretty radical stuff. Some of them modify their utility quads and rip it up in the mountains. It's pretty epic!"

Opre explained that his business takes him to many trade shows for snowmobile manufacturers. He attends shows from New York to Seattle, Washington and into Edmonton and Calgary, Canada and parts of the western United States. He runs into a lot of people at these trade shows who pass him names of people who are extreme snowmobile riders. "That's how we found the snowmobilers we work with," said Opre. "And as we work with them we end up networking out. We ride with a bunch of them and they introduce us to more people. I travel to each region and go out with them and rip it out in the mountains and shoot some cool film."

The rides take place on designated riding areas. According to Opre, 99.9 percent of the footage showing riding in mud is filmed on private property with the permission to ride and film from the owner of that land. All the riders are very experienced. "I tell the riders not to do anything they wouldn't normally do," said Opre. "We want people to showcase their riding ability riding where they like to ride. They are all well experienced in doing this."

The average riders featured in the film are in their mid 30s or early 40s. The entire group may include riders who are in their early 20s to 50s. "They have great skill levels and they are comfortable riding their ATVs in the mountains," said Opre. The theme that keeps the film together is the location where the footage is shot or a particular ride the group is involved in.

Tahoe Films did all the production and post production work in house at its office in Swan Valley, Montana and Opre narrated the film and edited the footage together. Sound designer Kim Deardorff did the final mixing and sound in Nashville. The music comes from bands that Opre has researched from all over North America. "We like to use a lot of hard rock n roll with a lot of energy and power. But if I don't understand the lyrics, it doesn't make the cut," quipped Opre. "It's family oriented music. I want the film to be good clean fun that's visibly enjoyable.

"If something happened, we tried to visually show it. If we couldn't show it, then I did a voice over to lead into what is happening," Opre added.

There is a lot of action shots where there is no music or narration. Instead, the viewer hears the real sound of the ATV motor and the splashing through water and mud.

Future plans are to do a series of these videos. "We hope to sell enough of the last one to finance the next one," said Opre. "I look forward to filming 4x4 ATVs every Spring, Summer, and Fall."

For those of you who want to see the video now you can download it from http://www.totalvid.com. Your computer must have Windows, Windows Media, Players File, or Quick Time software to be able to watch the film. You can watch the film for seven days. The cost of the download is $3.99. You can then buy the film and the $3.99 previously paid will be discounted off the retail price.