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By: Robert Janis
Unreal Is Optimum
Word for Mountains and Mud Part IV
If you are a real enthusiast of the wild
riding of ATVs in snow, over rocks, and in
mountains and mud bogs, then you are familiar
with the extreme riding videos called Mountains
& Mud. Produced by Tahoe Films, Swan Valley,
Montana, there have been three installments of
the heart thumping series. Well, you better be
ready for installment number four.
This could very well be wilder than the first
three. ATV extreme riding is caught on video in
beautiful scenery in regions of British Columbia
and Alberta, Canada; and Montana, Utah,
California and Texas in the U.S.
Producer and cinematographer Thomas Opre, who
also is the owner of Tahoe Films, was determined
that he would do number IV while still doing
number III. “I decided to take the Mountain and
Mud Series into a slightly new direction,” said
Opre. “I mixed in four different rider features
which include CMR and PSR National Champion mud
racer Seth Russell, CMR and PSR National Women’s
Champion Maggie Robertson, extreme rock quad
crawler and ATVobsession founder Ken Hower, and
mountain rider and Arctic Cat dealer Rory
Roberge from British Columbia.” A total of about
30 riders participated in the project.
Roberge said of the project, “Filming is
definitely a slower pace to the day than our
normal riding as we have to wait to set up for
each shot. However, when the camera is rolling,
you certainly give it all you got. For me, it is
a normal day of riding with someone there to
capture all the craziness that normally goes on.
It is quite exhausting as Thomas is usually on a
tight schedule. So, to get all the footage for
our segment, we go hard for two or three days
straight from dawn to dusk.”
Ken Hower said, “Mountains and Mud IV is the
third time we’ve been filmed by Thomas, and this
one by far is the most incredible stuff we’ve
caught on film. Visually, the Rubicon is
stunning, but the sizes of the rocks are
unforgiving. Thomas captures for ATV riders not
only something they normally don’t see or do,
but they also see the full capability of these
machines as they are pushed to their absolute
limit. You will see us definitely exceed the
manufacturer’s limits of angle of climb and
descent!”
Russell concluded, “Filming Mountains and Mud
with Thomas was in a word “awesome.” He is an
absolute professional at what he does.”
Opre has more than 20-years experience as a film
maker. He started Tahoe Films in 1990. The
original mission of the company was to produce
national TV spots, dealer films and large,
complicated national print photo campaigns for
clients that included Bombardier, Sea-Doo and
Ski-Doo, Arctic Cat, Polaris, Jeep, Ford
Motorsports and more. “After moving to Montana
from Florida in 1998-99, I decided to film some
action stuff on my off-time,” explained Opre.
“Eventually it morphed into the Extreme Velocity
series of films--Sled Heads and Mountains & Mud.
He recruits his riders through word of mouth and
networking among the various ATV websites and
rider groups. He markets his videos on ATV
forums and at YouTube.com. “Our page has more
than 1 million views,” said Opre. The videos --
Mountains & Mud I, II, III and IV are available
online at Tahoe Films (http://www.tahoefilms.com)
and at local ATV dealerships. The videos are
distributed by Impact Video and High Lifter in
the U.S. and by Platinum in Canada.
The Mountains & Mud videos are the only 4x4 quad
and side-by-side film series in the world, said
Opre. “There are no sports quads here. We are
building this genre of film from the ground up.”
Mountains and Mud I, II, and III have been
nominated for Extremey Awards for the Best Quad
Film.
See a trailer of Mountains & Mud IV at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAs_ONTmnyA
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