Mt. Royal snowboarding run 2 with Seb Toots

Hi Mathieu, we loved the first video of Mt. Royal snowboarding run, who had the idea first, you or Seb Toots?

Back in 1996, I was taking the subway/bus to get to the top of Mt.Royal once a week, snowboarding from the top of the mountain to downtown and taking again the bus back to the top all day with my friends. It was really fun and I always wanted to show everyone how fun it is to snowboard in a city. One day I asked Seb if he wanted to make a video of my snowboarding run and he said yes! 530 000 vimeo views later, so I guess people like it too 🙂

When / how did you meet Sebastien for the first time?

It was in 2005, I was working on a snowboard movie and went to a local snowboarding contest to find new talent and I saw this young little man winning the contest at 13 years old. His riding was really good … That was Seb Toots! I came to him and ask him if he wanted to shoot with us and he said yes. Since then I shoot with him.

And you are an excellent snowboarder too… correct?

I was hahahahaha, Now days I don’t do tricks often anymore because my body hurts too much. But on a powder days I’m always down ride 🙂

Tell us something about the second run on Mt. Royal, how long it takes to shoot a video like this?

For the moment, we had 8 days of shooting and planned to shoot for at least 12 days but we did not have enough snow this winter! Too much rain … I hope to release it next December for the new season but for the intro shot we need alot of snow so I pray for snow hahahaha

How many descents do you foresee?

A lot of them! By chance I’m not doing follow cam all the time but maybe I did 50 follow cam descents

How do you plan the shooting?

It’s all base on the weather and if Seb is here to shoot. If they say it’s sunny tomorrow … I’ll be calling Seb the night before, show him the tricks list that we need on my computer and drive downtown to start shooting and dealing with security and police.

Do you prefer sunny or snowy days for this project?

Sunny is always better for the light but some shots it had to be snowy … just really hard to match those two together.

Following the first run of Mt. Royal, do you have any spot left behind you?

Yes, there is so many spot left! but some are a bust … last Friday the police came and ask us to leave at a important spot for the video. On the first Mt.Royal we only spent 3 days shooting so we wanted to make a better spot this go around.

3 years later, can we expect a different path, new tricks?! Seb Toots has probably improved his technic!

Yes, the path start at a different spot and we don’t hit any same spot that we shot before but now we can’t make a part 3 because we shot all the spot!

For his tricks it’s totally different, it have everything but this video is not all about the tricks but all about the flow of the run and how fun it looks.

And your technic as a Videomaker?

I did improve on my technic but we don’t have any budget to rent a cineflex or something like it! It’s sad because I really wanted to have a few cineflex shots. Now I have to rent a helicopter and shoot it handheld.

Should not be easy to follow a snowboarding star in such a tough environment! How are you equipped?

It’s not that hard when you use to be a pro snowboarder too. You have to understand what’s the rider does before he does it. I have equipment for different use. I use a GoPro or gh4 when we shoot park edit but on special project like this one I use my Red Epic.

We’re happy to support your vision on this project! Our satisfaction is to know that great images are shot with our support! When did you buy your first CARTONI?

I bought it I think in 2001 from my friend in USA because in Canada it was impossible to buy good cine product.

Can we ask you why you prefer CARTONI instead other brands?

I’ve tried many different brands and found that there wasn’t really a good fit with their Tripod Heads for my specific needs.

CARTONI Heads is the only brand that stays fluid in the cold and for my job it’s very important to have tools that work perfectly in the cold. All the other Tripod Heads from other brands couldn’t manage below -5 degrees to keep things fluid!

CARTONI’s go to -40 degrees… I’ve tested them at -35 degrees and they kept their fluidity as if they where operating at 30 degrees. So yes, I’m really satisfied with using CARTONI’s Fluid Tripod Heads. They are amazing to say the least.

Thank you. And what about your future? Do you have other specific projects in your plan?

One day, I will shoot a feature film but for the moment I’m planning to stay in sports cinematography until I don’t have fun anymore. I can’t tell you … I could get a call tonight for the biggest project ever 🙂 Thanks guys.

We hope to follow you also on other projects! Thank you Mathieu and thank you Sunset Films!