Reel Rock 15 Group Ticket

Mark E Dixonwrote:

And the drama of being apprehended for climbing on the sacred rock just seemed forced and make believe.

Yeah, I kinda got that too. Seemed like they were going for the "taken hostage in Kyrgyzstan" take a little. I believe them, but the was it was portrayed made it seem like there was hostile intent at first.

Mark E Dixonwrote:

Am I the only one who is bored with Honnold's "I'm too cool to be bothered with anything" shtick?

The Olympic athletes deserve an announcer who can convey some genuine excitement about the climbing and the climbers.

he has great insights but the olympics could use a little more enthusiasm. kelly cordes could be a good choice. 

petzl logicwrote:

he has great insights but the olympics could use a little more enthusiasm. kelly cordes could be a good choice. 

Or Timmy O'Neill

I disagree on Honnold. We laughed and found it very entertaining. They made a creative choice to use the more candid outtakes. When he was interviewing the subject and filmmakers he seemed to be pretty buttoned up and on point. I think his genuine excitement about the climbers and climbing is pretty clear. He also has a great skill for talking to normies about climbing while also having a deep knowledge of climbing and it’s history. He’s gonna be a great commentator. Can’t wait.

Hazel and Maddy’s short may not have been in the top 2 or 3 of the shorts, but maybe a pointless comparison and they also happen to be super world class elite climbing athletes, that also come off as authentic folks. I was stoked to watch them out adventuring and establishing climbs. Their partnership dynamic is interesting and I also liked getting to know a little more about Maddy. Particularly entertaining were the old embarrassing photos, the Hazel mini cuts of inspecting lines, and abandoning them while yelling “too easy”, and the local guide talking about how strong she found them to be. I can see how you may have found the sacred rock drama forced but I would contend that it may be hard for us to know how those 3 women in the backcountry of Mongolia felt while all of that was transpiring. Perhaps the filmmaker cut it together to try and convey some of that.

Agree there was some heavy stuff going on in Deep Roots re: the dynamic between Lonnie and his father. I think that added to the film. It was outside of the scope of a short to go into all of that, and probably would have been very challenging to do without upsetting some of the participants. Lonnie, Ron, and his family seem to be doing fine, finding their own way. I’m a big fan of Lonnie as a pro climber, and hope this short brings some additional companies to his camp on top of folks like Yeti.

Agree there is some reel rock formula that is repetitive, but with a filmic language for climbing having been established, there is a large opportunity to tell new stories like black ice, and also start subverting, breaking, playing with these formulas. For all the criticisms to be had, at the end of the day I had a great time watching the shorts and feel it was money well spent.

I think it's ballsy of RR to ask for an extra ticket from everyone watching together at home, but more power to them if they can get people to do it. Clearly making climbing films isn't a get-rich-quick scheme.

I'm willing to give the OP the benefit of the doubt that he misunderstood the intention of the "group ticket." It wasn't clear to me. 

Andrew Ricewrote:
I'm willing to give the OP the benefit of the doubt that he misunderstood the intention of the "group ticket." It wasn't clear to me. 

I would usually agree with giving a person some slack, but in this case, he removed all doubt about what he was trying to do. After being corrected about the group ticket, he doubled down by saying he was going to stream it over Zoom. That's f-ed up.

Gene Bankswrote:

I would usually agree with giving a person some slack, but in this case, he removed all doubt about what he was trying to do. After being corrected about the group ticket, he doubled down by saying he was going to stream it over Zoom. That's f-ed up.

You are taking it out of context a little. Someone said he was ripping off fellow climbers, who Matt interpreted to mean viewers, not film makers, and clarified that if he has one link he will share it over zoom. As soon as it was pointed out that that is not what the meant by group ticket, he backed down. 

Pam Neal wrote:

Impulsivity on social media has its consequences. Unfortunately, many will remember your name as the guy who made this post. 

"Matt Kelly...Contrary to Will Murdock's assertion that your thread was hijacked, the intent of your original post was to take advantage of Reel Rock Tour to get some creative climbing film at a bargain and cheat honest hard working climbers. Shame on you and your guardian angel, Will. Next time put some thought into your actions and act with integrity and good intentions. Many thanks to the members of the climbing community and Mountain Project for calling you out for your deplorable and immoral actions"

These are comically righteous posts, so much so that I can't tell if they are serious or not. The dude offered to share a group online ticket, which seems like it should be shareable. Chill out.

Mark E Dixonwrote:

The Olympic athletes deserve an announcer who can convey some genuine excitement about the climbing and the climbers.

That is a tall order for speed. "OK! We're going to watch two competitors do the EXACT SAME THING as the other two competitors, and in fact: ever since qualifications, and REALLY in fact since this discipline started 20 years ago, and only for the next 8 seconds, which then we'll wait 5 minutes for the next two competitors. ARE YOU READY?!" 

Sport is going to be pretty similar. Like - have you waited in line on a climb at a crag and gotten bored watching the first party climb? That's watching sport. 

Bouldering... I dunno, maybe a little funner, or I'm just used to watching people boulder more. 

American Ninja Warrior still has a million dollars on the line, which you're reminded of, endlessly, so the competitors and the audience are invested. I am not invested in the sport specialists doing speed, nor am I the speed specialists bouldering. 

I still stand that the way to do it is psicobloc - like a REALLY tall one, that gets so hard and steep, it's (almost) unclimbable at the top, so everyone is pitching off, trying to go as fast as you can. NCAA Sweet 16 tournament format. You could put on the whole thing in a few hours. I think every gym would be so SICK if they had that faux-psicobloc setup, except the wall is underneath a foam pit. 

Right now, what I  get from announcers is that they're greatest gift to the job is their endurance of doing endless days of announcing. That's difficult to do!

I'm glad everyone seem to have enjoyed RR15. For me, only the shortest of the 4 films (Action Directe) was an actual climbing film, the others were films (sometimes tangentially) about climbing. Not saying they weren't good necessarily, but definitely weren't what I thought I was going to watch.

Long Rangerwrote:

That is a tall order for speed. "OK! We're going to watch two competitors do the EXACT SAME THING as the other two competitors, and in fact: ever since qualifications, and REALLY in fact since this discipline started 20 years ago, and only for the next 8 seconds, which then we'll wait 5 minutes for the next two competitors. ARE YOU READY?!" 

Sport is going to be pretty similar. Like - have you waited in line on a climb at a crag and gotten bored watching the first party climb? That's watching sport. 

Bouldering... I dunno, maybe a little funner, or I'm just used to watching people boulder more. 

American Ninja Warrior still has a million dollars on the line, which you're reminded of, endlessly, so the competitors and the audience are invested. I am not invested in the sport specialists doing speed, nor am I the speed specialists bouldering. 

I still stand that the way to do it is psicobloc - like a REALLY tall one, that gets so hard and steep, it's (almost) unclimbable at the top, so everyone is pitching off, trying to go as fast as you can. NCAA Sweet 16 tournament format. You could put on the whole thing in a few hours. I think every gym would be so SICK if they had that faux-psicobloc setup, except the wall is underneath a foam pit. 

Right now, what I  get from announcers is that they're greatest gift to the job is their endurance of doing endless days of announcing. That's difficult to do!

I used to think that about Speed until I watched the Pan-Am games at my local gym. The whole event runs really fast and has a thrills-and-chills aspect to it wondering if people are going to screw up or do great. Running the whole field took maybe an hour. They didn't lose my attention. I think it's very similar to watching people run the hurdles or high jump in the summer Olympics. 

Mark E Dixonwrote:

Or Timmy O'Neill

Todd Berlier wrote:

I agree on the ballsy part, but I defaulted to the correct understanding of the group ticket. Actually, I'm still in the doghouse with my wife. While I was watching it, she heard the part of Lonnie's grandmother talking about basket-weaving from the other room and she started to walk into the living room and I started shouting, "Get out! GET OUT! I only paid for one person to watch!" 

edit: sorry everyone and Matt. Its raining where I am and its a slow day at work.

LOL. I actually just made my kids VENMO me $20 each when the walked in and watched a few mins. 

Hank Caylorwrote: Kelly, Timmy and then John Long to chat-up the event back and forth would be more entertaining than the climbing.

You described a podcast.

Ok so either this becomes a mega thread to end 2020 or we need to break away into some other threads;

-ethics of lack thereof in online pirating of content people worked hard to make 

-acceptable pricing structures for content when a global pandemic has upended your business. Are those rules the same for a Disney and Warner brothers as they are for a sender films?

-beating up the OP whether he’s learned the lessons or not. How much of a donation to Memphis rox is good before the online mob lets him off the hook? I think he’s already good, unless the mobs going to attack me in which case i think the OP is the worst and get em!

-was the 50 person zoom call a joke or not thread

-how to get people to see different points of view, is shame and attack the best approach?

-what you thought about the reel rock 15 shorts (I’m here for this one)

-is the Olympic climbing format awesome or lame?

rebootwrote:

I'm glad everyone seem to have enjoyed RR15. For me, only the shortest of the 4 films (Action Directe) was an actual climbing film, the others were films (sometimes tangentially) about climbing. Not saying they weren't good necessarily, but definitely weren't what I thought I was going to watch.

I feel the same but even Action Directe was even a bit boring for me. Hard to get psyched on a 60 ft single pitch for me. I really didn’t like any of them very much. I prefer the “ski porn” style of movies. Rad shit in rad places. Oh well, I’m glad other people liked it. 

rebootwrote:

I'm glad everyone seem to have enjoyed RR15. For me, only the shortest of the 4 films (Action Directe) was an actual climbing film, the others were films (sometimes tangentially) about climbing. Not saying they weren't good necessarily, but definitely weren't what I thought I was going to watch.

But still, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience (of two) during Black Ice.

Action Directe just brought conversation of mental health. 

FA/LA was the same formula they've been using for years.

I haven't gotten to the final one yet, I better hurry.

FWIW, I like Banff and Warren Miller too

This could have all been clearer. RR website should have just stated $20 per viewer. I wonder what their intended sales strategy was? 

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsionwrote:

But still, there wasn't a dry eye in the audience (of two) during Black Ice.

...

FWIW, I like Banff and Warren Miller too

That's just it though. It wasn't like I was trying to decide between RR15 or "The Trial of the Chicago 7". Sure, Black Ice got me misty eyed, and you can say it's my privilege speaking, at the end of a year like this, I really just wanted to watch some outrageous climbing.