127 – Capturing MTB Moments with Magic Beans Films
Todays Guest:
Neil Moore and Caroline Kwiatek Founders and owners of Magic Beans Films
On episode #127 we are chatting with Neil Moore and Caroline Kwiatek who have the very nice title of being the owners of Magic Beans Films. Hailing from Limavady, Magic Beans have not been on the go for that long but within that short time they have captured and created some beautiful imagery and jaw dropping footage.
After a stent in the world of construction Neil decided he wanted to change focus and educate himself in something that he was passionate about and would love getting out of bed for in the morning. He found that passion in photography and filmography, and after getting the qualifications and experience he required, he headed out to the United States to build on that experience and see a bit of the world at the same time.
As chance would have it, this is where Neil bumped into Caroline, who was also on holiday (well working holiday, I think?). Caroline is originally from France and at this stage didn’t really have a love for photography, but the two of them hit it off and decided to travel the states together. Caroline was quickly introduced to the world of photography and realised that she too had a passion for capturing life from behind the lens, so they decided to team up and look at the best direction to take this found passion and turn it into a career.
It didn’t take them long and after a number of jobs for the likes of GoPro and Red Bull Media overseas, Neil and Caroline decided to come back home and concentrate on Magic Beans Films, which at this time was still in the making. They already had a good portfolio of work and projects behind them so it wasn’t that long until the cameras were out and new footage was being captured. Neil decided he wanted to film more footage showcasing what we have back home, so he enrolled his mate and fellow biker ‘Beefy’ Mullan for a project in Ballycarton, and as they say the rest is history.
We chat to Neil and Caroline about how they got started in filmography, why they decided to start Magic Beans, were their filming passions lie, what equipment they use, why they love filming outdoors and how excited they are to have landed the official filming post for the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Series 2020, plus much more as always.
Enjoy the show!
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Find Out:
- How Magic Beans Film was born
- Their experience working with GoPro and Red Bull Media
- How filming for a local festival helped Magic Beans become reality
- Why following your passion helps you get out of bed in the morning
- Why Neil decided he wanted to film mountain biking
- What it was like filming mountain biking for the first time
- Why filming outdoors is where Neil’s and Caroline’s passions lie
- Magic Beans past projects
- The difficulties in filming mountain biking
- What equipment Magic Beans use
- How they felt when they got offered to film the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Cup Series
- How they plan and organise a days filming
- How they get the riders to help with the filming
- What Magic Beans have planned for the near future
- How to get in contact
Now as we know the mountain biking community in Ireland on the scale of things is pretty small, so when the master himself Glyn O’Brien got a look at what Magic Beans was up to and the great film they had produced with Beefy (see below) it didn’t take long for Glyn to get on the blower and reach out to Neil and Caroline to see if they would be interested in filming the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Cup events. Of course Neil being a avid mountain biker himself and Caroline loving to film outdoors they jumped at the opportunity to work with Glyn and the Vitus crew.
In my option this is a great opportunity for the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Series to get great coverage and bring those awesome events to life. It is also an amazing opportunity for Magic Beans to showcase what they can do and how they can make great mountain bike films with mixing a touch of their magic into and events and onto our screens. It’s also a win for mountain biking as a whole in Ireland!
Neil and Caroline are super excited to be given this opportunity and are buzzing to get started and capture some great footage, but they will not be taking anything to chance. They will simply not be running up and down the mountain chasing the action. There are story boards to be planned, riders to be given cameras helping catch the rider experience, shooting angles to be figured out, equipment to be sorted and drone footage to be planned, this will be a full on assault and an exhausting day for both rider and camera crew.
It is great to see a passion for filming mountain biking in Ireland that is on level with the passion for riding mountain bikes in Ireland. I am super stoked that we have a professional crew filming the Vitus First Tracks Enduro Series because it will only help show the wider world what we have here, and the great bunch of riders and awesome community that surrounds this sport. It will also give the riders a great platform to showcase their skills and you never know what could come from that. And besides the riders and competitors, it will also give those who do not have the opportunity to attend the events getting as close to the action and relive the experience through the lens of Magic Beans Films.
So tune in and see how Magic Beans will be capturing all the Vitus First Tracks Enduro action this year and how you can best watch it.
Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy the show!
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To Connect with Neil, Caroline and Magic Beans Films:
Website: www.neilmoore.org/magic-beans
Instagram: magik_beanz
Facebook: magikbeanz
YouTube: MagicBeansFilm
Resources in this Episode:
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Thanks so much to Neil and Caroline for coming on
the show and telling us the story behind Magic Beans!
Thanks for listening!
Join me next week for another MTB TRIBE Podcast show!
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