PART ONE of "The Greatest Road in CA" now online

[mclarensmps]

The black car is awesome hehe.

[Old Lace]

This is absolutely amazing~ Can't wait to see the next part.

[LurkerPatrol]

Absolutely fantastic! Can't wait for the next portion.

[Cold Fussion]

If only TGA was this good.

[GerFix]

Really impressive so far. The sense of fun is coming through well and the editing is excellent. Well done ...... and as others have said, TGAu could learn a thing or two from your effort.

[ShadowWings]

Fantastic, looking forward to rest of the journey.

Season 12 episode 2: Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May travel to the US to take three new generation muscle cars on an epic road trip from San Francisco to the heart of Utah.

Have they seen your road trip and thought how hard can it be!!!

[jbuk]

That was really good. My only criticisms are that the narrator could be a bit louder, and that the sound fluctuated a bit during the first section where you were showing off the cars.

Just as a heads up, Vimeo (.com) is brilliant quality video host, probably the best quality on the net.

[svb]

Originally Posted by Donington

That was brilliant! I noticed the Phantom that passed by the Fiat was in fact purple. Nice.

Haha, yes!! I had to pause that frame while I was editing too. I came across this line and had to go back to see what he was talking about! It looks like it was some kind of burgundy/purple color; not sure if it would have to be a custom job to be that color or not. I'm glad you recognized that Brandon said "Rolls Royce Phantom" as that line is a little hard to make out since he turns away from the camera briefly as he says it.

Originally Posted by Heathrow

Thanks for posting again, after the quality of the trailer a few weeks back I expected you would succeed, as you have, with the film.

You guys are great on camera, I liked the dialog too, the map graphics and the look of the whole thing.

The TG style gags, such as the FIAT’s oil filler cover for example, were both funny and a nice nod to the original.

The audio on the FIAT’s in-car is great, all squeaks and rattles, road noise – sounds like crap, as it should be for a 70’s Italian car. (aka “personality”)

Thanks!! We knew the audio in the Fiat would be bad, and considered using a wireless lapel mic on Brandon to counteract all the noise, but it ended up being too much of a hassle and like you say, the bad audio in the Fiat adds character and gives a good sense of what it was actually like driving that old thing.

The oil cap disappearing was bizarre, we couldn't have planned it any better. Luckily it was a very cheap, easy, and quick fix so we were able to have a few laughs and then get back on the road without having lost too much time.

We only shot the whole project over 3 days so if anything major had gone wrong with any of the cars, we would have been in real trouble.

Originally Posted by GerFix

Really impressive so far. The sense of fun is coming through well and the editing is excellent. Well done ...... and as others have said, TGAu could learn a thing or two from your effort.

Thanks!! I think the guys at Top Gear Australia are really doing a great job and it's very hard to live up to the original UK version so it's quite a compliment to be compared to either.

[Alakdeus]

That was awesome! I don't think you can get much more of a diverse field of cars than that. How long until the full thing is ready and how are you going to distribute it, i'd really like to be able to see the entire thing.

[silver9811]

the first part was awesome. and you only shot it over 3 days? holy crap. can't wait to see the roads you choose to highlight.

[Dsemaj]

Damnit! My internet is screwed until tomorrow, I was really looking forward to it! Looks like you've pleased a lot of people here (tough critics, they are), so it sounds amazing

[eldiaoble]

Just saw it and had to say it is absolutely AMAZING. enjoyed every second of it. Love your "stig"

I live in California so cant wait to see what other roads you got. Looks like highway 1 on the highlights

[leadfoot13]

Great job guys! I had fun recognizing Cuesta Park, seeing the Fiat slowly go up the grade (which many cars do), the In-n-Out parking lot, and downtown SLO. BTW the Cuesta Grade has is about 3 miles long with a fairly constant grade of 7%.

[Dsemaj]

I loved the first part. You guys have great chemistry, it just goes to show that you can't just grab a bunch of guys and expect them to gel. It takes real time, and that's what you guys have already had.

You guys going to be releasing the whole thing in one file? I'd really like a 1.4GB (or so) standard definition .avi so I can see how good it looks on my TV.

[Msl747]

Wow, that's really excellent. Makes me wish I'd thought of doing it, lol...

[svb]

Originally Posted by eldiaoble

Love your "stig"

Haha, thanks! You'll see he's wearing shorts and flip-flops as he is very well-adapted to his environment here in California.

Originally Posted by Msl747

Wow, that's really excellent. Makes me wish I'd thought of doing it, lol...

This is pretty much exactly what I thought when I first saw Top Gear itself.

Then after awhile, I decided screw it, I'll still do it myself anyway.

Originally Posted by Dsemaj

I loved the first part. You guys have great chemistry, it just goes to show that you can't just grab a bunch of guys and expect them to gel. It takes real time, and that's what you guys have already had.

You guys going to be releasing the whole thing in one file? I'd really like a 1.4GB (or so) standard definition .avi so I can see how good it looks on my TV.

Definitely. It really helped having all known each other for so damn long. This seems to be the major complaint about Top Gear Australia, and like I said before, while I think those guys are doing a great job with expectations that are nearly impossible to fulfill, I do think this is the one place they are admittedly lacking. After I watched the first episode of TGA, I went back through all the footage I had of my film and added a bunch of stuff in that I hadn't thought to include the first time around to make sure the comradery came through.

As far as the final release goes, we're close. Still not sure how we will deliver it as I'd like to have it posted online somewhere but I also want to provide a full-quality version for people like you who've been asking for it (which would probably require doing a torrent). So we'll see but either way, it should be ready soon.

I should also say that the remaining parts of the film get even better. The best part of the film, to me, was the challenge we did in San Francisco, which has already been previewed a bit. It was also easily the funniest part of the film. We really hit our stride after the first day, so if you like what you've seen so far, I assure you the rest is even more exciting.

[Alakdeus]

Originally Posted by svb

Haha, thanks! You'll see he's wearing shorts and flip-flops as he is very well-adapted to his environment here in California.

AWESOME! He's not the stig, but he's the stig's Californian Cousin! haha.

[Manic Moran]

Swinging by Highway 4 at all? I have to say, I had a whale of a time on that road.

You just want to be careful on some of the blind corners. The road is very narrow.

NTM

[cjarnesen]

Originally Posted by Manic Moran

Swinging by Highway 4 at all? I have to say, I had a whale of a time on that road.

You just want to be careful on some of the blind corners. The road is very narrow.

NTM

I love HWY 4, that's where I learned how to drive. Sadly no HWY4 footage. We had to keep the distances reasonable between locations. I would love to do another film with a more in depth look at the roads in California, I think there are so many that don't get enough attention. Maybe next film. Anyone want to fund it?

-CJ

[TerranCmdr]

Phenomenal job guys! I really enjoyed the first bit of your film. Great editing and cinematography. I'm really looking forward to seeing the whole thing.

I too am a big fan of HWY4, I used to live right off it for most of my life.