Peatspeed & Marshmellows: a film by Brock Anderson

Published on January 17, 2008

In the modern age of digital video, where every computer comes with video editing software, there are thousands of amateur MTB videos on the Internet. So it takes something special to stand out from the crowd of mediocrity. Such a video caught my eye on NSMB.com a few days ago and impressed me so much that I decided to track down the young Canadian film maker, and find out more.

Tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Brock Anderson; I’m 16 and live in a shady place called Mission in British Columbia, Canada.

What’s the riding scene like where you are?
The MTB scene here is pretty amazing, with lots of mountains close together, like the Woodlot, and the North Shore etc. We’re also a short drive to the lift mountains, like Whistler and Sun Peaks, and it’s about a 2 hour drive to the best place to ride ever, Kamloops! And thanks to groups like the Fraser Valley Mountain Bike Association, we have legal trails and mountains to go ride on!

What bike(s) do you ride?
I had a Transition Dirtbag that I had just finished pimping out, when I decided to sell it for a new camera. So now I ride brakeless Fit BMX until I can afford another MTB haha.

When you’re not making mountain bike films, what do you do?
I just kind of relax, and go BMX riding or go build dirt jumps or something… my parents keep telling me I need a job, but I just sell stuff when I need money ha.

Peatspeed & Marshmellows; where did the name come from?
Peatspeed is Marshall’s nickname, because Steve Peat was basically his god haha. And on our trips to Kamloops we always at Marshmallows, so I just threw the two together and changed the A to an E for extra steeze and thought it was a pretty sweet name!

Who or what inspired you to make the film?
My buddy Garry had a sweet camera, and I was hella jealous… so I got one. Then when everyone started getting better than me at biking, it pushed me to get better at filming.

Where are the trails in the film and who were they built by?
Ledgeview, RGC, Kamloops, Garry’s back yard were all basically built by the locals, and then there was the FVMBA, who built the Bear Mountain trail, parts of The Woodlot & Ledgeview, and Sumas Mountain.

There’s some awesome riding in the film. Are all the riders your regular riding buddies?
Most of them I was already friends with, and I met the kids from Abby filming my last movie, it was a pretty fun day, never met them before, went with Marshall to go film them at Ledge and they were super chill and friendly, and me and Cam ended up becoming really good friends after that. The cool thing about mountain biking is you meet a bunch of people, and through websites like NSMB people recognize you when you go places, so that helps when I go to places like Kelowna/Kamloops because the locals show us all the secret spots, and I get to film sick riders and make new friends.

What camera were you using to film the footage? I read somewhere you’ve got a new camera on the way, what are you getting?
It was a camera we got for free with Safeway points haha, it was a Canon ZR600 or something, it didn’t look at that great but it sure did the job. The new camera I recently purchased is a Sony HVR-A1J which is High Def, and I am super pumped to film this year!

How much footage did you have to work with?
Not as much as I wished for this movie, as I was expecting a new camera during the summer and ended up getting scammed out of the camera I ordered on Ebay, so we wasted basically the whole summer waiting for a new camera.

You feature in the film yourself. Who took on the role of cameraman for this section?
Cam Miller filmed that section and the Sumas Mountain part for me. During some of the dirt jump sessions some people would also take the camera while I was snapping off pictures, and filmed what they wanted.

The film features some pretty advanced editing techniques. How did you learn to edit like that and how long did it take?
I just kind of picked it up by myself over time; whenever there was something I couldn’t figure out that I wanted to know how to do … I would just go to Google and look it up. Sometimes takes me about an hour or it could be like 8 or 9 hours, depending on the part I’m editing, and if I get lucky or not haha.

The version of the film I’ve got says it’s a teaser. Is there more to come?
I didn’t think it was good enough or long enough to say it was a movie, so I just called it a teaser to get some hype for next year.

Do you see film production as a future career or just a hobby?
I never really saw it as a career option, unlike my buddy Garry, which is kind of funny, because I ended up getting all the job offers from the local shops and he ended up breaking his camera. So now it looks more like I could pursue it as a career, but for now I’ll just keep doing it for fun and see what happens along the way.

What is your favorite MTB film and why?
Stripped, because it was gnarly, and had a sick Kamloops part!

If you could film any rider on any trail in the world, who and where would it be?
Brendan Howie, anywhere, because he has more tricks up his sleeve than the guy from the Lucky Charms commercials!

What can we expect from you in the future, and where or what do you see yourself doing in 5 years time?
You can expect a website and some sick webisodes throughout the next few years. I’m also thinking about making a documentary and maybe doing some work for my local bike shop, the Bike Brewery.

Is there anybody you’d like to thank or mention?
Ma and Pa for the support, Nana/Papa/Grandma for letting a bunch of dirtbags stay at their places in Kamloops for a week; Cam & Steve, Mike Kirk & Renascent Clothing, and the FVMBA for making me get out and film!