Utah’s Jon Tinsley knows his way around a camera. Which camera? Most of them, really. Filmmaker first (his words), Jon has published photo books as well as won awards for directing a short film. Having put out a DVD in 2013 (Newlyweds and Nearlydeads), he’s no stranger to the perseverance and dedication required to bring a multi-year project into fruition.
His attention to detail cannot be overstated as it seems that every single frame in his new video RUNNING WITH SCISSORS has been thoroughly planned and analyzed in relationship to the one before it and after. While the symbiosis between visual and audio is at the forefront of his mind, Jon realizes that there’s a fine line between raw and polished that he treaded upon delicately while putting the final touches on the masterpiece.
We recommend taking fourteen minutes to experience the video before reading Jon’s words below. Then when you’re done here, check out his BAG CHECK that we just uploaded.
“The name came from a long, long list of hypothetical video titles compiled in a word doc on my google drive. I started the list sometime in or around 2013 while trying to come up with a title for our first hometown full-length Newlyweds and Nearlydeads. Every time I hear a peculiar phrase, or even one singular word that has some type of statement or strong conceptual value, it goes in the list. The list is currently 2.5 pages long, and Running With Scissors was jotted down at about page 1.5. I had that title well before we started filming. If I were to guess, that one was jotted down sometime in 2021. Once I started to understand the energy of the roster of the video, that name kept popping up. About a year into filming, I ran it by the guys and it seemed to have unanimous approval. So we ran with it from there! I think it conveys a sense of recklessness and angst. BMX is a great vessel to release that type of energy in a healthy and creative way.”
“First and foremost, the art was guided by the title of the video and the music. There are a lot of distorted sound effects sprinkled throughout Elijah’s and Tristen’s songs. Listening to the nuances that give their music layers and shape helped guide when and how the edit would return to the Scissors, Green, or Inverted motifs. I set aside a lot of time to analyze and study the aesthetics of those two songs, down to which type of green to use, which I tried my best to align to Type O Negative’s visual aesthetic. I also thought this project would be a good opportunity to revisit some techniques I haven’t used in a long time (hyperlapses, timelapses, etc). Pontus Alv and Jon Miner would be important influences for some of these choices. As for inspiration in BMX, Killjoy is an obvious influence. As a kid growing up in an isolated island of a desert town between Salt Lake and Vegas, I always looked up to Jordan and Elf’s videos from a distance. Killjoy was a massively important video in my teenage years. I’m lucky enough these days to work with Jordan on various freelance jobs, so I’ve been able to pick his brain on art, photography, music, and give him occasional updates on the project, whether it was a new sticker design, or simply talking about how amazing Type O Negative is. I would also throw Rich Forne, Dave Sowerby, and Ryan Chadwick in the mix in terms of how to get variety out of your filming. They seem to switch things up with their angles a fair amount, and I just did my best to try something new every time we filmed a clip. The last thing worth mentioning was an attempt to dirty up my filming a bit more than usual. Having an insanely polished, tripod heavy video titled “Running With Scissors” didn’t feel like it matched the recklessness, or emotion that needed to be conveyed. Handheld long lens became an important choice to help maintain a certain level of aggression I believe the riders and the title held.”
“Duration evolved as the video moved forward. Originally, I started filming with Elijah and Tristen with a short split part in mind. They are close friends and I think their riding compliments each other, a split part would have been organic as they are always riding together anyways. We hit the ground running for a few months and the footage those two were stacking was just constantly amazing to me, probably the best riding I’ve ever witnessed. Those two are equally as interested in spots as they are riding as well. I was worried a short 3 minute split part wouldn’t be enough to justify what they were doing, so I kept pushing things forward with some instinct telling me it would probably take more time. I’ve been a huge fan of the structure of mid-length videos, alike most of Emerica’s modern videos, as well as so many snowboard videos that run two to three full parts with a big mix in the middle of it all. At the time I was thinking, “If we end up filming two full parts, this is a great opportunity to get a mix section in the video to highlight the scene” Eventually the decision to go mid-length titled “Running With Scissors” was confirmed.
Ashton came through towards the tail end of the project. We filmed something like 14 clips in two months, and I needed to figure out a way to get his stuff in there. Music was locked in at this point and I really just couldn’t add another song, it would have butchered the flow of the entire video. The Marty Robbins song set in the mix section was too short to make it Ashton’s part and it would have pulled the entire crew out of the video because he had almost enough to fill the entire song. As I kept editing, it felt best to throw the majority of Ashton’s work in Elijah’s part, then sprinkle in his session-type clips in the mix section. It wasn’t exactly how we envisioned things to proceed, but I think Ashton’s and Elijah’s riding surprisingly compliment each other nicely.”
“The vast majority of the video is in Salt Lake County, with a significant portion up in Ogden as that’s both Tristen’s and Elijah’s domain. Four trips happened; Phoenix, San Diego, a weekend trip to Denver for the Just Enough premiere, and a weekend trip to various small towns in Wyoming. Every trip had its particular set of challenges, ranging from injuries to simply just not enough time. We found Phoenix particularly challenging, as I feel it’s one of those cities that has so many spots, but you need someone to guide you as they are a bit harder to find. We drove so much in Phoenix. Elijah did a lot on that trip, so I’m happy we went, but if I went back I would for sure try to do some more homework and make better efforts to link with the locals out there.”
“Editing was a particularly challenging experience. The opportunities to sit down and edit a piece isn’t necessarily a frequent option for me, as these projects require so much time. When this opportunity arose I really wanted to make something impactful, emotional, and unique. It was just a big project with so much footage, at times I felt paralyzed on how to start. We had roughly an hour of raw footage. It’s a lot for a 14 minute video. I wanted the editing really tight, I wanted a good mix of well-composed frames while maintaining rawness and aggression. It was quite a bit to figure out the balance. Too many static landscapes or long lens tripod clips would feel slow and “too cinematic”. Too much of one particular thing would pull opportunities to give this thing its own distinct feel. Lots of time was spent figuring out how to balance two opposing types of visuals, aesthetics vs cinematics.
Outside of the video, myself and some of the other riders were going through some big changes in life. I underwent a multi-year medical diagnosis, which at one time was either going to be Multiple Sclerosis or brain cancer. So it made BMX a hard thing to focus on at times. At the same time the project kept me alive and living with purpose. I knew the vision of the video and I knew it had to be finished regardless of circumstance. Thankfully the diagnosis was neither of those options. Unfortunately I’ve lost a considerable amount of vision due to a thing called Pigment Dispersion Syndrome which ultimately led to a Glaucoma diagnosis, which in a weird way lit a fire under my ass to take creative risks and put in more work.
I’m not sure to which degree I should speak on the circumstances of everyone else, but Tristen broke his leg towards the end of filming, and we both knew we just couldn’t keep filming this thing forever. Tristen also had to face adversity in life to get this thing done and I think it’s only a testament to his passion, work ethic, and toughness that are in his core being. He put everything he could into this part and as we were filming I could see that fire in him and I wanted to do justice to the level in which he was pushing. I had a tendency to push and push and push to get more footage with him because I could see the potential, as I was the one with the project file and all the footage to go home and tinker with at the end of the filming day. I for sure drove him crazy with how long I kept telling him we needed more footage. His dedication (and patience with me) deserves recognition. Another note would be Ashton tearing his ACL towards the end as well. Thse two massive injuries felt as obvious signs to put the camera down.”
Push It A Stop 