The screening started at 8:30pm and finished at 10:30pm, first screening Roam, The Collective’s previous film, then Seasons, followed Q&A with one of the riders from Seasons – Steve Peat. The extra treat was that he’d brought most of his team mates from the Syndicate, including Nathan Rennie and Greg Minear fresh from his win at Fort William.

So I suppose the biggest question about Seasons as a film is ‘Is it as good as Roam?’ – the quick answer is ‘no’, in my opinion. Does that mean it’s a bad film? – Certainly not!

For starters it’s going in a different direction to Roam, giving the story and background of riders and what they do through four SEASONS of the year. Starting out with Steve Peat training for the racing seasons ahead in the cold, wet, Sheffield winter, it continues to introduce seven riders from different riding backgrounds. We then follow their progress, with some taking part in competitions and others just riding, until they all come together at the end of the season to ride in Whistler. Although there are seven main riders others feature in the film, including Sam Hill, they focus on his battle with Steve Peat and we also see him racing against Stevie Smith with Tyler Moreland who was in Roam.

The Collective have done good job in filming racing and competitions, something that differs from Roam which was built around riding locations rather than events. There’s quite a bit of zip line camera action and plenty of good camera work too, with some exceptional slow-mo’s. There were some very funny moments in the cinema showing, which aren’t quite so funny when you just watch the DVD on your own. The music is ok and compliments the feel of the riding but it doesn’t stand out or really make any of the sections come alive like some of the Roam tracks. It was also disappointing they chose to have more footage of Matt Hunter riding a motorbike (just cruising as well, not even interesting) than Steve Peat riding Wharncliffe and Bala, a very bad editing choice. There’s some good sections with a mixture of DH, Freeride and Slopestyle, highlights for me being Steve Peat racing at Mont Saint Anne and the final group section in Whistler.

I started by asking if it was as good as Roam, which probably wasn’t a fair question as they set the bar so high with that film. In general Seasons is a good film, with great riding, the Collective’s high standard of filming and the added interest of knowing the riders as people rather than just seeing them ride. When Jonny asked me after we’d been and seen it at the Showroom how good it was out of 10, I said 9/10 (I didn’t dare say 10/10 as that would be complete perfection). But I think I probably swayed as the event as a whole and as a DVD on it’s own I’d say only 8/10, which is still pretty good and worth buying. It’s available from Chain Reaction (amongst other places) for £20.

One interesting bit was to see Bamford Edge and Win Hill in Seasons! A pan shot from above Bradwell on the way to Windmill I think, it’s at the end of Steve’s opening section.

Frames taken from the DVD ‘Seasons’ by The Collective.

After the film was the Q&A with Peaty, I asked whether he had to do many takes when filming with the Collective. He said ‘They know exactly the shot they want, they spend quite a while setting up all their gear, then do one take and tell you straight away whether it worked or not.’

Other questions and answers I can remember included:
Q) His favourite track in the Peaks?
   A) He doesn’t ride there much, mainly Wharncliffe.
Q) Whistler or Wharncliffe?
   A) In this weather, Wharncliffe, with the sun out.
Q) How much of his winter he spent in Sheffield?
   A) 6 months
Q) How much of his winter he spent away?
   A) A couple of weeks
Q) Who could drink more him or Rennie?
   A) The consesus, at least from his team manager, was Rennie.
Q) Whether he would have a look at someone’s boiler.
   A) He could look at it but wouldn’t be much help.
Someone else shouted “What boiler is it?”
With much laughter that brought an end to the Q&A session.

I took the opportunity to get a picture of Peaty at the end, on the way down to the front I pasted Rennie, he really is massive! I had to run for the train, but it was worth it, very good of him too.

If you were there tell us about it, what did you think?