Cycling around the city along with biking just about anywhere enabled me to shortly discover facets of the city I had not known before. For my project, I would like to bring the new biking culture associated with The Bike Hub, local cyclists, as well as younger kids and teenagers in the neighborhood through a documentary style video including interviews, stills, POV videos, along with filming of different events such as free workshops teaching basic bike maintenance and mechanics and group rides. Rather than directly discussing gentrification throughout the city, I think it would be best to let it subtly subside throughout the video.
Although I have worked with video editing softwares and pursue photography on the side. Documentary/film is not usually my style of work, I plan to digitally manipulate the film through after effects with additional subject matter. Throughout the course of the film, I will be including hand drawn elements along with double exposure shots for more interesting visuals. Firstly, I would like to capture some of the personalities of the neighborhood teens and kids with fixies and bmx’s introducing themselves along with questions about what type of bike they have and what kind of riding they enjoy.
Just like people take pride in their cars, a bike is something special for some kids, it is almost their first item that encourages adventure and freedom. Usually a lot of kids, teens, and cyclists take pride in ownership of the kind of bike they have. Through the spring and the summer when business starts to pick up more, all of the groups of kids frolick to the bike shop for maintenance and repair. I want to film scenes like this that show a sense of community and positivity between different types of cyclist. Another scene I would like to implement is a recording of peoples reaction to a Mountain Bike we have in front of the window. It’s covered with dirt and grime, and I thought that would particularly be a scene to show how exciting The Bike Hub is along with biking in general. I would then include interviews from the owner discussing the goals of the shop and what contributions that has been made to the community. Such as donating children’s bicycles, opening a used bike lot and even the smaller things that go a long way. Like free air outside or even small fixes for local kids with their bikes.
I want to especially make it clear that there is an option for EVERYONE who walks into The Bike Hub, not just upper class citizens who can afford high-end and expensive bikes. Another goal of mine is to reach out to other organizations such as Bike JC for an interview of what the organization's goals and strategies to making the city more bike friendly are. One thing I have noticed are certain location of bike lanes or bikeways, bike lanes are usually more prioritized by the city for downtown residents. There are lanes in other parts of town such as Bergen-Lafayette and parts of greenville, but they are inconsiderable as most of them only travel for 5 blocks or so. Most of these bike lanes are not even incorporated into any of the main streets and do not connect to each other. Since 2009, Bike JC has been advocating for bike lanes throughout the entire city as well as other advancements for cycling through infrastructure. However, the city seems to prioritize certain locations than others, such as Grove St. and Columbus Dr. which are located in higher income neighborhoods. Although all of the city needs to implement a safer and organized bicycle infrastructure, it is evident through lanes and parking stations that upper middle class neighborhoods see more change first.
As an artist I have come to terms recently that an audience is a crucial factor to a piece of work. To gain success, I can no longer hide away in the drawers and corners of my bedroom, which is where most of my work ends up. I hope this project will be a milestone as it will be the first where I have to interact with others in order to create a significant and cohesive piece. I will be posting the final video on youtube and The Bike Hub website.
Below are some photos of costumers and the shop itself.
"Mr. Keith donated this bike, We tuned it up and found a young lady who could use it. Thank you, from The Bike Hub Children's Project!"
"A special thanks to Mordi's Schnitzel Truck in Jersey City for donating the money for three new kid's bikes with helmets and training wheels for kids who otherwise might not have had a chance to get some bikes this year." Mordi's Schnitzel truck created a Bike Hub Sandwich, where all the proceeds from that sandwich would go towards bikes for donation
These are some of my sources that relate to my topic, I did not neccesarily use these in my writing. Some of the photos are also taken by myself, however I took them from the Bike Hub instagram page.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/08/new_shop_in_jersey_city_set_to_donate_dozens_of_bi.html
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