Greetings all, TK here. Read on to learn more about the 2011 PCT video.

The 2011 Pacific Crest Trail video took over two months of preparation, compilation and production. The images were gathered from over 80 PCT hikers who were on the trail in 2011. This included thru-hikers and section hikers. Each hiker was requested to send in their best 100 images. Some sent in many more!

We culled through approximately 12,000 images and video to choose the images used on the program. There are 1,008 individual still images, 56 video files and 43 audio files (songs and sound effects) used in the program. A good part of the total production time was spent on organizing and choosing images.

In addition to the images, a fair amount of research was required. We heard about the helicopter rescue near Idyllwild and were able to get the original footage compliments of the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit. We researched the snow fall amounts at Mammoth and the fires in Oregon and hopefully have good data on the video. And we asked many hikers to supply information regarding trail conditions and arrival dates at Monument 78.

We followed some notable hikers, Tails with her dog Skeeter (incidentally, Skeeter is a certified service dog and, as such was permitted to trek through the parks), Malto, who seemed to pass everyone, Sunshine, who along with her father (Balls) set the record as the youngest person to completely hike the PCT, and Scott Williamson who bested his speed record. There was even a badminton bird that made it to Canada!

The final production runs 1 hour, sixteen minutes and 22 seconds. The sound track is comprised of 30 songs. You can see the song list here.

To produce the program, I used Adobe Bridge as a database for the images, Adobe photoshop to make graphics and modify images, and Adobe After Effects for the introduction segment. The intro segment looks difficult and time consuming but I purchased an After Effects template at Pond5 for $29 and dropped in the images and text on placeholders. It only took a few hours to put this introduction segment together! The altitude graphs were also fairly simple as I traced existing graph images (from the internet) using layers in photoshop.

For the majority of the production, I used a product from Photodex called ProShow Professional. With ProShow Pro, I was able to load up the still images and video, lay down the sound track and add most of the transitions and key framing. If you are interested in making shows like this, check out ProShow Pro, the lesser version of it, ProShow Gold, and another program called Photo to Movie (windows or mac). They are not difficult to work with and all perform well.

Note: Because we used copyrighted music, this program is not for sale nor can it be used in any situation where someone receives any financial gain by showing it. Sorry guys, you can't sell copies at the flea market or run it at your local theater and charge admission. It is freely distributed via the iso files online. All the music in the program is readily available on Amazon or iTunes and we encourage you to support the artists and purchase any of the songs that interest you.

If you are unable to download and make your own copy of this show, contact us and we can get you one in the mail. Tortoise and Drop-n-Roll are "giving back" by burning and mailing out DVDs.