The Vintagent Originals: Stories We Need to Tell

 

VINCENT BLACK LIGHTNING (2022)

Run Time: 5:55
Director: David Martinez
Editor: Anais Bernard
Key Cast: Paul d’Orléans, 1950 Vincent Black Lightning courtesy Bryan Bossier / Sinless Cycles

FILM MAKERS

From David Martinez Studio: “My love of storytelling started when I was teenager photographing the San Francisco punk scene. What drew me to photography then is what I still love about it now – the endless ways you can use images to tell a story.  What began as a solitary journey has evolved into a highly collaborative process – an integral part of my photography that I really love. I’m always humbled by how many people and places contribute to one single frame.

In my life as in my photography, I’ve learned to value simplicity. It’s all about each detail being considered – with care + with intention. I draw from that simplicity not only when I choose a surfboard or curate the objects in my home, but when I approach lighting + composition in a photograph as well. From a pared down approach comes purpose. When I use lights, it’s never done excessively – I light with a gentle touch. When I use natural light, I do so with the intention of respecting the integrity of the light itself.
For me, photography and filmmaking are really about a type of minimalism – how to convey complex ideas in a distilled image or short film. It’s about taking out what isn’t needed to reveal the essential.”

SUMMARY

The Vincent Black Lightning is simply legendary.  It was the ‘World’s Fastest Standard Motorcycle’ for over 25 years, after Rollie Free rode the prototype on the Bonneville Salt Flats at just over 150mph – in his bathing suit!  As you could order a Black Lightning with full road equipment – as with this 1950 example – that claim was fully justified.

Vintagent founder Paul d’Orléans road tests this historic machine, discusses its history, and discusses why the Black Lightning deserves its reputation in song and story.  The Lightning in our film is one of only 38 built by the factory, with a great back story: a Scandinavian racing champion ordered it new, but it only raced twice before he stored it in a chicken coop!  It was pulled out once more for a grudge match against some BMW racers, which it won.  It was purchased by an engineer who packed it away for decades, before it was reassembled by an expert with all original parts, and is now in amazing condition.

‘Vincent Black Lightning’ was filmed in San Francisco and west Marin County by David Martinez, who captures the beauty of the place and the motorcycle, and just as importantly the SOUND of this stirring vehicle.  Dig it!

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