Monthly Archives: August 2011
Premiere weekend .. 32 Ammo, VideoGrass Retrospect, Think Thank Ransack Rebellion, Yes its a movie, and Absinthe Twe12ve Reviewed
Ah the last weekend of August in SLC, traditionally the start of the premiere season and this year was no different. This weekend we had Ammo, Retrospect, Ransack Rebellion, Twe12ve, and YES its a movie all premiere over the weekend in two separate events and I was lucky enough to attend both.
Friday Brighton Passapalooza…
For the second time in three years Brighton held a “buy your season pass and watch some movie premieres event”. Dubbed Passapalooza it offered some free swag with a season pass purchase, some cheap goods from last season, a few rails to skate, a chance to catch up with friends and finally three yes count them THREE movie premieres Ammo, Retrospect, and Ransack Rebellion. I got there early to snap some pics and catch up with some of the locals. I must say it was nice to be around my home resort when so much activity is going on. It wont be too long before the park crew pulls out the jibs and is setting them up for pre season jibbing at the base of Majestic Lift buuut Im getting ahead of myself. On this night its was all about catching up with some homies and watching some great flicks….
A glimpse of the new snow making capabilities going in on Milly
Skullcandy, Forum, Neff, and Electric were all in the house with swag and deals on product
A few rails and boxes were brought out by the park crew for kids to skate on...
32 Ammo…
This past season 32 boots filmer Jeff Heit spent a majority of his winter days following the am team around and documenting it all for 32′s Ammo project. The flick has featured parts from Brandon Hobush, Spencer Schubert, Chris Brewster, and Dylan Alito with montages of other regional and flow riders sprinkled through out and a few clips from Grenier, Miller, and Stevens as the cherry on top. Its a good video filled with kids putting their bodies out there to get the shots and the slams are in there to prove it. Now you do have to remember youre dealing with am and flow kids here so dont expect a Brainfarm master piece but take it for what it is. If youre a fan of the gritty raw type of snow documentation youll love Ammo. One note however as Ive said is that you are dealing with a smaller budget flick so dont expect tons of back country booters and big mountain pow lines. Many of the clips come from the urban filming the crew did as they moved around the country last year filming spot checks at various mountains but thats cool because hey how many times do you get urban footy from New Hampshire? Anyway overall a good gritty urban flick, is it the most progressive, no, but solid and entertaining all the way around. Im not sure what 32′s plans for release are for this vid ( if itll be released on iTunes or packaged in mags or released to shops for full retail) easily worth 20 bucks especially if they have some good out takes and extras on a hard copy.
32 Ammo's Brandon Hobush, Think Thanks Ted Borland and Brighton Park Director Jared Winkler catching up and planning for the upcoming season
Videograss Retrospect…
VG is releasing two features and one trick tip dvd this season. Thats a pretty risky move for most production houses but with a stable as stocked as VG two features is almost a requirement. We were able to see Retrospect at Brighton this week (a full VG event is coming in mid September for both films). Im not sure how the VG house views the films but to me Shoot the Moon is the big baby with Retrospect being “the other film” so I went in expecting some good solid riding but not a revolution. I pretty much got what I was expecting from Retrospect. I loved Blauvelts opening assault on Alaska and then sat through solid riding from Bryan Fox, Ben Bilocq, Alex Cantin, Alex Andrews, Austin Smith, Knut Eliasen, and a handful of other riders. I liked this film a lot and have a feeling that it will only get better with each view because its so loaded with riders you kind of get over stimulated with shots. Ender went to Jake Kuzyk and it was well deserved, banger part for sure. If youre a buy 6-8 dvd’s a season guy grab this one when copies ship this week to your local shop. If you are on a limited budget you may want to wait for Shoot the Moon to be reviewed before you make a decision or at least grab Retrospect on iTunes for a bit cheaper. I’ll be buying this one for sure.
Soon Milly will be covered with snow but for this evening the parking lot was the place to be...
Think Thank Ransack Rebellion…
The Think Thank videos have been some of my favorite over the last three or four seasons. I love their brand of urban assault of weird obstacles and keeping the fun factor in the forefront. Unfortunately Ransack Rebellion just ddnt do it for me this year and Im not sure why. Hell maybe it was the fact that I saw it on the back end of a 20 hour day sitting on the cement parking lot and was just over it altogether. There were stand out parts from Brandon Larson, newcomer to the squad Ted Borland, Sam Hulbert and Nick Visconti but it just seemed to me something was missing and Im not sure what it was. It will definitely get another viewing from me and most likely even a purchase because Im a fan of the series but I guess its just hard to make your best film EVERY season. I also think it was hard for Think Thank to overcome the loss of Stevens and Kimura to film for Capita as well as trying to integrate Sean Black and Ted Borland as new comers into the film. Once I get a second look I’ll come back and let you know if Im feeling it a bit more but for now Im saying buy if youre a big fan of Think Thank but pass if you have a limited dvd budget this season.
UPDATE; I bought Ransack today the 6th and Im half way through it and wanted to post. Its good not as good as RBLB but that was my favorite vid from anyone last season. The only complaint I have is too many half parts from normal mainstays like Bogart Milbery Hulbert and Hironaka and no part from Genevese but once again cant be bangers every season. Overall solid and with a Visconti skate edit and five b reels in the extras plus a few other things its a solid dvd.
A few hundred settled in and got treated to three films to make for a great start to the 2011.2012 season
Saturday SLC Absinthe and YES premiers…
For the third year Absinthe has chosen Utah as the place to host its world premiere
Saturday I headed down to watch the premieres of two other films, Absinthes Twe12ve and YES snowboards, Yes its a movie! There was a huge crowd for the flicks and excitement was high. I go to many premieres each season but the Absinthe premieres are usually the most energetic and fun of them all.
YES its a movie…
Ok heres what I expected from the YES movie, fifteen minutes of the b footage from Absinthe filming to create a fun little promo for the YES brand. Heres what I got… a near half hour of amazing grade a footage spanning Canada, Japan, and Russia. Simply stunning and amazingly filmed I owe the YES crew an apology for greatly under estimating what their video would be for the season. Like 32′s Ammo Im not sure how they are going to put this film out for the public. Will it be iTunes or a magazine bundle or in shops for a few dollars Im not sure but however it gets put out there you owe it to yourself to get your hands on a copy you will not be let down. Highlights include shoulder deep yes you read correct SHOULDER deep turns in Japan and a banger part from their token jibber Frank April and of course the big three DCP, JP, and Romain. Find this, buy it, love it.
Absinthes Justin Hostynek and Jones Snowboards Forrest Shearer talk outside the SLC Absinthe Premiere
The Man and his mans board .. Bode unstoppable in Twe12ve
Absinthe’s Twe12ve…
The Absinthe films have been a staple of my yearly buys for almost ten years. Absinthe has always had a good mix of big mountain lines, back country booters, pillow play, and a few urban assaults sprinkled in for good measure. Neverland and Nowhere were good but not as good as Optimistic and Ready so I arrived at SLC’s Tower Theater expecting good and solid but not epic especially since we didnt get a proper teaser this year. I was wrong oh god how I was wrong. Twe12ve may be the greatest Absinthe film… EVER. I dont even think I can give you a rundown of how good it was. Gigi opens the show with a banger and it doesnt stop for forty minutes with Bode Merrill shutting it down with a full 10 minute part divided into 5 minutes of urban and 5 minutes of back country. Johnnie Paxson is new to the crew this season and has a great part and despite a part in the Capita film Dan Brisse still found time to put in a great full part as well. I was stoked to see the return of a Gigi/Muller Alaska shared part again too. Blair Habenicht’s ultra aggressive big mountain lines were a crowd favorite as were the pow antics of Sylvain Bourbousson. Again dont let the small write up deceive you this film is amazing and is a must buy for this season. MUST MUST MUST! I cant wait to get a copy in my hands to watch over and over, true snow porn in every sense of the word.
A chat with SLC filmer Andrew Schummer about his entry in the RomeSDS Local Gnar contest
Each of the past five seasons RomeSDS has asked riders all over the country to document their season in an edit and submit them for judging . Its called The Local Gnar contest and in the fifth year the bar has definitely been raised. This year SLC has an entry chosen as a finalist in the contest. I took some time out to chat with SLC filmer Andrew Schummer to talk about his background, his approach to filming for the contest, the workings of the contest itself, and finally his ambitions as a filmer.
The edit…
First things first… tell us about your film background
Well I am currently a senior at the University of Utah, where I am majoring in Film and minoring in Business. Growing up I was always into filming and editing, but I would have to say working with skating and snowboarding is what I really love.
Denney Fuller, backflip p. J.Dubruille/Artside Productions
For the tech people out there, what equipment did you use for both filming and editing?
The cameras used for the edit were a Panasonic HMC150 and a Canon 60D. The edit was primarily done in Final Cut with additional effects and animation in After Effects.
How many hours of filming did the crew log to get the footage you wanted for the final edit and how long did it take to sort it all into the final product?
It’s hard to say exactly how many hours were spent filming this past season, but after everything was organized there was 2300 potentially useable clips. If I had to guess there was roughly 50 days of filming, so maybe some where around 200 hours total. The final edit I would say took roughly a week, probably around 30 hours.
Micah Hoogeveen tail grabbin over a Colorado road gap p. J Dubruille/Artside Productions
How did you get hooked up with the Salty Peaks crew for filming your Local Gnar edit?
Well I originally moved out here for school and for the riding. Since I had worked in a shop back in New York since I was 14 years old, I decided to apply at Salty Peaks and worked there for the past 3 years. I have since moved on to other opportunities but still function as the shop team manager. The owner of the shop Dennis Nazari approached me early this season with a request to make the first Salty’s snow team video. I accepted and have been working on the film Eighty Seven which pays tribute to the year Saltys was opened, which is set to release this September. For the past 9 months I have been accumulating footage for the video, and upon hearing about this contest I decided it would be dumb not to enter.
Salt Lake is obviously a hotbed of filming yet you were able to get familiar places in the edit but not show them in ways theyve been seen in many other edits. How much time and effort went in to trying to set yourselves apart from a typical SLC edit?
I’m not sure I can really take credit for creating an edit that stands apart from a standard SLC edit. I would give credit to all the riders I worked with. They were always thinking of different creative ideas and attempting to avoid those that have been done before. The people who work in the snowboard film industry are generally very good at what they do, and the best angle is always the best angle. Therefore I think spots usually look pretty similar and that it comes down to the rider to be creative.
Denney Fuller with a stylish Tuck-Knee p. J Dubruille/Artside Productions
How did you approach trick selection? Did you let the riders do their thing and just document or was there are trick list that the crew wanted to cover?
There was definitely not a set list of tricks that we wanted to film. With the exception of telling riders what will or won’t look good on film, I really played no part in the tricks that went down this season. Most of the riders were conscious of tricks that have been done at a spot or tricks that they have already filmed on another spot. Chris Frost went the whole season never really even attempting to get a trick that he had already gotten on something else. Filming with riders like that makes editing more interesting when it comes time.
So whats up with the contest? What are the criteria on your end and how is it judged on Romes end?
The criteria for the contest was to simply create an edit that was less than five minutes. Rome left it very open for individual interpretation, and I feel that shows in the variety of edits that have been posted. I believe that they have not made any actual decisions yet. They are posting every local gnar that they received all summer long and I am guessing the judging will be done in the Fall.
Youve gotten lots of positive feed back on the Youtube channel and Facebook pages …. stoked Im sure!?
I’m definitely stoked on the response that the video received. It seems as though everyone really liked the edit. We definitely have an advantage though being located in SLC.
Chris Frost Method p. J Dubruille/Artside Productions
So you stated earlier that Rome is making the final contest decisions but is there anyway that readers or fans of the edit can get involved?
I believe the judging is done solely by Rome, but they did change something this year in that the video that receives the most likes on Rome’s Facebook page wins four sets of outerwear. So go Like it! ( post date on the RomeSDS Facebook page is August 3rd)
So what are your plans for filming? When you graduate are you wanting to move into professional snow filming or is it just a diversion while youre in school before you “get a real job”?
Since I will be graduating in the next few months my plans currently are to open a production company concentrated in media marketing. My goal if it is successful is to diversify from that into doing high production value skate and snow films as side projects. Hopefully in one way or another I can always be able to film skating and snowboarding.
Finally your thanks and shout outs…
I would first and foremost like to thank Josh Dubruille who helped with filming and graphic design this season. Also without all of the Saltys team always being down to go out and film none of this would be possible. So thanks to everyone who made the edit what it is.
Micah Hoogeveen and Andrew Schummer putting in a hard days work p. J Dubruille/Artside Productions
A chat with Krush Kulesza of Snowboy Productions
Snowboarding has a long history of DIY to progress our sport. From the early days of shaping pipes by hand to modern day urban guerilla filmers snowboarding has always adapted and overcome when obstacles have presented themselves. So what do you do when you are unhappy with your local contest scene? Well Krush Kulesza of Snowboy Productions took matters into his own and hands and ended up creating some of the best known contests in snowboarding.
Lets start with the basics .. who are the folks behind Snowboy Productions, where are you from, and what specifically do you do?
Snowboy is a company that I started in 1997 in Spokane, WA as a result of being frustrated with the level and quality of the local snowboarding contests. Fifteen years later we have grown into a respected and innovative company that has put on over 100 events in the United States, Canada and Japan.
The first Holy Oly 2003... J McGuire killing it p. Pat Kennedy
Krush in Japan for the 2011 Boxes for Days contest p. Mike Yoshida
Jonny Lazz at the 2010 DownTown ThrowDown p. PLW
Participants of the Gnu Greenhorn games 2011 p. Mike Yoshida
Ensuring the quality of snowboarding contests for years to come, Krush and son p. Ryan "Huggy" Hughes/Snowboarder Mag
Randoms Think Thank Special Edition, Ultra-Fears are in shops, Stance keeps making cool ass socks, aaaand my first logo?
This is gonna be a fast one just in case you missed a few things…
You can hit the Think Thank store and order yourself up a Special Edition of Ransack Rebellion .. it comes with autographs from Burtner, Visconti, and Pika, banana wax, loads of stickers, a piece of Crab Grab, a SpaceCraft beanie or facemask, a Dinosaurs Will Die Poster ( that I already have cause damn Im that special) and a chance to win either a Burtner Box Scratcher, a Dinosaurs Will Die Maet, or an Arnette/Banshee Bungie Mega Prize Pack
Milosport in SLC has 2012 Ultrafears in stock .. stop by and grab one or hit them up online .. these are always really fast seller at $450… oh also 2012 32 in stock as well!!!
Fuck Yeah Bro!
Check out these awesome Stance/Lakai socks… how freaking sick are these? Seriously Stance is pumping out some amazing product. Fall lines are hitting stores now so go to your local shop and grab a pair … I love mine in fact I have 6 pair of street socks and a pair of snow socks. Hit em up!
WHAAAAT?
Last but not least Ive been playing around with ideas for logos stickers that sort of thing. I came up with a “rip off logo” which to me is very embedded in the skate/snow culture. Special thanks to the guys at BDF who whipped it up for me… theres a tweak or two I want to do with it but scroll down and check it out below … if youre an old guy like me you may recognize it.
Whats wrong with snowboarding at the moment…
Nothing … go out have fun stop worrying about the bullshit.
Twenty-two things to look forward to this season….
1.Bode Merrill … hes had the enders in the last two HCSC sessions vids and hes scored to cover of the latest Abisinthe films movie Twe12ve. Bode doesnt slow down and had a relatively injury free season … his part should be amazing.
OMG at the amazing videos coming out this season…
2. Capitas Defenders of Awesome .. I mean cmon Brisse, Stevens, Kimura, TJ, Zima, Hadar, and all the others in one DvD?! Its gonna be amazing..
3. If high production is your thing theres Brain Farms newest two year epic Art of Flight … youve seen the teasers all over and you know this ones a must see!
Im also stoked for VideoGrass to drop two features this season 4. Shoot the Moon and 5. Retrospect…
Throw in the usual awesomeness from 6. Think Thank, 7. Standard, 8. Romes two year piece The Shred Remains, and 9. Forum and its going to be a banger year for Dvd’s
Oh and dont forget this sleeper ..10. 32′s Ammo
Basically no matter what you like high end super clean filming or grimy street footage youll have plenty to spend your cash on this fall.
And with the fall and Dvd’s comes 11. Premiere Season in SLC….
I love going to the premieres not only to see the films (obviously) but also for the adventures that wait at the after parties and of course to see everyone as they start to migrate back into SLC for the upcoming winter. From late August into early October its event after event after event in SLC .. cant wait!
Theres lots to be excited about on the softgoods side of things as well…
12. The 686/Fallen collaboration is looking amazing
13. As is the Jed Anderson line from Airblaster
14. Sessions, who admittedly had a few meh seasons the last few years, has a new designer and really stepped it up with their new line this season at SIA
15. And Im also stoked to see Stance officially enter the snow arena with its first snow sock line. I was able to get a pair of the Celtek collabos at SIA and they are amazing snowboard socks with some great innovations.
16. The Levitation Project will finally have a large selection of softgoods for internet purchase… socks, gloves, hand knitted beanies, under layers, wax, face masks, balaclavas, and eventually backpacks too … so stoked to see the product!
Speaking of SIA, although its not until January of 2012 Im still looking forward to it for a few reasons. The first being 17. that I’ll have a better idea of what to expect and thus a better idea of how to prepare for and cover SIA itself but most importantly Im looking forward to 18.seeing Capitas 2013 line now that Sean Tedore is on board with the board design crew. This is huge huge huge industry news and I cant wait to see the product.
Last but certainly not least Im looking forward to 19. the plans Ive made involving the site for this upcoming season, 20. progressing my riding and most important 21. riding with my crew and having a hell of a good time for 9 amazing months …… its almost here and it looks like it could be 22. another banger.
