Emericans and Memphis Threat

Ok Emericans, I was doodling on around the Interwebs while I was peeling my tangerine but only after I had finished by Sunday Report Card. There was this little video that was delightful yet inspiring. I was not even looking for this young guy but the old guy Tom Knox. What do you know, there is a young version of Tom Knox ripping the streets of London by way of Tube. It reeks of the elements a solid skate video has with in its dark and stinky under tones. From beginning to ending the short video was indicative of what short people in my organization are trying to capture.



From the start, they cleverly introduce where the chappy is from with suttle visual hints of this and that to set the stage for the London based shredder.  The shots are dived into 3 to 5 second clips, he might do a half dozen of these and then they switch to a 15 second run where good old Tom does a speedy run of different objects only ending in some dramatic stair set or something interesting. They use a wide angle lenses on some shots and then the fish-eye in others. They had the fish-eye partially framing the shots although I like to see the framing less. Maybe they could not get the shot if they zoomed out partially to eliminate the circular hue at the edges of the picture. The camera angles were spot on, the saturation from shot to shot was crisp, the white balance of each shot was warm and even. I really like how they filmed him jumping a stair set as they followed but then they also filmed the opposite angle from the bottom of the stairs. It makes for a nice shot. So you see a formula through out the short film of 4 second clip after four second clip then onto a 25 to 35 second clip of something longer. You could see how they panned some of their shots down into the ground or away from the skater which makes for a nice transition into the next clip. They were also very cognizant of how interesting the surrounding architecture or landscaping was with in the longer shots to round it out. Finally credits roll. The credits were as good as each of its parts. So I was not looking for this at all but I always love to get some good education. I mean, its  Team Emerica with Blueprint, would you expect any less?? Just check out Blueprint's list of achievements.

Then I wanted to give a big shout out to Memphis Threat and Ian Lemmonds. This past weekend I had the chance to catch up with Ian while he attacked the wall at the Midtown Skateboard Shop  with wheat paste and posters. It was violent at first but ended up looking as professional as it gets.

Ian makes some fantastic shirts. Great gift ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah, Birthdays or just any old occasion. What?? You were gunna go tot he Gap and spend $25 on a new shirt, stop yourself and go here and order something worthwhile.

WAIT!!!!!!!! Back to what I was orginally talking about, the Real Tom Knox. Just so you know he skates a 9.75 wide board and yes, he is doing those tricks.




Did you enjoy that?? I did, not sure about you. Then there is the always the parting shot of you know who by now, or if you don't, you will in just a few.

Gumby Strikes Again

You remember, Saturday Night Live, a TV Series, those little bendable play toys. For some reason when I was a kid I thought Gumby on SNL was so funny. As I watch it today I am not sure how I thought it was that funny, maybe I just liked the costume.

So enough of Gumby.

A new Rufus Promo was released the other day. Check it out. You will have to click on the F'Ning link because somebody who uploaded it turned off the embedding feature. http://youtu.be/piBUlpXeZ48 Nice job, another lesson learned. See if you don't let people embed your video to their site then your video gets seen a lot less. HMMM, was that the first thing wrong with the video, NO!!

Now that I am pissed because I could not embed the thing here lets see.... Most of this is my fault since I shot most of the footage although Skybaby did the editing.First the Camera Picture quality is only 720p which looks ok on your phone but not so much on my computer screen. I can't imagine what it would look like on my TV at home. Light is a big issue with this camera, huge amounts of light noise when it comes to dimmer lighting. Even during the day during cloud coverage it was noisy. At night, no way, those shots were not great due to ineffective light sensors on the camera.

The other thing wrong was a bit of unease in a lot of the shots, that is, there was shakiness coming from holding the camera. Part of it is the operator and part of it is the camera/ Lenses/angle. There are shots when Skyler is moving with the subject and a bit of shakey seems normal because it is like you are following the skaters movements which works fine. Then on the other hand there are times when i am stationary and its just shaky shaky shaky. Maybe a bipod or tripod for some shots.

Next I was not always impressed with the composition of shots, an editing and camera operator issue. Needs Vantage points that are more interesting. More attention needs to be paid to panning out of a camera shot. What was with the black screen pans/transitions between clips. Pan the camera down into the ground or up or out then just cut straight to the next clip next time. Having the fish-eye frame is good for some shots but not all, especially not good when filming a run in the bowl. There is a lot to learn about making good videos. Look here is another Kevin Kolwaski part that is indicative of a pretty good film. These guys have their shit together.




This is not a rant, I helped produce the video, my name is on it. I have just been studying a bit and its what I am learning. Its part equipment and part technique that will make future videos better. We need to look at the limitations of our equipment and get the best out what we got. It takes planning and patience at this point.

Pick Your Lines Then Your Noses

Ok, I was not looking to post anything today and then this video magically appeared of these guys having a camping mission up in Oregon. Then I thought I would stop with that, I mean really, what a classy piece that was. That guy with the glasses had some crazy hats. So I started to google Ben Rayburn and I found this interesting tiddly bits. Next I start looking for video of Kevin Kolwaski and found this. I thought I had seen this before but I have not. These guys Rip like no bodies business, holy crap.

Unheard: Kevin Kowalski from Bacon Skateboards on Vimeo.

In the end I think that I see a lot of skating of this type. To me I enjoy watching this kind of stuff more so than not. Maybe I will trash some stuff I don't like in the future. O yeah, almost forgot to add one last vid of you know who.

I Croak Monday

Speaking of old times. Do you ever remember the Del Mar Skate Ranch?? We would see pictures in Thrasher or Transworld, that was it. The place was legendary though, I can't imagine what it was like to be there. The only thing I could compare it to was Paige's Pink vert ramp in Levy, AR. I could not go every day but it was my skateboard haven that I loved. Then there is Del Mar, the place was a story with in it self. I wish some person would make a Del Mar movie like they did with the Dogtown and Zboys Story.



The Big Pink Paige ramp was such a nice ramp though, Pros would come to skate it, odd crews from out of town would show up, it was a blast. Then again, I watch and read stuff about Del Mar and it is like a Fast Times at Ridgemont High story, full of all kinds of wacky. Nothing to out of hand ever happen in Levy, we just skated.




 There you go, your education for the day is almost complete but not with out a little fun video of Mark Gonzales of course. Videos for days of this guy.

 

Videos while Talking of Legends: Vallely, Gonzales, Cardiel and Barbee

Ok, I just thought Since I have  a slight agitation of boredom that I would cheer myself up with some good home down entertainment, internet videos. The first one I will start with, someone I was discussing yesterday, came up on my Thrasher radar today. I went from skating a Natas 2 to skating a Vallaley in 88. I did not like the nose and it had no pop, but that is skateboards. Mike freaking rips, just watch:

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Ok, but no way Mike is my all time favorite, he is in my top ten. I just put him first because you always know the best comes last. Now, Ray Barbee is in my top three, maybe he is 2, not sure how I feel today. I think I need some fluids. But here you go, Ray Barbee invented a style: Then there is the last guy, you got to know who it is by now, don't you know. I know... It must be coursing through my veins this week, I have been riding my bicycle a lot lately and not skating due to injury and being a chicken shit. So I reminisce and find excitement and something else, maybe motivation, maybe a pipe dream I will keep to myself because I know how I am. Of Course it is Mark Gonzales, of course of course of course. How can he not be your favorite skater of all time, he invented another style that is mimicked and mimicked. He pulls off what you never thought could be pulled off. He does things with his feet that make you think after you have watched that clip five times in row that you are watching a magic show. Then there is John Cardiel, sorry John, I got all carried away and I forgot about you. Sorry dude, we will watch you first then: Ok OK. So I leave you with your lesson of today. Watch and Watch and Watch and Watch this shit over and over and over. Epic I know. More to come. Later.

Stoked on Cold Weather!!!

Well, not really, I think the cold weather sucks. That is why every year I either bold the cold and spend time out in it or I crawl up into my man cave and come out sometime in march. At the moment, every morning around 6am I have coffee outside on the back porch in nothing but my boxer briefs while I visualize riding my bike to work. It was only a mere 32 degrees Fahrenheit, nothing to extreme just yet, just wait. This whole process helps put in to perspective what riding a bike with clothes on can do for you.

 My favorite thing I did today was fit a $2 dollar light to my helmet so I can be seen.

In Skateboard News I lost one of my skateboards and did something new with the surface of my Ramp. Maybe someone will give that thing back. Look its Pink.

Oyeah, what I really wanted to say was check my site out a little more, look at the videos and check out the music section, been working on it. 

Later.

Steaming Piles, Mumford and Omar

Cole and Skyler ended up at my abode Friday night, they plopped on the couch and yelped "What's for Dinner Poppa Chris?" So we  headed to Kroger where I picked out some veggies and choice meat, since they declined the regular pizza, while Cole stomped around the store exclaiming "I hate Kroger(He works there), they can suck it!"  When the kids say it does not matter what they eat as long as you cook it, don't believe them. Some one hour and 30 minutes after we sojourned Kroger, I served up steaming hot plates of veggies and chicken bratwurst. They were so very pleased to eat but the looks of "WTF" on their face as they picked around the veggies told another story. They brought their plates back and told me they were just not as hungry as they had thought. Next time we'll eat bean burritos and have farting contests.

Saturday morning I woke up and made three new 8.0 popsicles, fixed up eggs for the Buttercups and made passage to the great skatepark of Munford, Tennessee. A contest we ventured out where prize money and other goodies  were suppose to be the end results. We made it to Munford after circling the park several times lost, only to find out that the contest was a game of SKATE. Its kind of like a game of HORSE on the B-Ball court but skate tricks. Not sure what happened after that because instead of competing for the accumulation of dollar bills all I saw Skyler do was blast Melons 10ft into the air off the mini ramp. After collecting some video and strange looks from the locals we piled back in the Civic and drove back to Memphis.

Once we got back to Memphis, Cole left me with the Anklebiter Skyler as he headed to work at the Southhaven Kroger. Anklebiter and I imported video and began editing footage while Pizza (this time) cooked in the oven. By 10:30 I was headed off to sleep while Skyler stayed up until 2am editing video. Just before I went to bed he showed me some clips using a fast forward effect which I liked, for that scene only. The next day we got the video up on YouTube. You will see the Melon I was talking about, after that step back from the screen at least two feet and then squint a little, trust me.

The first response from our contingent in North Carolina (aka Roadkill) was that it caused him to have vertigo,  he had to lay down for a short while after watching it then thought about stabbing himself with a  pencil.  But that is OK, we won't let that happen again for I have sent my friend in North Carolina enough meds to counteract his response. Another friend said that he thought the song was really gay. I guess not everybody likes Sonic Youth these days, more or less a Teenage Riot. The only solution is to have our supervising art director to step in and make Skyler behave. I guess the moral to the video is not to overuse certain effects since they can make people sick to their stomach and have to induce vomiting.

And Finally we gave birth to a new Omar this Sunday around 5pm.