Brett Novak

Last updated
Brett Novak
Born
OccupationFilm director

Brett Novak is an American filmmaker and director, best known for his short skateboard related films; particularly his collaborations with Spanish professional skateboarder Kilian Martin.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Novak was born in the western Chicago suburb of Lombard, Illinois. [1] Majoring in Digital Arts and Design, he graduated from Full Sail University in 2007. [1] [2]

Early career

Upon moving to Los Angeles in 2008, Novak started work in the Visual Effects industry working on music videos for artists such as Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga. [1] [2] He would go on to incorporate his Visual Effects experience into his later independent skateboard work. [3]

Collaborations with Kilian Martin

Brett Novak and Kilian Martin met in 2009 [4] competing against each other in a California freestyle-skateboarding contest. [5] Their first video collaboration entitled "Kilian Martin: Freestyle Skateboarding", filmed in November 2009 in Los Angeles, California, prominently featured Martin's freestyle roots as a skateboarder and was met with moderate online success. Their follow up project, "Kilian Martin: a Skate Escalation" , this time focusing on Martin's street-skateboarding abilities, quickly went viral (3,390,000 views as of March 2016) pushing the two to continue creating newer projects together. As of March 2016, they have completed 8 short films together.

Concrete Circus / A Skate Illustration

In 2011, Brett and Kilian starred alongside professional trials cyclist Danny MacAskill in the Channel 4 English Documentary "Concrete Circus". [6] The film featured the two on their journey around the United Kingdom while they filmed their fourth short film together, "Kilian Martin: a Skate Illustration" .

Altered Route

In 2012, Novak and Martin were approached by Mercedes-Benz to collaborate on what would become their fifth project together, "Kilian Martin: Altered Route" . [7] [8] Filmed in the now defunct California Lake Dolores Waterpark, the video features Martin skateboarding the abandoned ruins of the once thriving park. As of March 2016 the video has seen over 2 million views on YouTube.

Last Call with Carson Daly

In 2013 Novak and Martin appeared on the American late night television program Last Call with Carson Daly. [9]

Other works

In 2013, Novak directed a music video for the American rock band Deftones starring skateboarder Jason Park. [10]

In 2014 Novak was commissioned by The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art to direct a documentary into the life and work of artist Shepard Fairey. [11] The video, entitled "Obey This Film", follows Shepard through the development of an exhibition, as well as his outdoor mural process. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skateboarding</span> Action sport on skateboards

Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Mullen</span> American skateboarder

John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered one of the most influential skaters in the history of the sport, being credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of modern street skating."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepard Fairey</span> American contemporary street artist, graphic designer activist and illustrator

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andre the Giant Has a Posse</span> Street art campaign by Shepard Fairey

Andre the Giant Has a Posse is a street art campaign based on a design by Shepard Fairey created in 1989 while Shepard attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Distributed by the skater community and graffiti artists, the stickers featuring an image of André the Giant began showing up in many cities across the United States. At the time, Fairey declared the campaign to be "an experiment in phenomenology". Over time, the artwork has been reused in a number of ways and has become worldwide. Fairey also altered the work stylistically and semantically into OBEY Giant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DC Shoes</span> American company

DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for action sports, including skateboarding and snowboarding. The company also manufactures apparel, bags, accessories, hats, tshirts, and posters.

The Camp Kill Yourself crew was a group of friends and relatives centered around television personality and skateboarder Bam Margera, many of whom are from or located in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The crew was active from Landspeed presents: CKY (1999) to Minghags: The Movie (2009). Some members of the crew were skateboarders, while others were involved either on-camera or behind-the-scenes in Margera's various projects such as the CKY videos, Jackass, Viva La Bam, Haggard: The Movie, Bam's Unholy Union, Minghags: The Movie, and Radio Bam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Novak</span> American skateboarder and motivational speaker

Brandon Thomas Novak is an American motivational speaker, author, and former professional skateboarder and "CKY crew" member. He also had appearances in the Viva La Bam reality comedy series and the Jackass films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glen E. Friedman</span> American photographer and artist

Glen Ellis Friedman is an American photographer and artist. He became known for his activities within rebellious skateboarding and music cultures. Photographing artists Fugazi, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Misfits, Bad Brains, Beastie Boys, Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer, Run-DMC, KRS-One, and Public Enemy, as well as classic skateboarding originators Tony Alva, Jay Adams, Alan Gelfand, Duane Peters, and Stacy Peralta, among others.

Shogo Kubo was a Japanese American skateboarding pioneer and one of the original members of the Z-Boys that formed in Venice, California in 1975.

Mark Gonzales, also known as "Gonz" and "The Gonz", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. He is known as the godfather of modern street skateboarding and was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time" by the Transworld Skateboarding magazine in December 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skate video</span> Film genre

A skate video is a movie of or about skateboarding typically showing new tricks and a series of skateboarders in a montage set to music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Davis (bassist)</span> American musician

Michael Davis was an American bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer, best known as a member of the MC5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D*Face</span>

Dean Stockton, better known by his alias D*Face, is an English multimedia street artist who uses spray paint, stickers, posters, and stencils.

A skateboard style refers to the way a skateboarder prefers to ride a skateboard. Skateboard styles can be broadly divided into two different categories: skateboarding to perform tricks and skateboarding as a means of transportation. Styles of skateboarding have evolved over time and are influenced by a number of factors including sociocultural evolution, mass media, music, technology, corporate influence and individual skill level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barack Obama "Hope" poster</span> Image designed by Shepard Fairey

The Barack Obama "Hope" poster is an image of US president Barack Obama designed by American artist Shepard Fairey. The image was widely described as iconic and came to represent Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. It is a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, beige and blue, with the word "progress", "hope", or "change" below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aggressive inline skating</span> Sport discipline

Aggressive inline skating is a sub-discipline of inline skating in the action sports canon. Aggressive inline skates are specially modified to accommodate grinds and jumps. Aggressive skating can take place on found street obstacles or at skate parks.

Salman Agah is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Not Giving In</span> 2012 single by Rudimental featuring John Newman and Alex Clare

"Not Giving In" is a song by British drum and bass band Rudimental. It features the vocals from John Newman and Alex Clare. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 18 November 2012 as the third single from their debut studio album, Home. It came in at number 16 in the 2012 Hottest 100, announced on Australia Day 2013. It was featured in the first episode of season three of Teen Wolf. The song was also used in a 2014 FIFA World Cup commercial for Mercedes-Benz sponsoring the Germany National Football Team. The song is also featured in the Scottish Government's advertising for keeping up with COVID-19 restrictions.

Isamu Yamamoto is a Japanese world Freestyle skateboarding champion. At age fourteen, Yamamoto took first place at the World Freestyle Round-Up Skateboarding Championships in British Columbia, Canada. He was the first person to win the World Round-Up Freestyle Championships using two skateboards at the same time. He was the subject of the Brett Novak film ISAMU.

Patrick O'Dell is an American photographer, filmmaker, skateboarder, and skateboard journalist from Columbus, Ohio.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gire, Jamie Sotonoff and Dann (2013-03-26). "Lombard filmmaker turned to skateboarding world". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  2. 1 2 "Brett Novak: Video/Design Extraordinaire". Full Sail. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  3. "Behind the Lens: Brett Novak Makes the Most Beautiful Skateboard Videos You'll Ever See | NOISEY". NOISEY. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  4. "Searching Sirocco - Kilian Martin's Artistic Skateboarding -". blog.driftingthru.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  5. "Kilian Martin Street Freestyle Skateboard Rider  » Blog Archive  » Kilian Martin Interview Late 2010". www.kilianmartin.net. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  6. Christie, Mike (2011-08-15), Concrete Circus , retrieved 2016-03-11
  7. "Brett Novak: Re-imagining Skateboarding Videos". vaffanculomag.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  8. "A skate revolution". www.mercedes-benz.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  9. "Kilian Martin and Brett Novak". NBC. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  10. "Deftones Premiere New Music Video, "Romantic Dreams" - Hard Rock & Heavy Metal News | Music Videos |Golden Gods Awards | revolvermag.com". www.revolvermag.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  11. "Shepard Fairey by Brett Novak – The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art". halsey.cofc.edu. Archived from the original on 2016-03-12. Retrieved 2016-03-12.
  12. "Power & Glory - Obey Giant". Obey Giant. Retrieved 2016-03-12.