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. [1]
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. [1]
Released in 1965, the short film Skaterdater is credited as the first film to depict skateboarding and therefore the first skate video. In 2015, The Berrics campaigned for the film's acceptance into the National Film Registry. [2] However, the Powell Peralta company is often credited as creating the first skate videos proper that were not a part of a fictional film or a documentary. Their first video, The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984), was expected to sell just 300 copies on VHS, but it sold 30,000. [3]
From the invention of the skate video genre in the 1980s till the early 2000s, skate videos were distributed via VHS tapes sold primarily at skate shops. [3] In the early 2000s skate videos transferred to DVDs along with the rest of the home video market. The advent of social media and new digital filmmaking tools such as Instagram and YouTube challenged skate video traditions, putting less emphasis on full videos and more emphasis on shorter clips. [4] The conventions and styles of skate videos continue to evolve and redefine themselves alongside the sport of skateboarding. [4] [5]
There is a variety of skate videos that are produced, from independent individual filmmakers to those commissioned by skateboard companies who use the video to promote the brand. [6] Additionally, small skate shops, magazines, websites, collectives, and independent skaters make skate videos for the love of skateboarding; as well as, promotional material. [5] [7]
411 Video Magazine was a popular bi-monthly video log published from the 1990s to the 2000s.
Film director Spike Jonze has shot several skate videos, including Blind's Video Days (1991) and Girl and Chocolate's Yeah Right! (2003). [8]
Throughout the late 2010s and into the 2020s, filmmaker William Strobeck has developed a style of producing skate videos which goes against traditional skate video conventions such as the use of fisheye lenses and sequential sectioned parts in favour of a more experimental approach. [9] [10] [11]
Many amateur skateboarders hold professional skate videos in high regard, and as authentic representations of skateboarding, and attempt to create their own videos. [6] Amateur and professional skateboarding videos are often shared via social media. [6]
In most skate videos, skaters show their skills in sections called video parts, but other formats and techniques, such as montages, are used, and new tricks are often demonstrated. [12] It is common to have the best highlight trick as the final trick in video parts, this is referred to as the ender.
Most videos feature "slam sections" of tricks that end up in failure and spectacular falls where the skateboarder is hurt. [13] [6] They are macabre yet popular because they serve as a reminder that skateboarding is a dangerous sport. [13] Another common feature is sections covering skateboarders off the board, covering their personalities. [6]
Although skate videos vary in aesthetic style and content, there are several common denominators. They are usually anything from half an hour to an hour long, feature skateboarders performing tricks in urban environments, and are edited to include song-length segments. Ultimately, producers try to promote their idea of skate style, achieved by montage and editing. [6]
One of the most common camera used to shoot skate videos in the late 90s and early 2000s was the Sony DCR-VX1000 which is still used today by some filmmakers. [14] [15] Often the videos are shot using a fisheye lens. [16] Skate videos are also notable for featuring music soundtracks of punk rock, alternative rock, or hip-hop music. [17]
Skateboarding is an action sport 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. Originating in the United States, 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.
Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him, published by Activision that same year. He retired from competing professionally in 2003 and is regarded as one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.
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. Mullen is 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 freestyle skating."
Robert Lance Mountain is an American professional skateboarder and artist who was one of the prominent skateboarders throughout the 1980s, primarily due to his involvement with the Bones Brigade. As of August 2017, Mountain continues to skate professionally and his sponsors include Flip, Nike SB, Independent Trucks, Spitfire Wheels, and Bones Bearings.
Jim Thiebaud is an American skateboarder.
Per Nils Welinder is a Swedish entrepreneur and former professional skateboarder. During the 1980s he achieved international fame as a freestyle skater and was a leading member of the Powell-Peralta skate team known as the "Bones Brigade". He had a number of influential video parts with Powell during the 1980s, a series of signature models, and roles in several Hollywood movies. Welinder also has the unique distinction of being the only person to have ever beaten Rodney Mullen in a professional skate contest.
Crailtap is a skateboarding distribution company based in Torrance, California, United States. The distribution company is home to Girl Skateboards, Chocolate Skateboards, Royal Skateboard Trucks, and Fourstar Clothing.
Yeah Right! is a 2003 skateboarding video by Girl Skateboards, directed by Ty Evans and Spike Jonze. Yeah Right! is notable for its soundtrack, length, and the extensive use of never-before-seen special effects. In his book Skateboard Video, Duncan McDuie-Ra considers Yeah Right! one of the four "finalists" of the skateboard video canon.
Lakai Limited Footwear is an American footwear company based in Torrance, California, that creates shoes designed for and inspired by skateboarding. Lakai was founded in 1999 by the professional skateboarders Mike Carroll and Rick Howard, who co-founded Girl Skateboards.
Zered Bassett is a regular-footed professional skateboarder, living and working in New York City.
The Sony DCR-VX1000 was a DV tape camcorder released by Sony in 1995. A VX1000 was used to film the British hidden camera show Trigger Happy TV. It was also used by many skateboarders in the late 90s and early 2000s and therefore is an important part in the history of skateboarding culture. The VX1000 was based on Sony's earlier VX1 (PAL) and VX3 (NTSC) Hi8 camcorders, which were similarly intended as "prosumer" models, targeted at both high-end consumer and low-end professional users. In the mid-1990s, Sony began to move away from Hi8 tape in favor of the emerging DV format, and as a result the VX3 and VX1 were discontinued in 1995. However, their iconic form factor, with a distinctively-shaped stereo microphone array at the front of the handle, was reused by the VX1000 and numerous later Sony DV and HDV camcorders in the VX, PD, FX and Z lines.
Ban This is a 1989 skateboarding documentary film featuring the Bones Brigade. It presents a commentary on how many people view skateboarders as delinquents or lawbreakers. The video starts with a scientist posing a question to the viewer, what is skateboarding? Then it cuts to a montage of the skaters in the video. As the video progresses it intercuts skits with the solo video parts of the skaters. These skits are meant to show how ludicrous people's reactions are to skateboarders in an area ridden with robbery, drugs, and prostitution. In one, a cop arrests a kid for skateboarding on the sidewalk. The skits also present the skaters in a "classy" scenario: Four skaters are in a parking lot dressed as golfers. They have caddies and golf bags with skateboards in them. The video is presented as a broadcast of a golf tournament with the quiet commentator marveling at the skill of the players. There are also interjections of a panel of people who oppose everything in the video. For example, they say, "That's not art," following a scene in which the skaters paint on a ramp. The video ends with a downhill scooter race. The skaters in the video battle with each other on their way to the finish. Lance Mountain is victorious and gets the prize and the girl. The video is known for the slow-motion sequences of Tony Hawk demonstrating some of the most difficult tricks and maneuvers of the time.
Tyshawn Jones is an American professional skateboarder, from New York. He is a two time Thrasher Skater of the Year winner.
Beatrice Domond is a regular-footed American skateboarder from Miami, Florida.
William Strobeck is an American filmmaker, director, videographer, and photographer based out of New York City. Strobeck directed the skate videos: cherry (2014), BLESSED (2018), CANDYLAND (2019), STALLION (2021) and PLAY DEAD (2022).
Pablo Ramirez was a regular-footed American skateboarder, artist, and musician from New York City, who lived and skated in San Francisco.
Neil Blender is an American former professional skateboarder, skate company owner, and artist. His pro career began during his senior year of high school in 1981. He is regular-footed. By 1986, Blender invented at least two tricks, the Wooly Mammoth and the Gay Twist.
Cher Strauberry is a goofy-footed American skateboarder and musician.
A hill bomb is a maneuver in skateboarding in which a rider rides down a big hill. The trick is noted for its particular danger and, sometimes, grace.
Andy Anderson is a Canadian professional skateboarder. Anderson is best known for his unique style, which blends classic tricks of the early decades of skateboarding with more modern techniques. Anderson is known for always wearing a protective helmet while skateboarding, which is extremely uncommon among professional street skateboarders. Anderson represented Canada in the men's park skateboarding event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.