Good surfers in real world conditions. Any decent surfer can look good riding perfect waves - I wanna see how good surfers use everyday conditions to ride at a high level. Small, onshore, short period, anything. Milking the wave for speed etc.
When you show some superhero surfing, show a normal punter as well for comparison. I didn’t realize how fast Kelly moves untill I saw a video of him riding next to a normal guy. Mind blowing difference.
Balance of aerials and carving. I enjoy both Ozzie Right and T. Knox.
Equipment focus. Who rides what, in what kind if waves? Any kind of shape, not only hpsb.
Varying soundtrack. Two minutes of punk can be good, fifty is headache. Mix it up, tons of good music out there. Choose according to editing/surfing style. Jazz & chill out electro works best for me.
One of my main beefs with most surf flicks, going back to the 70s. I usually watch them with the sound off. Even films like 5 Summer Stories, because I can’t stand the music. My favorite soundtrack of all time is Barefoot Adventure. Things sorta went downhill ever since.
real shaky, you tube format would probably be best for me. My congeniality is on the low end of the scale, and I’ve paid to have video of me taken before for surf training when I used to compete, and I’m unimpressed with my skills. Now, I could recruit some really good looking young women that surf well, but naah, forget it, my wife wouldn’t go with that.
I just picked up surfing a few months ago and I really like it when videos show the guy/girl catch the wave, so I can steal surfing lessons from youtube.
There was some talk about age being a factor earlier in the thread and I have to say as a 26yo, I still preffer seeing the wave from start to finish, starting wide on the takeoff, to see how the wave sets up, and bringing it in to see the surfers posture and position. Seeing down the line helps to see what they do when the wave sets up different ways. New TVs have wide screens… lets use it! I watch surf movies more for technique ideas than inspiration. It’s cool to see the odd massive trick, but I know they tried throwing it 45 times before they got that shot. Jamie O’brien is very impressive but I can watch Tom Curren longer. When I talk to friends who rip, they always tell me to work on smoothing out my takeoff, like Rob Machado. Thats where you start getting speed. Seeing him with the speed is cool, seeing how he got the speed is better.
As for soundtracks, I enjoy Jack Johnsons soundtracks more than Taylor Steel’s, but I would rather watch September Sessions with the Rob and Kelly comentary on, to hear about the conditions and approach on waves. That insight gives me something to work with and keeps me replaying the videio instead of two views before giving it to a friend. Bruce Brown had skits and travel, but he also talked about the waves.
There was some talk about age being a factor earlier in the thread and I have to say as a 26yo, I still preffer seeing the wave from start to finish, starting wide on the takeoff, to see how the wave sets up, and bringing it in to see the surfers posture and position. Seeing down the line helps to see what they do when the wave sets up different ways. New TVs have wide screens… lets use it! I watch surf movies more for technique ideas than inspiration. It’s cool to see the odd massive trick, but I know they tried throwing it 45 times before they got that shot. Jamie O’brien is very impressive but I can watch Tom Curren longer. When I talk to friends who rip, they always tell me to work on smoothing out my takeoff, like Rob Machado. Thats where you start getting speed. Seeing him with the speed is cool, seeing how he got the speed is better.
As for soundtracks, I enjoy Jack Johnsons soundtracks more than Taylor Steel’s, but I would rather watch September Sessions with the Rob and Kelly comentary on, to hear about the conditions and approach on waves. That insight gives me something to work with and keeps me replaying the videio instead of two views before giving it to a friend. Bruce Brown had skits and travel, but he also talked about the waves.
IMO a successful surf film is like any successful film; it uses images, sound, and editing to tell a story. I really dug this part of The Fall Line which got linked to recently here (the first couple of minutes):