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Am I the only one who finds some of Jacob Harris's work a little vapid? I've been a fan of the atlantic drift videos and some of the other projects he's put out but he seems to focus a little bit too much on b-roll and aesthetics and gets lost in the sauce. He definitely isn't the only filmer who's guilty of this and I don't think it takes away from the skating too much, but it's just something to think about.
I like some of his editing choices. Like the quick montage of Shay's bails on the ender. What I don't like is him dressing up dudes in silly props. For some reasons, theatrical shit doesn't sit right in skate videos for me. I already hated it in the In Search of the Miraculous video, but in this one it looks even more out of place.
I love harris’ edits usually but I have to agree the props and costumes took me out of the skating. It’s funny how a lot of skate filmers who fancy themselves “filmmakers” don’t use their b roll cinematically, it’s not usually added to create a narrative that relates to the act or experience of skating.
Take Carter or strobeck. Old alien videos work because they cull from the experience of skating. All the random shots of the Midwest/nature are things that you see while skating. It’s using aesthetics that exist in all our minds and incorporating them to create an experience. While you’re skating your eyes are always flickering around your surroundings to find spots. The b roll reminds me of that experience.
Similar to strobeck. While his style may be frustrating at times in terms of showing the trick it resembles how we look at skating on the sesh. I find myself generally looking at the board or the feet during a trick in real time and the face after. It can be hard to keep track of everything in the moment and I feel like at his best he captures that beautifully.
Maybe I’m not making sense but I guess I’m saying that I appreciate when videos are artistic by creating a visual vocabulary that connects to the experience of skating instead of the filmers random ideas that they’re just applying to a skate video to fill time.