The Path To Totality - I Made A Full Length Hi8 Video

[Watson]

Hi Pals, I just finished up a new video shot entirely on Hi8 over the last three years. I'm really stoked on how it turned out and figured I'd share.



The video itself is 27 minutes and then there's a 13 minute artsy fartsy non-skate montage at the end that is meant to be considered bonus footage at the end of a VHS tape. (I produced 25 VHS copies, 10 of which were coloured tapes.) So if you're some sort of philistine feel free to bounce on the artsy fartsy.

This video coincides with 30 years since I started skating and 25 years since I released my first ever skate video which was also shot on Hi8 so this is really a full circle project for me. I treated this as much of a visual arts project as it was a skate video.

Blah blah blah hope you like it. It's very much a local video so you probably won't know anyone in it but I think it's a good vid with good skating if you want to check it out.

[botefdunn]

raw street action. Nice job!

[lulz]

Very nice. Thank you!

[Plan9Customs]

Good watch. Thanks for sharing it.

[djoekr]

Good shit, made me wanna skate.

[Simple Magic]

Beautiful! Thank you for this.

[Watson]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you guys are liking it.

[GardenSkater77]

I have a HI8 but I could never achieve the color tones you were able to achieve. I always filmed at stock color settings and it looked best on sunny days.

Did you edit from HI8 to VHS like in the old days or did you upload the footage to a computer and edit on screen?

Either way, using HI8 in 2024 is pretty cool.

[Watson]

Oh man I actually considered doing tape to VHS editing, which is how I made my very first video but that shit is so fucking tedious and I wouldn't have been able to get the precision editing I wanted. I'm not THAT committed to the craft ahaha.

So yeah I captured all the clips to my computer and edited on there. Didn't do any colour correction or anything in post, or mess with any colour settings on the camera. Just adjusted the exposure. The colours did turn out really good though. I love how strong the contrast on Hi8 looks. I definitely prefer it over the VX as the best medium to capture skateboarding.

[BootsWithTheFerg]

Respect the effort and time you put into this but also I'm not some skateboard romantic shitcam nostalgic, so I will take my the l here and concedethat this is trash. Half the music sounds like it was ripped from a 80s porno. Again sick but just not my cup of tea I guess and also feel like a lot of people here just to afraid of the discourse and negs that's comes with admitting this is shit so I will be the one to do so. Less is more when it comes to this footy. Two decades of shit is still shit.

[Watson]

Hell yeah that's my favourite review yet.

[Gab]

So good, love the vibe and cutty spots. I watched it twice because I fell asleep the first time after smoking some Alaskan indica weed and the jazzy montage sent me. Rewatched with some coffee and got stoked. Wish I had friends

[botefdunn]

Respect the effort and time you put into this but also I'm not some skateboard romantic shitcam nostalgic, so I will take my the l here and concedethat this is trash. Half the music sounds like it was ripped from a 80s porno. Again sick but just not my cup of tea I guess and also feel like a lot of people here just to afraid of the discourse and negs that's comes with admitting this is shit so I will be the one to do so. Less is more when it comes to this footy. Two decades of shit is still shit.

hahah what kinda pornos you watching? post a vid fucboi

[IUTSM]

Hell yah, dude.

Some of this video got me really wanting to go skate. Homies big 5-0 on that green ledge near the beginning stuck w me.

Good werk

[bob george]

i was just having a quick scan through (haven't watched it at all yet) but i really, really, really, appreciated 'computer blue' being in there very much! great work.

[Watson]

Fuck yeah dude. I think that's Prince's number one freak song hiding in plain site. I've been a huge Prince fan since I was like 12 and Ian who's part I used that for is also a big Prince fan so I knew that I was going use that for him years in advance. The reason the video is on Vimeo is because you can't use Prince on YouTube. Wish the vid were on YouTube but was not willing to NOT use that song.

Respect to your avatar.

[bob george]

I was making a video a few years ago called 'Yes Lisa' (which was off to a great start but was never finished - just had to give everyone back their bits of footage to put on insta because no one could handle the time it would take to make an actual video...) and it opened with the whole;

Wendy?
Yes Lisa?
Is the water warm enough?
Yes Lisa.
Shall we begin?
Yes Lisa.

I was very hyped. Glad to see someone got the song to some skateboarding!

[funeral_tuxedo]

@Watson that was dope. The downhill nosestall/noseblunt 180 popout transfer and ride on front blunt were the standout skate clips to me. Was this all filmed up there in Saskatoon?

[Watson]

@bob george I was going to use the Wendy and Lisa part cut back and forth with shots of the river that ended up in the montage after his part but the last part had a clip cutting back and forth to the skater and I didn't want them to both start the same.

@funeral_tuxedo Thanks! Most of the footage is in Saskatoon. The first dude Ian Rowley with the tricks you liked, most of his footage (both those tricks) are in Edmonton where he lives. Besides that my friend Marco has some tricks in Edmonton and Calgary but the rest of it is all in Saskatoon.

[dilbert1]

If you didn’t like this edit, you will soon

[donkey]

What Hi8 camera(s) did you use for this? My first video was filmed on a Hi8 Sharp Viewcam but unfortunately the bugger does not work well anymore

[Watson]

There were actually four different camera in rotation for this video. Two regular Hi8, a PAL Hi8, and a Digital Hi8. All Sony. 

The primary camera used though was a Sony TRV-318. I tried pretty hard but couldn't pinpoint an exact release date for when this camera came out though.