Saturday 18th December 2010.
Den som lever får se is a thirty minute long collection of skaters doing what skaters do best, all set to an eclectic soundtrack (The Doors, Dr Octagon, Springsteen and best of all Sweden's very own Top Hawk). Now I've only ever seen skaters with my own eyes or on YouTube, I've never had the chance to sit down and watch any of their 'films'. So it was cool to watch something with fresh virgin eyes for once. This compilation is split into segments for each of the main skaters, with each person getting about five minutes screen time to wow us. And wow us they do. All sorts of maneuvers that would make a physics teacher scratch their head in wonder, are achieved with what looks like ease.
So what did I glean from watching it? Well there were a few things, first twenty minutes is probably a better running time than thirty, since I noticed my attention started to drift around the twenty minute mark. Secondly the camera work is fantastic. Think about it, these aren't trained cameramen, yet they are able to follow someone moving at speed, zipping about all over the place without them ever being anything but in the center of the frame. All of this whilst skating along beside them, and never editing, it's always one long continuous take. I mean come on, that alone is Oscar worthy isn't it? The third thing I noticed that I think works really well, is the idea of showing a trick being tried again and again until it works. I think this gives the non skater an idea of just how bloody hard it is to do what these people make look so easy. That and just how determined they are to achieve what they set out to do. Does that sound like the slacker generation? I think not. Besides if I fell off my deck head first down some steps, there is no way in hell I would climb back on it and make that jump. Nope, I'd walk home thinking about what I should watch when I got in instead.
Skateboarders seem to be lumped in with that other group of society's most hated - graffiti artists. Now for me both groups have a fair bit in common, and I can say this having been part of both in my teens. I was a useless skateboarder though, almost killing myself skating down Bread & Cheese hill in the wee hours one morning. It felt like I was going at 1,000 miles per hour, until I hit something and went arse over tit into some trees. My deck is in the basement now, and that's where it belongs as far as I'm concerned. Graffiti was much more my bag, and before music and films took over my life it was this that filled the void. To get back to my analogy though, both sets of people are demonized for doing nothing more than transforming what no one else wants into something wonderful. So an old car park to the average person is just that, but to a skater it's a way to while away the hours. Still maybe they should be nicking cars and leaving the burnt out husks just around the corner from where you live.
Anyway to sum up I thought this was great, it managed to capture the energy, excitement, determination and above all enjoyment that makes skateboarders do what they do week in, week out. Roll on part 2.
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