The Supreme Court's Guide to Wakeskate Media

[tad]

Below is a brief guide to getting your feet wet in the media world of wakeskating. This is not a guide on how to do tricks, how to get sponsored, how to compose your shots or what mode to shoot in. This guide is for amateur photographers and videographers, so I'm going to automatically assume you know how your camera works. I do not represent the wakeskate mag or wakeskating.com, these are my own tips and opinions. Take em or leave em. You might get offended, you might disagree, or you might learn a thing or two. Im a sarcastic dickhead but in the end, I'm just trying to help. This is not a guidebook to make your videos or photos "correct." There are no absolutes, shoot however you want. Thanks for stopping by.

LL = Long lens

The opposite of fisheye. Use a tripod when shooting video, preferably one with a fluid head. This will prevent jerky pans. Always try to film with the sun at your back. The occasional silhouette sunset shot is ok, just make sure it's slowed down x4. Hopefully the rider throws up a wall of slash first too.


Fisheye

The most legit way to shoot wakeskating. If you're getting drenched, you're probably in the right spot. Keep your camera right above the splash zone. Beware of the winch line and rider's arms. I saw a rider punch a lens off a photographer's camera once and it went straight into the water.


Rule of Thirds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Most cameras have menu options to turn this feature on and off. This is because you don't always have to shoot according to this rule. With stills, when you're setting up your shot, think about the final output. If you're trying to shoot for a full page, you might want to shoot vertical. If you're shooting for a spread in a mag, make sure the rider doesn't fall directly on the gutter. (The middle of the mag) When shooting video, you have a little more freedom because you don't have to worry about the gutter.


Water Housings

Almost always a waste of money. If your housing is getting drenched, you probably can't see what the trick is anyway. (Refer to Fisheye above) There are cheaper alternatives. (Bags)


GoPros

Helmet Cam or GoHome.


Reusing Music from previous video parts

No. (The Dubstep genre counts as one song)


Audio

Leaving the audio on your clips makes them twice as legit. But it's up to you. Everyone loves the sound of a winch and the raw crunch of a skate hitting a concrete ledge. Just make sure to adjust your levels, don't let them overpower the music. Fade out the audio of your video, abrupt endings are annoying. It takes 2 seconds to put an audio transition on your clips.


Wake Babes

Yes.


ABD = Already Been Done.

This term is thrown around a lot when at a spot filming for a video or shooting a photo for a magazine. It implies that you shouldn't repeat any tricks that have already been done at said spot. It's also poor etiquette to "one up" someone you're winching with. Don't add on a 180 or an extra shuv to a trick that your homie just did.


Repeat Tricks

There is no reason to put 5 different flats 3 shuvs in a video part. Pick your best one and cut the rest.


Direct your shots

If shooting photos or filming a video part, let the rider know if a trick needs to be done over again. Take the extra 5 minutes to do it good, it will be worth it in the long run. Work together.


Photo Bombers

Don't let goombas ruin your shot. If people are just standing there serving no purpose to the shot, ask them to move. If someone else is filming or shooting photos, try to work with each other. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but it doesn't hurt to ask.


Slow Motion

Use sparingly. If your video has more slow mo than regular footage, it's probably too much slow mo. The human attention span is miniscule. People have places to be, get it over with. Using a ton of slow mo doesn't make your video artsy, it makes it a cliche time waster.


Ramped Slow Mo

Inspired by skateboarding videos. Gradually slowing down a specific part of the trick instead of slowing down the whole clip. This keeps the video moving but still allows the editor to break down sick tricks so the viewer can fully appreciate the mayhem. There are tutorials everywhere.


Compression

https://vimeo.com/help/compression


Sketch City

It's now in the rules of The Wakeskate Tour and it should be in the "rules" for media. Clean your sh*t up or send it in to Ridiculousness.


Fictional Photos

If the rider did NOT land the trick, do NOT submit the photo to the magazines. There's a certain wakeboarding mag that I will not name that has a past of running COVERS of tricks that weren't landed. Just... No.


The Butt Shot

Usually frowned upon. Choose your camera angle wisely. The rider's face shows much more emotion than their butt crack.


The Spray

This is something that makes wakeskating so unique and difficult to shoot. Skateboarders will never have this problem. Some tricks throw up more spray than others. Each trick sprays in a different direction. Pick a camera angle where the board is most visible. If you can't see the board, the viewer won't know what trick they are doing. After each shot, I review the clips frame by frame to analyze the spray and move my camera accordingly. Same goes for photos.


The Opener

Refers to the first trick in a video part. Open up with a trick that gets the viewers attention. Try not to make them wait too long to see it though. Waiting 90 seconds to see the first trick is like waiting for a plane to board.


The Ender

Refers to the last trick in a video part. Save your best clip for the last shot, keep the viewer wanting more. Don't end with 30 seconds of lifestyle footage of the rider taking off his life jacket. Every time that happens I think there is going to be a sick banger at the end and the video just stops and I had wished I would have just started a different video with those 30 seconds of my life.


Dialable

Dialing in a new trick before attempting to get it on video.


WWSTD?

What would Shred-Town Do? Typical thought process when I roll up to a spot.


PEC

Party Edit Crew, they party harder than you do.


PAVT

People against vest tans. We're still out there.


Billy Beamin'

If you want everyone to think you're a douche bag, just beam the camera down every time you land a trick.


Name dropping

Makes you look like an idiot. Be humble.


Less is More

My personal outlook on wakeskating videos. Over editing=overkill. Every DSLR out there films 60fps these days, that doesn't mean your whole video needs to be in slow motion. Start the clip at the right spot. Don't have 15 seconds of the rider getting pulled up and cruising to the gap. Trim your clips and keep it tight. (I usually film a good bit of the landing to get homie reactions, high 5's, etc.)


Selling Out

Do I really need to explain this? Skate or die.


Social Media

I've had this situation come across me twice in the past month. Dudes went out and got a bunch of sick winching photos and decided to submit them to the mag after already posting a similar shot on instagram from the same set. No one is going to run your stuff if you're posting it all over the internet. 1,000's of copies of your photo in the mag > 200 people on Instagram.


Submitting your Work

You just worked your ass off on this project, getting to the winch spots, spending countless hours filming, shooting photos, getting kicked out, long nights behind the computer. Submit your f'ing work. The worst that's going to happen is they will say no and tell you to keep practicing. The best that will happen is your work will be seen by the masses. Facebook is garbage and not everyone is on it. Be a part of something, help the cause. You might even get a job out of it, doing something you love.

The Sub was so successful because everything was original and exclusive to the Sub. It was fresh. It wasn't a wakeboarding blog trying to half-ass it's way into wakeskating. We actually wakeskate and care about wakeskating. The media wants to see new faces. Submit your sh*t. Get your name out there.


Having Fun

Not important.

[Randomhero14]

School these fools Tad hahaha

[jdarr]

[Travis B]

Wake Babes

Yes.

[Raven]

a
grand
gesture
navigator

keep
the
lighthouse
burning

[lhsxc22]

easy bubs.

[tad]

lhsxc22, I'm not your bubs, guy.

[overstreet31]

Awesome! Full of great advice for interested and beginning filmers to soak in and apply to their technique and bag. Thanks Tad! Hopefully you just increased the amount of "good" wakeskating videos that will pop up on the various sites we have these days.

[POPTART]

tad, WWSTD= wakeboard on a free 2.0 and stop winching




Do a real tutorial on settings, exposure, compression, fps, and stuff.

[Jake S]

I will always remember a funny article like this that ran in TW Snow a few years back.

I would add: Don't feel the need to fill the WHOLE song up with your footage. Use the good footage you have and if it fills less time than the song you've chosen it's ok to fade the song down. It is best if you can chop the middle out of a song to make it fit your footage. The ending of a song paired with a banging ender can have a big impact on the audience and it will cement that rider/trick into their brains. You'd be surprised how easy it is to cut songs in half without the audience knowing you've tailored it for your edit.

Tad, as far as already been done songs, "Status Quo - Pictures of Matchstick Men" doesn't count because it was in a major snowboard movie right? Different sport makes it ok??

my .02 or whatever

[tad]

I've lived in Florida for 27 years, how many times do you think I've strapped into a snowboard?

[And Drew]

this guide is pretty Dialable. preciate it

[the other luke]

this just might be the greatest thing that i've ever seen on here. thank you tad,

[tad]

Thanks dudes, I added some goodies tonight.

[bmr712]

[the other luke]

is it just me, or does anyone else think tad a supreme bad ass?

[scott a]

[jake .R.]

the other luke, I do. Thanks for this

[tad]

scott a, You're OG status, there has to be something you'd like to add or teach me.

[scott a]

I doubt there's anything that I could teach you at this point, Tad.

One thing that I would like to add for those building up their kit is that I would absolutely avoid buying a camera bag that looks like a camera bag. Because if it looks like a camera bag a thief is going to grab it pretty much every time. Anecdotal evidence (because it's right every time!)- my mom's bag is a Tamrac bag that looks like a camera bag, and someone saw it in the back seat of the suburban and busted the window out and stole it. $4K worth of gear gone, not counting the broken window repair. I've used a Dakine Sequence bag for quite a few years now, and since it looks like a backpack (much less exciting) I think it's FAR less likely to walk off if I leave it sitting out somewhere.

Also, if you need a hard case get a Pelican.