CONTRIBUTORS

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 12:36pm PDT

Spike Jonze

By: Tom Morin

Since GrindTV recently debuted it's FILMpage, which will dive deeper into the world of skate videos. Who's behind them? Required Viewing? What's Next? And so on. I thought it is only fitting that the first piece I write with my full focus on "film," should be about the most talented person in skate cinema, Spike Jonze.

Jonze has not only been behind some of the best skate videos ever made. Come on, Mouse and Yeah Right!, enough said. He's also a respected cinematic producer in the world of music videos, and movies. He's currently about to celebrate the major motion picture release of a project he's been working on for almost a decade now. Where the Wild Things Are is a children's book by Maurice Sendak, that will be brought to life on the big screen. To coincide with the release Crailtap, the distribution company that slings Girl skateboards, a brand Jonze is part owner of, ran a contest on their site that challenged people to send their images, GIFs, videos, drawings, etc., that could use some "wilding up." Basically, the most creative use of one of the Wilds Things, a monster-like character in the movie, in a work of art wins. The winning entry by Darryl Collins, was a clip of Chris Cole from Thrahsermagazine's recent Wallenberg skate contest, but Collins removed Cole and inserted a Wild Thing doing a flip and landing on Cole's board. Seen below.



On to his impact in music. The recording artists Jonze has produced videos for are a who's who list of popular, and not so popular music. He's worked with major stars like: Kanye West, Weezer, Notorious B.I.G., Bjork, The Beastie Boys, Daft Punk, Puff Daddy, Beck and Sean Lennon (John Lennon's son). As well as underground sensations like: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mike Watt, Pharcyde, Dinosaur Jr. and M.C. 900 ft. Jesus. He has been behind some of the most memorable music videos of the past decade-and-a-half, like Pharcyde's "Drop," where he used a very tediously talented backwards filming technique. Some other notable videos are Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You," and "Weapon of Choice" featuring Christopher Walken. You know what there's just too many to name, there's the "Buddy Holly" video for Weezer, and the one where the guy mails himself, just go check out his box set.

That brings us to why Jonze is relevant to the GrindTV FILM page, skateboarding. Not only is he part owner of one of the biggest skateboard companies in the world. He has been behind some of the best skate videos ever made. All of his skate flicks are required viewing by anyone who considers themselves a street skateboarder. Girl Skateboard's Mouse is one of the most influential skate video of all time, and it's follow up Yeah Right! changed how skateboard videos are filmed. Jonze has just brought a level of film production to skate cinema that as has never been seen before. Some other videos he's been behind are BLiND's Blind Days, Chocolate's Hot Chocolate! and Krooked's The Krooked Chronicles.

Wait, you thought you were going to get through this article without any mention of Fully Flared. Impossible. Spike Jonze produced the most technically advanced, and most talked about skate video of all time with the release of Lakia's Fully Flared. The cinematic masterpiece he, Ty Evans and Cory Weinchequecreated was breathtaking.Not to mention, because of their parts in this video alone, Marc Johnson won Thrasher's Skater of the Year, and Guy Mariano won three Globes at the Transworld SKATEboarding Awards. As far as production talent and skateboarding talent goes, this video has yet to be equaled. Although, there is a Chocolate video in the works, and I'm pretty sure Spike has something to do with it. Check out the Fully Flared trailer below.



So there you go. My first entry dedicated entirely to the GrindTV FILM section. If you didn't already know, I hope it enlightened you as to how influential Spike Jonze has been to skateboarding. And I thought it would be impossible to start with anyone else. Stay tuned for more from the world of skateboard film.

Channels: Skate, Film

Tags: None