Here's some bonus footie from the latest release from Nike, Debacle. Check out Justin Brock and the Check Crew getting their rip on.

Sean Kilgus is one of wakeboardings top videographers and is still changing the way things are done in the industry. Working with the sports top athletes Kilgus is able to produce some of the most influential videos of their time. His latest film DRIVE rivaled most films in quality and cinematography. Kilgus is currently filming a new video with Danny Harf and friends. The video will be documenting the progression of Danny Harf and Friends over the next year. Check out his website for a ton of videos and more info!

Sean Kilgus Interview

PW: Seems like you have been around the sport of wakeboarding forever with a camera in hand? How did you get started shooting?

SK:Haha...It does seem like forever sometimes. I actually started filming in college with some buddies of mine. We were heavy into our snowboarding and rode at a really cool mountain back home called Mt. Baker. There were a lot of good riders and we just wanted to document our riding at the time. We were always building booters and hiking out of bounds. I actually just found a bunch of my old DV tapes from around 2000-2004 of just old snow stuff. Every year after snowboarding was done, I was super excited to wakeboard and I just started meeting people locally like the The Ennen brothers and Danny Bergman up in Bellingham, Wa. The first rider I filmed was Brent Starr. He was the best rider around where I grew up and he was my hero back in the day. It was cool getting to work with him throughout the years in all my videos coming up.

PW: Working with the top athletes in the sport must really help the overall creative process. What’s it been like working with the legends of the sport?

SK:It has definitely been a great experience to work with riders like Danny Harf and others top notch riders like Rusty and Randall. Each one of these athletes has taught me a lot about what is important in their riding styles and have supported my creative growth throughout the years. I have always felt that the cast of riders in my films really shows how I perceive wakeboarding to be. Riders like Benny G and Randall can blow your mind one day and you feel like you just saw history in the making. The next day you go film double ups with Rusty and Danny and you just saw something totally different but just as awesome. I have also been humbled by the same riders and learned a lot about professionalism in this industry. I appreciate the athletes and all that they bring to my projects.

PW: You have shot a ton of videos. What's your most memorable one?

SK:I would say that The Butter Effect has always be the one that is the most memorable. That was the first time I learned how to shoot 16mm film. Gotta give Justin Stephen’s credit for helping learn in the beginning. Talk about patient. Haha. Justin is my hero. At the time of shooting BE, I was really trying to push myself and show the best riding at the time. I know that is the goal with every movie, but that was the first time that I got an opportunity to really push it creatively with the riders. They all got really involved and supported that movie. The Magazines did too. That was the most coverage for a movie I had ever received yet in my career.

PW: Can you tell us about your new DEFY movie based around Danny Harf and Friends?

SK:Danny and I have been kicking around the idea of doing a movie for a number of years. Being a caliber of rider like Danny, he always has a lot of very important projects and responsibilities to uphold every year. So we wanted to wait until we could truly focus and get the movie done right. The Teaser we released this summer was the first step. It turned out really good and I know Danny was pumped to follow through and see where we could take this project. The movie is based solely on progression of wakeboarding. Since Danny is such an innovator, his direction is endless. We basically just want to make a great film that best shows where he is at as a rider and where he sees wakeboarding today. That is why we have the “and Friends” to add to this progression. Our cast is growing and will include; Rusty Malinoski, Benny G, Kevin Henshaw, Shawn Watson, Shane and Parks, all the boys in Ronix for Radar session, the Fox team, and more. I don’t want to give away too much, but Danny and boys have by far surpassed expectations from last year already. Very exciting to see these riders influencing each other every time we film.

PW: You've used the film camera alot compared to most guys shooting everything digital. What makes you want to spend all the extra time, money, and hours working with film?

SK:Ya. That one. Well, its tough these days to justify the expense. When I started filming, I always gauged my abilities and accomplishments off of the great filmmakers before me like Ronn from Sidewayz, Justin Stephens of course, and for sure off of snowboarding films. These guys pushed it made me want to learn how to shoot film so I could earn their respect coming up. I think that it is a necessary skill to learn. You truly learn a lot more about what it takes to get a shot and why you need to think things through before you go the next set. Nowadays it’s not so important to shoot film it seems like. With so many new adapters and cameras out there. I am glad to know that when the time comes to shoot film this year, I know we can get what we are hoping to get.

PW: Your mostly known for shooting wakeboarding. What else have you pointed a camera at?

SK:Snowboarding was my first experience shooting and then into wakeboarding full time. For the past few years I have shot the whole Nautique boats product line and produced their webisodes and product DVD with Ryan Wolfe. I have always produced a ton of product videos for Hyperlite, Ronix, and some work for Body Glove. That has truly been a good eye opener for me as far as expectations and professionalism. I have shot a few local commercials and a lot of product based stuff. Oh ya. Some weddings. That’s the goods…haha

PW: You have any tips for a videographer who is trying to get into shooting action sports?

SK:The best advice I can give is to love what you do. You will always run into road blocks through every step of the way. It’s your ability to move past these tough spots and focus on why you are doing this stuff in the first place. I have a time every year that I call the dark month, where I am just burnt out and need a break and that is exactly what I have to do is go take a break. I find you can come back and have a clear and fresh perspective afterwards.

PW: Where can people see your recent work and keep updated on your progress with DEFY?

SK:I have been putting tons of new stuff on my website.www.bfyproductions.com We have a ton of behind the scenes stuff and teasers. Follow us on Twitter under bfyproductions.com and on Facebook under Sean Kilgus. Also find us on Wakeboarding magazines website and in the issues.

Thanks!

Sean Kilgus

Last night, we gathered to celebrate the future of surfing. In the heart of HipsterWood CA, most people who attended would have been told to go home and put on more appropriate attire. instead, Le Deux nightclub was bombarded by flannel, sandals, tight jeans, and beanies for a night
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To be more exact, we were there for the primeire of Modern Collective, the newest film by Kai Neville featuring 6 young high performance surfers, Dane Reynolds, Dion Agius, Yadin Nicol, Mitch Coleborn, Dusty Payne and Jordy Smith. This movie is about focusing on state of the art, high performance surfing. It wasn't about perfect hollow barrels and long drawn out point breaks, it was more about pushing the limits on a surfboard.

The greatest thing about this movie was the way in which Kai Neville captured the essence of each of the surfers individuality in the film. It's pretty fair to say these guys each have their own "Uniqueness" about them, which is why the movie was so appealing. This movie was more of an Art Piece than your standard Surf Porn film, the cinematography is going to set a new standard. After the movie I wasn't sure what i was more impressed with, the lifestyle parts or the Surfing?

Speaking of the Surfing, there was plenty of stuff that will make you want to go back and watch it over and over. All of these guy's charge, especially Jordy, he had some air that seemed impossible, especially for a guy his size...




Kai also did something original for this film, they posted on the modern collective blog the ability for people to submit music they think should be in the film. Not sure how many songs they pulled from that, but the music was quality and fit the feel of the film perfectly. The sound of the movie was so important, Skull Candy gave out wireless head phones as you walked in the door to make damn sure you heard the movie...

The way too fancy club actually turned out to be a great place for the premiere, it definitely fit the hipster vibe of flannels and tight pants. In fact I think there were more flannels than women, but it was a great night, all the surfers, especially the Australians enjoyed themselves.

Make sure you get Modern Collective, it comes out next Tuesday...










Check out some VIntage Polaroids by J Fry who actually brought a Polaroid to the Party...

Devin Appelo will have a part in Thrasher's newest video, Prevent This Tragedy. To give you a little taste of what to expect they released a little teaser of his "almosts" and "not so almosts." Check it out kiddies, you got to pay to play:

Here's a damn video, of a bunch damn ams, killing it at Volcom's damn HQ, on a course provided by the damn SPot crew. Sit back, grab a damn refreshment, get as comfortable as you damn well can, and watch the damn footage.

Jamie Thomas and the crew over at Black Box announced the premier dates of the new Zero movie Strange World, including the world premier which will be at 7:00 p.m. this Thursday night at the La Polma Theater in Encinitas, CA. If we've learned anything from the past it's that Zero does not disappoint when it comes to videos, which include classics like: Thrill Of It All, Misled Youth and Dying To Live.

The current team roster over at Black Box's original deck company looks pretty stacked. Names like: Thomas, Cervantes, Sandoval, Tancowny, Steamer, Brockman, Rattray, Sauder, Meleshinski, Hill and Gilley garantee the movie is going to be evil. I feel like I'm forgetting someone. Oh yeah, some guy with the last name of Cole. I think he's won a few contests this year.

After the world premier, the next showing will be on Halloween at Reign Skate Shop in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, followed by a showing at Southside Skatepark in Houston, TX on November 7.

To hold you over here's a little footage of Ben Gilley set on destruction courtesy of Zero:

Warren Miller (left) with Level 1 Productions Owner and Operator Josh Berman

Adidas has been quietly putting together a rad skate team for a few years now. Check them out as they cruise through the City of Light and get their baguette on. This reminds me of a quote from an American literary legend, Mark Twain. He said in his 1878-79 journal, "A Frenchmen's home is where another man's wife is." Mr. Twain was known to be a bit of a bigot toward toward people hailing from France. Now, I'm French and I don't see that one as a put down. If anything that's a put down to the other man who couldn't please his wife.

Anyway, here's a video of the Adidas skate team's 10 day trip through Paris:

If you have been paying attention to GrindTV during the past two years, you have undoubtedly seen a glimpse of the magic from Stuck In Ohio. With their vintage Ice Cream Cone logo, imaginative shot composition, and creative use of the family farm, these two brothers from a tiny town in Ohio have given us such classics as Ohio Farm Shred and Easter in Ohio.

It's about time we sat down with the creative minds behind Stuck In Ohio and answer one very important question, are they really that talented or really just that bored?

GTV Nate-How did Stuck In Ohio come about, what's the back story on SIO productions?
Stuck In Ohio-My older brother Ken and I, are from a small town in Northeast Ohio which doesn't bode well for one particular sport because the season's aren't very long or cooperative. Our parents had us snowskiing and waterskiing since before we could remember, so we were used to running around and getting out and having fun outdoors. Then we started skating in the mid 90's and that kinda transformed us. From then on we pretty much ditched the ski's and started to shred, boarding all year round. Snowboarding in the winter and wakeboarding in the summer, and skating year round whenever we could. Then one winter when I was in middle school I saved up all my Christmas cash and bought a little handycam. From then on we just started filming everything. Then one winter (think it was like '01 or '02) it snowed every weekend and ironically stayed all winter, which usually wasn't the case. Our dad didn't want to drive the 3+ hours to the hill in the crap so he hooked one of our waterski ropes up to one of our snowmobiles and pulled us around the yard for hours. We got a big yard so we made a bunch of little kickers and would hit em for hours and film each other getting broke trying to learn how to spin and flip, straight first timer stuff. As far as tricks go, we didn't learn much that winter, but I guess it kinda made us tougher, because the next Winter was the first one Ken was allowed to drive to the hill, so we went all the time and just chucked off the park jumps because we were used to landing on our heads I guess. We filmed a bunch that winter, at home and at the parks, and ended up cutting it up into a 10 minute flick. We called it Stuck In Ohio because the first section was to a track called "Stuck In America" by Sugarcult. We played it at a family Christmas gathering the next year and everyone loved it. We have a big extended family and everyone wanted a copy. I remember it so well, it was on VHS and it sucked, we had to dub all the copies. We must have dubbed at least 200 VHS copies for our family and friends and they showed everyone. We kept riding and gradually got better, so we started to hit more street stuff. It got to the point where we'd be hitting a street spot and kids would come up to us and say "are you those Stuck In Ohio guys from that video". So that's kinda who we were known as. Then we started using our improving camera skills to do random film jobs to get extra cash for camera gear and needed a name. Stuck In Ohio productions was pretty much a no brainer because that's who we were known as, and it pretty much summed up our situation/mindset. We never meant it to be derogatory towards Ohio (though some older folks take it that way), we always said that we're stuck in ohio and loving it. Pretty much just making the most out of our situation.

GTV Nate-Where is the family farm located in Ohio?
SIO-We are based in Vienna, Ohio. For some reason the locals here pronounce it "Vie-enna", not the conventional Vee-enna. It's 5 minutes from the PA border, halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Our house is on the corner of our grandparents' farm, so we got plenty of room to do whatever.

GTV Nate-Where did you guys develop your crazy eye for filmmaking?
SIO-Well, everyone is pretty much a product of their environment, and the same goes for us. We unfortunately didn't grow up near any major mountain ranges, oceans, or desirable climates. But we were fortunate enough to grow up somewhere that had a little bit of all of those. Being based where we are, it allowed us to be involved in a bunch of different things. As any kids growing up in action sports, we were video junkies. How else would we know what the cool tricks were. And every sport kind of has its own video style. In some sports you have to be up close and personal, while in others you have to be a far away to see the action. Some you're posted up just waiting, and others you're on the move. Whether we're hanging out of a convertible on the freeway, or posted up on hill surrounded in poison ivy, kinda just do what we gotta do to get the "shot". We like to take each style of filming and use it in a different aspect that tries to give the viewer a perspective they might not have seen before. There's only so many tricks you can do on a board, the challenge we welcome as filmmakers is to film those tricks in ways many haven't seen before.

GTV Nate-Are you guys really that bored or really that creative with a lot of the various clips and random hits and jumps in your films?
SIO-To be honest, it started out as pure boredom. For example, back in the day we used to use our dog's doghouse as a kicker because it was less snow we'd have to shovel. We used to think it was kinda hokey, but as we progressed we started to realize how unique our situation was, and how our stuff looked different even though it was essentially the same as what others were doing. We're at the point now where we don't stress too much about traveling far and wide for new street spots or a certain types of hits, we'll just drive around town with a trailer full of snow or plywood, put in a couple man hours of labor, add a few brain cells, and usually come away with something a little different that hasn't been seen before.




GTV Nate-How Long did it take to produce Long Weekend and tell us the back story about the movie?
SIO-Long Weekend took about two years to film. It was a lot of work, and we went through a lot making the film. We wanted to do something that really showcases our region, and it only made sense to make an action sports film of multiple sports because there's something for us to do for every season. It's kind of hard to film a full snow part in Ohio in a year because the winters are so short, same goes with the other sports. What triggered the name Long Weekend was the fact that my brother and I work other 9-5 jobs during the week, so all of our shoots and filming was done on the weekends. It was pretty much every weekend we could (weather permitting), we were in the snow, on the water, or running the streets trying to get the best shots we could. A typical "long weekend" involved us somehow getting out of work early on Friday, packing our minivan to the roof with boards and camera gear. Then setting sail to wherever to the conditions were good and coming back late Sunday night dead as a doornail. The biggest challenge was coordinating our schedule and our rider's to coincide with the weather. Stuff was always getting pushed back, or moved up depending on what mother nature was giving us. It was a crazy process, and there's always stuff we wish would've gone a little differently, but in the end it all worked out and we came away with some good memories and sweet flick (in our eye's anyways).

GTV Nate-What's next for you guys, what's in the pipeline at SIO?
SIO-We were thinking about doing a mini movie, maybe about 15-20min long, and releasing it as a digital download. Everything's going to digital downloads now, so why waste money on packaging when you can release it digitally, and still watch the same thing. With the success of LW, a lot of people are coming to us with interesting projects outside of the action sports realm. Recently we've been a part of music videos, nature shows, and movie documentaries because people have either seen, or heard about LW and its production quality. Working on these projects is different than we're used to, it's a lot more set up and formal as far as filming goes, but to grow in this movie game you gotta be as well versed as possible, so we welcome all of it. In the end, no matter what we do, or where we go, we'll always be Midwestern farm boys having fun doing everything.

Your friends at Volcom give you a little glimpse of what it's like to go to the biggest skate premier of the year. Check it out: