If your crew's Chosen campaign is in need of a muse -- or if you simply want to watch rad surfing laced with creativity, camaraderie and progression -- then here's a list of study materials to get you started: 8 iconic surf crews as immortalized in these classic films. Watch, learn, and remember: talent imitates, genius steals.

(Creativity/Camaraderie/Progression rated on a 10-point scale)

Drive Thru Europe

Crew: Pat O'Connell, Kelly Slater, Benji Weatherley, Rizal Tanjung, Ry Craike

Story: As with all the Drive Thru films, there's an RV stuffed with buddies and surf craft roaming some foreign land after waves and hysterics. This time it's Europe, and the juxtaposition of Old World class with the Drive Thru crew's lack thereof makes for quality entertainment.

Creativity: 6
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: Drive Thru South Africa, Drive Thru New Zealand, Drive Thru South/Central America


Stoked and Broke

Crew: Cyrus Sutton, Ryan Burch

Story: Two laid-back friends from Encinitas, CA embark on a local surf trip south along the coast. The caveat: they have no money and no wheels. They get by on the kindness of strangers, their own ingenuity (and bare feet), and perpetually positive attitudes about everything. And they rip, on any piece of equipment imaginable.

Creativity: 7
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 6

See Also: The Present, Sprout, Riding Waves


Shelter

Crew: Taylor Steele, the Malloys, Rob Machado, Joel Tudor and many more

Story: An old farmhouse in Australia becomes the crew's adopted home for two months of surfing, exploring, making music and crafting this film. Friends and heroes drop by to add layers and stories: Nat Young, Mick Fanning, Taylor Knox, Kelly Slater and more.

Creativity: 7
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: Thicker Than Water, A Broke Down Melody, The September Sessions


Second Thoughts

Crew: Timmy Turner, Brett Schwartz, Travis Potter

Story: Three Huntington Beach surfers escape Bro City to a deserted island in deep Indonesia. Armed with a camera, a goat, some rice and supplies, they live out the feral fantasy in a sort of Survivor meets The September Sessions barrel fest. This is what happens when crews go bush.

Creativity: 6
Camaraderie: 7
Progression: 9

See Also: The Ombak, Burning the Map


What Really Went Wrong?

Crew: The ...Lost Enterprises family, including Chris Ward and Cory Lopez

Story: This is a best-of film piecing together bits from the classic Lost videos of the 1990s, when the brand was actively battling surfing's dominant squeaky-clean image. Brilliant surf footage, dangerous activities, and a hallowed artifact of surfing's culture at the time.

Creativity: 5
Camaraderie: 7
Progression: 9

See Also: The Decline, What's Really Goin' Wrong?, What's Really Goin' On?

Trilogy

Crew: Andy Irons, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson

Story: The film itself doesn't present an arc or a story, per se -- it's just amazing surf footage from AI, Taj and Parko broken up by interviews with the boys. But the real story is behind the scenes: three hyper-competitive friends in a years-long game of one-upsmanship that drove them to create one of the best surf videos of the new millennium.

Creativity: 4
Camaraderie: 5
Progression: 9

See Also: Campaign, Stranger Than Fiction

Loose Change

Crew: Taylor Steele, Rob Machado, Benji Weatherley, Taylor Knox, Shane Dorian, the Malloys, Kelly Slater and more

Story: This favorite from the Steele collection uses the surf-skit-surf format to look at what the Momentum generation might be like if they'd never surfed. Rob Machado is a slacker, loping through town and life with a bad mullet and no ambition, and running into the rest of the crew (in their non-surfer iterations) along the way.

Creativity: 8
Camaraderie: 6
Progression: 8

See Also: Focus, The Show, Good Times, Campaign


The Endless Summer II

Crew: Pat O'Connell, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver

Story: An update on Bruce Brown's original masterpiece sends a shortboarder (Pat) and a longboarder (Wingnut) around the world to taste the waves and flavors of life. They run across lions, monkeys, sea snakes, crocodiles, Tom Curren, Kelly Slater and more in this hall-of-fame film.

Creativity: 8
Camaraderie: 8
Progression: 5

See Also: The Endless Summer