The auteur award for creative filmmaking in Nike's Chosen contest probably goes to Matt Payne, who's exactly one fourth of the Dirty Harry & The Bandits crew. The 20-year-old Matt has been schooled as a film intern at Globe (maker of such classics as New Emissions of Light and Sound, Secret Machine, and the forthcoming Year Zero), and it shows in the charmingly raw little edit he put together for the Bandits. Here Matt explains the non-surf inspiration for his clip, the Bandits' laissez-faire approach to the Chosen contest, and the state of the modern surf film.

Matt Payne:

"I kind of look toward those guys who make timeless pieces [for inspiration] -- like Kubrick in general is pretty rad, and I just saw 8 ½ by Fellini, that was cool. I was super psyched on this movie Gummo by Harmony Korine. And then I love the Dirty Harry series. That was the idea with Jason [Harris] -- people call him "Harry" all the time, so with our crew we wanted to use that to resonate with people and also tip the hat to Clint Eastwood because he's such a badass."

"Like, you saw that little cut-scene we did with the guys? Kind of this raw Super 8 vibe combined with that whole Eastwood style. Just point-and-shoot, looking wherever, not really calculated shots, using different shooting speeds. I really liked how that was done. I wanted it to feel like you were with them, just hanging out."

"We're not trying to win or anything, we're just looking for it to get out there and get eyes on it. Those other guys trying to make a push...it's rad, it's a cool vibe to see East Coast and Hawaii and all these little crews, but for us I think it's cooler to just be that little indie jam that's out there and that people kind of discover. If they're into it and it fits their taste, that's cool; if not, no worries. Just let it get out there and speak for itself."

"Surf films nowadays, the whole surf porn thing can get a little annoying and stale. You almost feel like you can stamp and date them. I think there's a lot of avenues you could take with little storylines; nothing too in-your-face, but little subtle stuff to where it has a direction and you can be engaged. It's really inspiring to see that more timeless stuff -- things you can always come back to and it's still rotating through your collection."

Check out Matt's handiwork on his crew's Chosen page, as well as in the full-length Dirty Harry series he's produced with crew member Jason Harris.