NOTES FOR VIDEO

I get really excited about new BMX DVDs, then rarely watch them more than twice. It’s a pretty boring medium for the most part, especially to the casual observer who is only interested by the crash section. The increasing technical and physical difficulty of a lot of bike tricks in the videos clearly require so many attempts that the endeavor puts BMX squarely in the same category as skateboarding.

How many skateboarders does it take to change a lightbulb?
One, but it’ll take him a hundred tries.

Rather than trying to make “epic” videos of progressively more difficult, yet essentially similar-looking tricks, I’d much rather see some innovation in the way the videos themselves are filmed and composed.

Bullet time may be a little too ambitious for the low budget world of bike videos, as it requires dozens, even hundreds, of cameras.

There are other ways to make an audio-visual project look a little more interesting, using imaginative editing rather than thousands of dollars’ worth of hardware. The following made me think of utilizing a professional BMX rider’s skill and consistency in lieu of the acrobatics and martial arts, and could make for a truly engrossing viewing experience. I’m really into this band as well.

-DBZ