Posted below is a skateboarding video, five minutes and seventeen seconds in length. It mesmerizes me from start to finish, it truly does. We can all agree that filmmaking is an art. I would argue that so too can be skateboarding. Between the videography and the skating, this is breathtaking to me.
If you read any of my blogs here on Pencil Storm, you might have noticed in my brief tagline at the bottom that it often says “Oh, and he has a collection of about 150 vintage skateboards, and the collection is still growing.” So, I’ll admit from the outset that I love skateboarding, I always have, and I therefore recognize that this film may not appeal to a non-skater. But to me, it most certainly should. And I think it will. That is why I am writing my first ever piece that is at all skateboard-related on Pencil Storm. This short film blows me away. To me, it displays so much more than just one of the more talented skaters I have ever seen. It also displays beauty, soulfulness, innovation, a modern cityscape, a balance of old school and new school styles, flow, and on top of all that, a beautiful song to serve as the soundtrack. And those are just the things that came to my mind at this very moment. I am just as impressed with the filmmaker as I am with the skater.
I hope you’ll read the rest of this, but perhaps you should first view the film and then decide if you care to continue…..
I hope you enjoyed that. If you’re still reading, maybe you did. The film obviously features a skater named Andy Anderson. Andy grew up in Canada where it was often too cold to skateboard anywhere but in his garage. That resulted in his old school freestyle skateboarding tendencies. But this kid is doing things no one else has done. I feel like he has what I call an “old soul.” He just goes out and enjoys whatever is around him. Whatever presents itself is met with an artistic imagination that he expresses through his skating. Notably, Andy wears a helmet, which is not a practice adhered to by very many of his peers. He does so, he says, because he wants to protect his mind and his memory, which are critical to his skating ability. That’s a smart kid. He is currently 27 years old. I’m sixty, so I can call him a kid, I guess.
The film was directed, filmed and edited by Brett Novak. I don’t know anything about Mr. Novak, but I don’t see any possible way he could have improved upon the aesthetic that he achieved in this short piece of video. I’ll say it again. It is beautifully done.
Finally, the soundtrack to the film is a song called “Easter Morning” by Papercuts. I am unfamiliar with that band, but I find the song to be a perfect fit to the vibe of this film.
Thanks to the editors at Pencil Storm for letting me share this. It obviously made an impression on me.
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital. He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. He just turned 60 years old, he has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter. Aside from his family, he loves two things in life more than anything else on the planet—rock ‘n roll and skateboarding.