When I had the chance to meet Dave Jacobs at Interbike this year, one of the questions I asked him was “Who will have the next video spot?” since it was not too long after Brad Simms’ had dropped. He responded with “We’re actually going to make a DVD”. I have been anticipating this for a few months and finally had the chance to check it out.
On first glace of the DVD case, you will see “Synopsis: A 10 day visual odyssey with Micreation.” Which basically would throw a person since it seems like these days it takes a year or more for a video to have all the clips filmed. With that being said, I didn’t expect this over the top high budget hour long banger banger banger video like the Levi’s video or something. Still, with knowing what Dave is all about I did expect quality, and that is what Synopsis is.
The crew which consisted of Tony Neyer, Eric Cuiper, Eli Platt, Brad Simms, Josh Suhre, Doug Horton, Joe Cox, Dave Jacobs, and Larry Alvarado all loaded up into a van with a trailer hitched to the back. They ride in Cincinnati up through Ottawa and Montreal, Canada. In all honesty, does it really matter where a list of riders like that is riding anyways?
During the trip the majority of it appeared to be spent riding street, the rest at some skate parks indoor and out. The spots were all pretty fresh and new from any other video I have seen lately… Which between updating The Come Up and checking out DVDs as of late, I figured I would have recognized a lot of spots. I really only recognized a few because some of the photos from the trip showed up in ads and other projects for Micreation. The rest of the time was spent at a few skate parks, the majority being Canada’s finest cement bowls and skate plaza type parks. Just imagine all the possibilities of Brad Simms and a big cement quarter… yeah, you know what I am talking about.
I try to avoid talking about the riding as much as possible just because apparently if you even can imagine a trick being done it ruins the video for some people. So once again, refer to the list of names above on the trip and you will know what to expect. I just want to say I was happy to see some Tony Neyer riding since hes been on the down low for a while now because of his knee. The video was filmed before that all went down I would imagine.
The filming was done by Dave, Chad Shackelford, and Doug Horton. I wasn’t too familiar with Doug Horton to be honest but it appeared that he held down the 16mm filming for the most part. Chad held down the roller blades!
Don’t get me wrong, as much as I love asking kids on roller blades if they are down with Team Pup N’ Sudz (If you don’t know what I am talking about you missed out on one hell of a quality Disney Channel production!), I will make a huge acception for Chad since he is always producing amazing quality clips while rolling on 8 wheels. It must take a lot to really get some smooth shots on blades just because you can see some really rough footage in the “Extra Footage” part of the DVD that just looks horrid. Dave has a gift with the camera too! To be honest I was slightly surprised Larry didn’t do any filming since he has been producing some real good ODI web videos lately.
The editing was done by Dave. If you have seen the Eli Platt, and Bradd Simms video spots you know Dave knows his way around editing software. The intro was really where the majority of special effects really happened. I was into the intro since it was a good mix of HD and 16 mm clips. The rest of the video was pretty straight forward and clean. There were a few parts where it was black and white, which actually looked really good since it was actual BLACK and white, not grayish and white.
The sound track to the video included stuff from DJ Figure, Omid, No Sleep, Free the Robots. I was into the music just because I am into the hip hop beats and techno stuff. I could see how a hardcore rocker dude would be bummed, or the people heavy into rap might be a little bummed. The music really goes well with the video and the brand Micreation as a whole. I really almost expected that type of music, plus I hadn’t heard of the artists before so that was cool.
Overall the trip looked like a lot of fun, the riding was good, filming and editing spot on, into the music. I think it is worth checking out. However, I am a little afraid of Eric Cuiper now… I’ll explain below…
The bonus section of the DVD is actually a sweet bonus. It comes with a section of Extra Footage, which I mentioned above. This is basically scrap clips, and random shots from their trip.
Next up is a wrecks section. Tony Neyer beats the shit out of himself a lot. This is the part that scared me a little bit. I’ve never met Eric myself and I have heard nothing but good things about him… but holy hell can he throw a bike! If for some reason BMX racing gets taken out of the Olympics and they replace it with BMX throwing, he will win. There’s about 10 record setting distance throws and some F bombs by Eric.
After all that fun, there is a 16 mm section which is just basically a cool little montage of clips captured on the camera that weren’t in the video. I am a fan of this for some reason just because it gives a classic memories type look and feel, if that makes any sense?
Followed by the Synopsis trailer, which you can find at the bottom of this.
Then here is the real good stuff, if you remember the Brad Simms Video Spot cost $2 to watch, well for those of you who didn’t want to pay to check it out, it comes in the video. Along with Eli Platt’s Video Spot… I have watched that probably 100 times and still really like it. Followed up by a Tony Neyer Remix, Tony Neyer Short, and Larry Alvarado Short.
I suppose I should also mention the whole DVD case is made out of recycled paper and plastic. I know this might not mean much to some of you but it is a pretty cool idea in my opinion.
This video is worth checking out, plus it isn’t even that expensive! You can pick it up on Dans Comp, and Empire for $9.99, Albes for $9.95. I am sure you can also pick it up at shops that carry Micreation stuff too!
If that doesn’t work for you, then you can get it at the Micreation web store!
