A few months ago a trailer for a new video popped up. That’s not anything too uncommon, but when I saw it was a new video by Elliot Van Orman my interest perked up a bit. After watching the trailer I knew BMX was getting another good video to add to the collection. I recently got my hands on a copy of “Time Will Tell” to check out and let me tell you, this is one of those videos that breaks away from the normal DVD’s that you see these days in many ways. This is what I thought…
Going into the video I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew there would be trails and street with a twist from the trailer, but that’s about it. Right off the bat, the first thing I realized is that the video runs a full 80 minutes. That’s an hour and 20 minutes. About 40 minutes longer than the average video these days. That’s a twist…
Looking at the sections, I was thinking the titles were looking oddly familiar. Well, that’s because the video is broken down into songs, not rider sections. That’s right, it’s a full on full-length mixtape that runs to a real good soundtrack. That’s a twist…
The sound track / sections for the video consists of this…
Opening March – X Ray Dogs
After the Storm- Common
All the Years Gone By Against Me
Time to move on – Tom petty
Better Days – Paul simon
Trails of Time – The Highwaymen
Rain Dog Days – Tom Waits
Stand By Me – Fritz Legros
Windows of Time – The CMA
Stay Fresh- John Lennon
Traveling – The BEst of the Indians
Against Time – Built to Spill
The Undertow – Neil Young
Solitary Days – Johnny Cash
Drifters of Time – Guitar
Riding Outro – Mogwai
Bipolar Days – Modest Mouse
Time – Tom Waits
Come Up to The House – Tom Waits
All right, so now that you get the concept of the video… Watching “Time Will Tell” I gathered that the video was based around the last few years of Elliot’s life, where he went and who he spent time with. Based on some of the clips, I’d imagine it goes back to late 2004 / early 2005 after he wrapped up his last video “The Day Is Over”.
In that time, he managed to travel all over from Michigan to Chicago all the way down to Austin, Texas, up and over to Washington, back across to New York, down to Florida and over to California… and that’s just the places he went in the U.S. There’s footage from Asia, Barcelona, Spain and more. I can’t even begin to imagine how many miles were racked up on the odometer or frequent flyer miles were accumulated in the making of this.
In that time some of the best trails (248, Coldwater, Marc’s House, Pipe Dreams, Kalamoazoo, GJ’s, Black Diamond, Monroe, Lynwood), some real good street spots and even a couple of skateparks like Transitions Ramp Park were visited.
Time Will Tell features a lot of names… GJ Nappo, Ted Van Orman, Jeff DeGryse, Jeremy Ball, Bill Graham, Jerome Beeler Van Orman, Matt Sparks, Paul Kinter, Steven Hamilton, Justin Inman, Jordan Hango, Brandon Dosch (Young), Dane Wild, Gene Coffman, Dan Closser, Cale Christi, Luke McGarry, Brian Schneck, Dave Moon, Elliot Van Orman, Chris Eimen, Eric Vasquez, Kyle Emery-Peck, Jeremiah Barker, Mike Lawless, Peter Ryan, Austin Gilmore, Ed Mayhew, Rob Cameron, Pat Morse, Jeff Landtiser, Nate Hoffman, Mike Cernotta, Nutter, Brett McKown, Jason Teet, Kurtin Jones, Hans Mack, Luke McGarry, Rick Crossman, Nathan Fons, Mike Hoder, Davey Watson, Bob Scerbo, Darin Read, Mike Florence, Ryan Melia, Kevin Porter, Jack Madock, Dane Beardsley, Brian Block, Jared Ball, Chris Curran, Matt Gonzalez, Max Bimar, Justin Hochevar, Philip Hestbeck, Taj Mihelich, Dane Searls, Corey Bohan, Drake Miller, Clint Millar, Brian Stewart, Glenn Seals – RIP. There’s also a ton of real good skateboarding from Nicholas Paradise – RIP.
There’s a good mix of pros and unknown shredders in this video. This ranges from one clippers from Clint Millar all the way to the guys like Jeremy Ball and all of the Van Orman’s who makes appearances throughout the whole video. You can almost put together a timeline in your head (if you have been around BMX long enough) to figure out when the clips were filmed. Brandon Dosch has no sleeve tattoo’s, Steven Hamilton has his classic style but seems a little younger and more… there for example. You can’t really get a better mix of styles and riders.
If you noticed that “RIP” by Glenn Seals and Nicholas Paradise’s names then you already know that Elliot lost two of his real good friends in 2007. It doesn’t say anything specific, but I’d imagine this video is some what dedicated to them since their presence is seen throughout the video as well.
The riding in the video is awesome for the simple fact that there’s minimal barspins and tailwhips. There’s a lot of turndowns, lookbacks, 360’s and classics that give the video a real good vibe. The video isn’t based around who can do the most bars in a line or who can throw a triple whip in the middle of a set. So if you are looking for that, you might need to look somewhere else. This is one of those videos I think the older generation will appreciate for sure.
Now, like I mentioned above, the style of the video is more of a mixtape / random. Elliott uploaded one of the sections from the video and it’s consistent with what most of the video is so you can get an idea of what to expect below…
As I mentioned in the beginning there’s a lot of random clips added in the mix. I can’t really begin to explain it all but it involves homeless people, cops, security and a character that isn’t really explained in the video… but this video from the second disc “The Other Times” gives you an idea of what you can expect in the video…
It’s strange, but the more you watch it… the more you want to see. It’s pretty crazy.
“Time Will Tell” is a two disc DVD. The first is the actual Time Will Tell video with riding mixed with footage like the above video. Then there’s “The Other Times” which features… well, the other times in the making of the video. I’m not sure, but I feel like Elliot was doing some sort of research on homeless people because there’s a lot of footage and conversations with homeless people throughout both videos.
Okay, so overall… I think the video turned out awesome. It’s entertaining, unpredictable, full of good riding and good people. The video constantly moves to different locations around the world and keeps the interest there. I had no trouble watching all 80 minutes in one sitting.
The filming and editing isn’t the typical HD, wide angle, skateboard/glide cam shots (I’m not ragging on that. I’m just saying that’s how a lot of videos are made these days…). The video has a documentary/party feel to it and it’s definitely different than what else is currently available.
Do I think you should buy it? Yeah, if you are looking for something with a good vibe, like trails and street, find some what whacky and unique people interesting and in general just want to see something different. I wouldn’t suggest it for the kids who are jocking flip whips and cash rolls since you won’t find anything like that in this.
You can pick “Time Will Tell” up through Elliot’s site EGVOProductions.blogspot.com right here for $20, on Dan’s Comp for $17.99, Albe’s for $14.99 and Empire for $14.95. I’m not sure why there’s price differences, but at least you know where you can pick it up.
So that’s my thoughts. Check out both trailers for the video below and then pick up a copy if you are into it!
