With the exception of a handful of films, most surf films in the last 20-30 years seem to be very similar.
Perhaps even more these days, they are riddled with cliches.
Maybe its the challenge of making something routine look fresh.
Or maybe its just a safe bet to follow formula, to sell stuff, but quite quickly it can start blurring into one long… ‘same ol, same ol’.
Or is it because (like stickers) they are really aimed for 11-15 years old boys…
21 steps to nearly every surf movie out there:
1. Shot of surfers rising and makes a coffee, its dark morning.
2. Surfers packs their boards and a small bag into a car.
3. Shot of surfers at airport and/or sitting on plane looking out of window trying to look deep
4. Surfers arrive, new shot of surfers in a car – either trying to act whacky and excitable or looking out of window and trying to look deep and intense.
5. Shots of road, shots of tatty sheds, lots of meaningless shots of doorways.
6. Stop motion clips of clouds moving, sky and waves
7. Shots of locals faces mainly looking intense and improvished
8. Cut to shot of surfers staring blankly at books.
9. Shot of surfers waxing their board.
10. Cut to more shots of tatty sheds, a hill or two, more headshots of locals (usualy impovrished) then cut back to beach
11. Cut to more stop motion of sky and beach
12 .Surfers run down to the water with boards and skim over whitewash into ocean
13. Shot of girls in bikinis walk past
14. Surfers do shaka paddling out past water camera person
15. Underwater shot of surfer duck-diving a wave
16. Then shot of surfer in a barrel, going past – camera drops into wave at end
17. More shots of tatty sheds, houses, and improvished locals
18. Surfers do some air reverses and hacks
19. Surfers walk back onto beach
20. Surfers do anopther shaka at end, and either close with a whacky-excitable moment or try another deep and meaningful pose.
21. Cuts then to even more stop motion of sunset…fade.
Repeat, as long as the kids keep buying it.
So are surf videos boring?
