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Linky for those who missed it:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/concrete-circus/articles/the-films
Great shout. Really enjoyed that.
"Danny Mac's stuff pretty straightfoward really"
STW quote of the week 🙂
I really liked the flatlands video, I thought it was a bit different to the run of the mill biking videos. The free running one was very cheesy, even the kids thought so.
All the vids were great in their own way. The final film in the Barbican was a great combination of all the skills.
Wish I had half the skills and guts of those guys. What tyres for riding with your shorts on fire?
It was good to see mainstream TV giving airtime to what are still seen as minority pastimes. Wish I'd recorded it, I think it's something I'd like to see again.
danny's back flip off the curved RSJ near the end made me gasp out loud. Love Danny's skills the most, rekon I'd get bored of the flatland style but loved how different his vid was.
amazed at the blue shirted parcour guy's frosbee flop through the floor at the barbican, that was pretty special.
Not feeling the flatland bmx - getting in a French phoney to put together some moody bollox didn't help. Think it needed to be a bit more playful, sense of humour etc (IMHO). tbf they said the lad was struggling for a director so might have put it together at short notice.
Got to go with Danny Mac as the best piece - boringly because it's probably just what I'm used to appreciating. Loved the colours on the film though - anyone know whereabouts that railyard is? That swan dive Blue did in the parcour at the start though, 'kinell!
Made me wish I was 18 again, but that was 40 years ago, still these guys are on a different level to most humans. Beats rioting.
i have always had a huge amount of respect for flatland riders (ever since first seeing it on channel 5 when they showed the x games) i would love to have those bike skills.major respect to all those guys though 🙂
Would not push any of them out of bed for eating biscuits- s'all I'm saying
The whole channel 4 Street summer season has been brilliant what with last nights graffiti wars and Idris Elba's 50 greatest hip hop . This is the kind of thing people want to see , not Simon Cowell humiliating fat chicks on ITV.
Bravo Channel 4.
I'm now laughing at the Asian guy taunting people with his backpack 😀
The final film in the Barbican was a great combination of all the skills.
+1
the flying header off that building was astonishing! free runners won it for me. Reminded me of jumping of the school roofs as a kid! 😀
Who says our youth are a lost generation?
The sheer vision, creativity, skill, hard work etc kicks most people of my age into touch (38). Especially their lack of ego despite being amongst the best in the world at what they do... I wish the people I work with were like that...
Someone get this film in the headlines to offset all the other cr@p
Who says our youth are a lost generation?
The sheer vision, creativity, skill, hard work etc kicks most people of my age into touch (38). Especially their lack of ego despite being amongst the best in the world at what they do... I wish people I work with were like that...
Someone get this film in the headlines to offset all the other cr@p
Mleh....Needs some shakey go-pro headcam footage of middle aged mincing I.T stormtroopers at llandegla set to coldplay....nowthatswhaImtalkinabout. 😀
brooess - Member
Who says our youth are a lost generation?
The sheer vision, creativity, skill, hard work etc kicks most people of my age into touch (38). Especially their lack of ego despite being amongst the best in the world at what they do... I wish the people I work with were like that...
Someone get this film in the headlines to offset all the other cr@p
+1000
We did some work with skateboarders in Newcastle (100+ aged 12-25) some were annoying but everyone of them was engaged in something creative and physically exerting, and they helped each other out even if they didn't know each other. It was great to see.
I predict an influx in local A&Es all over the country... 🙂
The skateboard and flatland videos were the best - the flatland just for the exuberance of stitching together all those tricks and the impression of just enjoying what he was doing and the flatland because it was dark and emotional With plenty of technical virtuosity - not just slowmo of guys doing backflips.
The Parcour was spoilt by the sub teen notion of a plot, and for DM apart from riding the wire (which was outstanding) the rest was a bit samey TBH.
anyone know whereabouts that railyard is?
yeap 🙂
I enjoyed the flatland vid and danny macs vid. The other two were good but the skateboard video seemed a bit "standard fair" in the way it was shot and edited. The skating was great though.
Top Programme, just watched it on the plus one channel. Wonder how many non-sport audience watched it though?
The skater was the standout one for me. Mindblowing control. The flatland vid was just too produced, and not enough actual riding.
All in all though, excellent. Nice to see some more imaginative programming going on, and for 1.5 hours of prime-time tele. Nice to see my licence fee....oh, never mind.
Mleh....Needs some shakey go-pro headcam footage of middle aged mincing I.T stormtroopers at llandegla set to coldplay....nowthatswhaImtalkinabout
...now you're talking. Where can we commission that?!
the parcour one had the best standout bits IMO, but I agree it was cheesy on the whole. Danny macs was the most complete one i thought. The flatland one din't show enough of the tricks , it was too produced. skate one had some very good tricks, but as has been said before, very standard production
For Anyone who's in derbyshire / notts area, there's three urban sports shows with this kinda stuff on, up at the shopping centre m1 junction 28. Theyre all day on three consecutive Thursday's! Think the first one was last week so a couple more to go!
Awesome program! For me I'd put them in this order
1 BMX - was expecting it not to flow but it really worked and grabbed me, especially with the back story of his mate
2 Skater - everything took my breath away, was hooked to see what was gonna happen next
3 MTB - didn't grab me as much as I hoped, but the cable ride and the drop onto the track was mental
4 parkour - film production just looked a bit amateur, the stunts were good but just lost interest
But the bit of all of them together was one of the highlights
The flatland one din't show enough of the tricks , it was too produced. skate one had some very good tricks, but as has been said before, very standard production
So you're criticising the bmx one for being original & taking a chance, & criticising the skate one for being unoriginally shot?!
For me in no particular order -
Skate film - thought it was going to be a lifecycles where everything is shot in s l o w m o t i o n.. but it improved after a shaky start
BMX - loved the originality but wasn't too keen on all the floaty bits
MTB - just Danny Mac doing what he does best, nicely shot, nice soundtrack - reminded me of the original vid
Parkour - Great skills, wasn't convinced by the subplot - however, I'm sure most 11 yr olds that watched it would've loved it & a shame they spoiled the legs on fire bit early on in the program.
Not watched it all yet, but from what I did see I initially thought the BMX was good, then I just thought he was a good circus act, but not in a leotard.
I personally found the skateboarding the most original. Whenever I watch skateboarding I always think it looks clumsy, forced and as though theres some thing missing. This guy make it look more skillful and flowing.
Respect to them all though, ubeleivable skills. As above did make me think how far human skills are developing. Back when I was a lad (37 now) people wouldnt have dreamt of being able to any of this stuff, but now its all possible. Jeeees Im getting old!
I thought the program was a bit on the longside and not too engaging, but congratulations for C4 putting it on.
So you're criticising the bmx one for being original & taking a chance, & criticising the skate one for being unoriginally shot?!
I just thought it could of been a music video, and I didn't think it showcased the riders skills, tbh although I think the skills involved in flatland are mindblowing, and something i can't even conceive of being able to do I've never really enjoyed watching it, to me its just going round in circles 🙁
I watched storm volume 1 on youtube on the back of the parkour film and its incredibly good, better than the one last night.
I thought the programme nulled the viewer somewhat. I mean it started off explaining the "entrants" then what they do by showing thier vids etc. then described what they were going to do..
By the time we saw the films we'd seen some hefty tricks already, we were almost numbed to it.
So, when we actually got to see the films, we'd seen most of the tricks already, just in a different location, which was a bit of a shame.
As me and the OH watched and enjoyed the programme by the time it'd finished we'd seen everything.
However, that does not detract from the shere skill and ability of any of them, we were still "blown away" by some of the tricks, and I for one liked the different film makers views on each aspect and story the film took. Decent shots, good skyline, great moves, editing was good and at least some of it flowed.
But asa film, the BMX one stood out IMO. The French producer had a vision to make more than a "trickfest". Something to capture the imagination and mood, really liked that, realy want to see some of his other works and I'll look them up.
THe OH and I were split on which one was the best though, which was really good. She was int the Parcour thing, moi as said the BMX..
However the film after that programme was the best so far.. One Man Standing.. Utterly brilliant.
Flatland BMX doesn't excite me but I liked the way that video was put together; liked the fact they tried something different to what had gone before. Maybe I'm the onlt one but the whole pollen/stars whatever worked for me.
Slightly disappointed by the skate film; mainly because Kilians other videos are so great.
Danny's section was ace as always; he definitely has a style and you know you were watching one of hid videos even if he had a bag on his head. Would have been nice to see something a bit different from him (sort of like the BMX one).
I really enjoyed the Parcour! Yes, it was cheesy but so what, lets not get too snobby, amazing skills!!
However the film after that programme was the best so far.. One Man Standing.. Utterly brilliant.
One Man Walking...
I left the telly on and was hypnotised by it. It finished, and I realised I didn't have a ****ing clue what just went on!
I wish I'd stayed up for the one man walking thing.. it looked really good..
I was really disappointed by the flat land video.. totally over produced in that it didn't show one trick where the foootage was not sped up or slowed down or jerkily cut and pasted..
this led to not seeing any of the skill or flow that the lad had in bucketloads
Ahhh Yes One Man Walking doh!
Still brilliant..
Deffo needs to be watched if you can catch it on OD.
I like a bit of street theatre stuff me..
I wasn't a fan of the BMX vid, looked like a great trailer to get you interested but never really got had any "wow" momement.
I could have watched that guy skate for the whole program. I agreed with the guy they interviewed when he said he wasn't interested in "Skating Culture". I get the same from mountainbiking videos. I know massive drops/jumps and tricks are impressive but it's people who do something a little bit different (at the right time) who are really pushing the sport. I'd sooner whach Danny Macgaskill than a typical freeride video.
I liked the trials video especially the wire ride. I like the flowing style and the way most of it looked like he just rocked up and rode it on a normal days riding.
The free running stuff was pure cheese but had some of the best wow moments. The Blue guys massive jump was pretty spectacular.
One of the few programs I've watched recently that had my undevided attention. Good stuff, hopefully will inspire some people. Certainly wish I had some better trals skills.
So good to see Bob Haro, that guy is a legend
Looking a little older now but the "godfather" of it all, guess Go-Karting still makes a little money
the documentary about making the films was far more interesting than the actual films...
skate one seemed to be trying too hard, multiple boards setup bits "now watch me do this great trick" yes I know all the vids were setup and scouted for doing stunts but DM and flatland ones made it look like they were just out doing what they like to do.
Liked the barbican one, that blue guy's flip....wow, skate guy was better in that too, him and bmxer spinning at the end, cool.
DMs wire ride had my jaw dropping.
i was a bit disappointed with all of the end products. not taking away any credit from the skills that these guys possess (they are immense in their own rights) but wasn't the idea to produce something truly amazing and different than what has been done before? viral videos are generally low budget, but this lot must have had a few quid thrown at them. apart from the bmx video and the fire they were all fairly bog-standard street sport type films.
the flatlands stood out the most and was the only one which had my full attention. some excellent and creative shots/locations & a very moody feel. but vastly over-produced in the end, but you could tell that's what it was going to be like by looking at the film-maker's previous work. i've also seen better flatland trickery from 1980's films.
i really wanted to see more close-ups of how these super-humans bodies interact with their surroundings and tools and some super-slow-motion like you get on Planet Earth etc. the slow motion skateboard tricks in the pool water for example, could have been done so much better IMO. and the fire was a bit of a let down as well...i wanted long exposure shots and a lot more darkness & creativity with the locations, but it just looked a bit fake to me...even though it wasn't.
but i'm not dissing the programme on the whole - i loved it & just great to watch stuff like this primetime. maybe i've just seen too many virals and i was just expecting the 'next level' (of editing, rather than skills).
Possibly as Ive seen DM's other films his new one had less wow factor than the others. Some gorgeous shots with great location/backgrounds, but the wire ride was the only "wow" moment and the similar spiked fence ride in an earlier film had more potential for injury, and he's also done a similar chain link fence tightrope ride. Sounds like I'm dissing DM which isnt the case, but this film had fewer holy sh1t moments than his others (front flip, loop/whip from riding up a tree etc etc etc)
The freerunners had the most wow factor, the head first roof to roof, and blue's jump into a pedestrian tunnel landing on a wall were amazing literal leaps of faith and must have taken some guts no matter how much prep and line sighting theyd done prior. Agreed the storyline was cringeworthy, they'd played their hand with the fire, and was the stunt coordinator just being a total c*ck for the camera? "get down when I tell you or I'll lay you out", yeah may they'll listen to you without the macho threats, what with them paying for your expertise and them being, you know, ON FIRE.. 🙄
Liked the use of water and light in the skateboard film, whether or not it was cliche i wouldnt know Ive never watched a skate vid.
I liked the flatland film, didnt mind the floaty effects but thought the initial computer anaylsis stuff didnt fit the rest of the film. Might not have had the most wow but it was a film maker from outside the genre/field trying to do something different, and whether it was contrived or not the director's comments that the rider had a broken, damaged look fitted with him obviously struggling with guilt at his friend's death.