In 2022, Tony Hawk is a household name, skateboarding is an Olympic sport, and digital laser flips can be mastered in any number of video games on television. It has not always been so. Early skate screen media consisted mostly of skeptical documentaries or whimsical California-style chronicles. Things changed when, in 1983, Stacy Peralta – who led the ragtag team of skaters of which Tony Hawk was a member – effectively invented the modern skate video. Thanks to its performative nature, skateboarding would soon form a symbiotic relationship with the technology that presented it.
The VHS Invasion
Peralta says he hoped a few hundred copies of his first video might end up in the new VHS players that were taking the United States by storm. “Right from the start, the videos were more lucrative than they thought: it’s that kind of famous thing that Stacy [Peralta] says the first Bones Brigade video, they thought they were just going to write off the cost as a marketing cost, but actually they made a lot of money on it. Author, teacher and skateboarder Iain Borden told Engadget. The success of The Bone Brigade Video Showand the titles that followed, exposed skateboarding to many other eyes, as well as a whole new source of income for the struggling “sport”.
Al Seib via Getty Images
In the 80s, Peralta and his team Bones Brigade dominated screen skateboarding, usually on green ramps, including several movie cameos. But Peralta’s polished style and impeccable team weren’t for everyone. In the late 80s, H-Street, a more popular skate outfit, came out Don’t chain me and Hokus Pokus with a focus on street skating. Not everyone had access to a ramp, but everyone lived on a street, meaning this new style was much more accessible, with the videos almost serving as a how-to manual.
According to Borden, H-Street put cameras in the hands of skaters to film themselves, and the change in pace and dynamics in the videos moved away from Peralta’s more conventional approach. This new format – skaters shooting skaters – with slams, skits, music and pissed off security guards would become the pattern for the next decade. Notably thanks to another new technology that was about to land.
The VX1000
In 1995, Sony released a camera that would define the look (and sound) of skate video to this day. At around $3,000; the DCR-VX1000, was the first digital camcorder in Sony’s consumer line. Its relatively affordable price, coupled with its small form factor and new digital tapes – MiniDV – made it the ideal camera for gonzo filmmakers looking for professional results. The fact that footage could be easily transferred to a PC with a nascent technology called i.Link (which you might know as “FireWire”) meant that anyone with a computer could now make videos entirely at home. home.
The VX1000 only really cemented its legendary status among skateboarders when paired with the Century Optics fish-eye lens. “The fisheye was amazing. The audio was amazing. The colors are superb. It had a built-in handle so you could follow someone while skateboarding,” videographer Chris Ray told Engadget. “There hasn’t been another hard-hitting camera like this in skateboarding. I don’t think there ever will be.
sony
Ray says he still uses audio from the VX1000 on his modern productions. “I pull a library of VX audio and add those to the shots, terrains, grinds, things like that in my skate movies because nobody’s made a camera that has sound that’s even also good.” Ray is clearly not the only one who thinks so, as evidenced by this modern replica of the $300 skateboard-only micro VX1000.
To complement the sound, the colors emitted by the VX1000 would also become the hallmark of a good skate video. The bright, punchy hues produced by the camera perfectly matched the blue Californian sky contrasting with the beige and asphalt found in mall parking lots and other skate-friendly urban locations. Before long, footage shot with anything else looked dated. “People were still doing skateboarding videos on other cameras,” Ray said, “but this was, like, the one you took a lot more seriously.”
Ask any skateboarder what the golden age of skateboarding videos was and you’ll get a different answer, but objectively the year 2000 marked the start of a period when some of the most impactful skateboard movies and big budget movies were never made, and most of them were shot with the trusty VX1000.
Chris Ray
Menikmatiof the shoe company éS and Operating mode by Transworld set the tone. Both were released in 2000 and strongly showcased the distinctive look and sound of the VX1000. Both are also high-profile releases on the skate scene, which only fully solidifies the camera’s status as the de facto tool of choice. Not to mention a cool badge in its own right. “I mean, it’s on skateboards. I have skateboards on my wall with the camera on them. People make keychains, there are tattoos. says Ray. “It’s still iconic to this day.”
Redefining the standard
Of course, a problem looms on the horizon. A 16:9, high definition problem to be precise.
For all the strength of VX, the entire television industry was undergoing its biggest shift in standards, perhaps ever. Widescreen TVs were steadily replacing 4:3 CRTs, and newer “HD” resolutions were making SD content terribly obsolete. Not everyone was a fan of the new aspect ratio either. “I couldn’t switch completely to HD because it was so much more difficult. You are talking about a 16:9 picture. You don’t want to cut off the wheels and you don’t want to cut off their heads when shooting skateboarding. says Ray.
Worse, in 1999, Sony did release a follow-up to the much-loved camera, the VX2000, but it was a flop with skateboarders. Not only was the new image format harder to work with, but the VX2000 had an inferior micro and, most importantly, was not compatible with the Century Optics fisheye (or more specifically the “Mk1” of that lens that everyone wanted to). The skateboard filmmakers needed to find a new girlfriend.
