If you know anything about the world of skateboarding and skateboard culture at large, there’s a good chance you’ve seen what a skateboarding video looks like.
If you know anything about the world of skateboarding and skateboard culture at large, there’s a good chance you’ve seen what a skateboarding video looks like.
Those who grew up with Transworld Skateboarding videos remember the fast follow shots, the punk rock and hip hop soundtracks, and tons of ridiculous tricks that kept the mind boggled for hours. Over the years such they have served as a template on how to shoot skate videos, with fish-eye lenses to zoom in onto every bit of the action.
But for Apartment 27, a Richmond-based Youtube channel and collective, skateboarding videos can be more than fish-eye lens shots and crazy tricks.
We caught up with them last week to hang out and talk about the filming process, their inspirations, and how the current skating scene in Richmond is doing.
The collective, which includes videographer Gavin Stout and skateboarders Scott Everhart and Soroush Zargarani, takes its name from Everhart’s apartment where Stout was living at for a while.
“I lived with Scott for like three months on a couch, and his apartment number is 27,” Stout said. “It was easy to call it that, cause that kind of thing can last. You don’t have to have a label on yourself.”
Stout, who doesn’t skate and normally writes comedy sketches, said there is less pressure in filming a skateboard video then in other film mediums.
“I’m pretty lazy about writing down my sketches and scripts,” Stout said. “So it’s just easier to film someone that skates. [Y]ou don’t have to have any sort of storyboard.”
What Stout lacks in skateboarding experience, he makes up for with his expertise in shooting wide-angle shots. This gives each video a warmer production value. You have time to soak in the scenery surrounding the skaters and see the whole picture, no pun intended.
“I’ve never shot a skate video before, so my interpretation of what it looks like is a little bit different,” Stout said. “It’s a little bit more cinematic. It’s not a bunch of fish-eye stuff, it’s like a wide-angle lens.”
Most of the videos are shot at the same location, with the city serving as a backdrop. The terrain is flat and smooth, giving Stout the space and ability to create long rolling shots.
“I built a dollie with some PVC pipe and roller blade wheels and use that to make those tracking shots,” he said.
None of the videos have the sense of urgency that most skateboard videos have. The music, featuring original compositions by Everhart, is slow and melodic, adding to the ambient nature of the skater’s tricks and movement.
But it never feels pretentious or intending to be something magnificent. Everyone is Apartment 27 is humble and even keel; they simply enjoy what they do.
“We’re really super average,” Everhart said. “We’re not crazy good.”
When it comes to the skating scene in Ricmond, both Everhart and Zargarani agree that it has seen better days. Skateshops in the city are struggling to stay afloat, and the people who played a role in making the scene what it was have moved away.
“It used to be bigger,” Zargarani said. “There used to be a lot more spots, and then people started moving away.”
Dominion Skateboard, which included skaters such as Gilbert Crockett, Tyler Beall, and Andrew Cauthen, played a prominent role in establishing the scene in Richmond in years past, but hasn’t been active as of late.
“Dominion really made the skate scene what it was,” Zargarani said.
Finding a consistent location to skate at has also proved to be an issue, as most of the DIY spots are now shut down. While the group hopes to see a safe and legal place for people to skate at in the future, they are by no means optimistic about any real change taking place.
“There just needs to be more spots, driven by local government,” Everhart said. “But that won’t happened, so we’re kinda forced to skate wherever.”
Tribulations aside, the scene is still alive and as supportive as ever. Positivity is the key to any group’s survival, and so far the skating world in Richmond has retained that element.
No one is judged for their style or skill set, something that was made apparent as Apartment 27 rode around the abandoned lot as the sun began to set behind the city. There was no pressure to nail a trick the first time around.
“Everyone is super friendly, everyone will give you props,” Zargarani said of the Richmond skate scene. “Everybody respects everybody else for the most part.”
While skate videos are all Apartment 27 has done thus far, the group plans to expand beyond that, potentially delving into sketches or other indeavors.
“I think all of us are interested in sketches like comedy and stuff like that,” Stout said.
