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Posted on Monday May 31st 2010 at 12:14 p.m.
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Kia Ora surfers of Aotearoa / New Zealand! Here is yet another blog about SEWN - the Eyes of Aotearoa seen Through the Eyes of Longboarders. One of the key aspects of the project is to capture the humanity of the person but also to observe the essence of longboarding, what it is that makes up the style of each surfer. That's why we developed some techniques to shoot from the board to capture what truly separates longboarding from shortboarding: walking the board, nose-riding and body-expression. The camera was also used hand held, and a rig for a paramotor (paraglyder with a motor attached to it) to take some sweeping shots from above.
Board Camera
Footage is taken from the longboard itself. A custom-built longboard is fitted with screw pads on the tail and the nose of the board to which pods of different heights are affixed. A waterproof casing houses a camera, which takes footage of the surfer in action. The emphasis and the focus of the footage is not only to observe the dynamics of surfing from close-up but also to assess what it is that makes the surfer ride the way he does and defines his/her style. Each pod is designed to capture specific features and moves of the surfer:
•TAIL SETUP: The pod used here is of about half a meter in height (left picture) and is designed to capture the footwork of the surfer as well as the body language and the nose-riding postures (right picture). This setup takes footage of the surfer from behind allowing the viewer to appreciate his/her wave approach.
•NOSE SETUP: The pod used in this setup is less than 10 cm in height (left picture) and is designed to capture ‘tail-surfing' (right picture) and enables observation of the surfer's facial expression. This angle offers a reflective view on the surfer's body-expression and movement and creates a surprise effect, as the viewer does not see the wave.
Other Viewing Angles
•HAND HELD WATER CAMERA: This is a versatile shooting technique capturing footage of the surfer inside the water. Footage can be taken of the surfer riding a wave towards the camera (left picture) or riding the wave alongside the surfer (right picture).
•PARAMOTOR SETUP: A gyroscopic-stabilised camera mount is designed to fit to the pilot's harness of a Paramotor (paraglider with attached propeller motor). The maneuverability of the paraglider wing captures challenging airborne footage from extremely low (top 2 pictures) and high angles (bottom 2 pictures).
Keep an eye out for the next blog which will talk about the production of the East chapter, based in Gisborne, where we met up with Moti Proctor and James Tanner.