Date: 1/20/04
Author: Christopher Stack

Related Items:
WakeWorld Video Guide: Invisible Cinema
Review: Blacklist
Chase Heavener Interview

Invisible Cinema, the latest wakeboarding film from Attention Deficit came out waaay back in June of last year. For those of you that haven't woken up from your New Year's party yet, it's now 2004. So, why are we reviewing a film that premiered in the first half of 2003? Because we can.

If Invisible Cinema is the latest film from A.D., what was the first? Hot Doggin'. Yep, that bastion of quality recently voted by Wakeworld readers as the worst wakeboarding video ever. Attention Deficit has come a long way since then, but, in my opinion, they still have a ways to go.

The Film
Invisible is a mixed bag in more than one way, but I can best sum it up thus: when the riders are riding, it's great - good coverage, and a nice mix of wakeboarding, wakeskating, wake tricks, sliders and gaps. But there's a lot of filler I could do without and, like so many recent releases, riding time is in short supply.

Chase Heavener, one of the three creators of this vid (along with Matt Staker and brother Chris Heavener), is a graduate of Full Sail, a graphic arts/digital media college. Like a lot of young filmmakers coming out of school, he's got skills but isn't quite sure how to apply them. Strewn throughout the vid are chaotic city-themed time-lapse sequences (from the documentary Koyannasquatsi), 70's-style computer-generated images and stock footage. Sometimes this filler just randomly breaks up the riding footage or separates rider sequences, but other times it actually encroaches on the rider frames either as rotoscoped backgrounds or, worse yet (as in the pictured example), as cg images laid over the riding footage. I didn't find this artistically interesting at all - just distracting and annoying.

The film is 24:17 long, but the credits start rolling at 19:24 with the remaining footage weaved around the credits. The opening titles take another 1:30 or so - which leaves you with about 15 minutes of actual riding footage once you subtract the filler material. Another annoyance is the lack of chapters. Not just the absence of a chapter menu like Blacklist. No chapters at all. There's no way to jump forward through the action. If you want to go right to Watson's section, you'll just have to use that super-fast-forward function.

All that said, I enjoyed the riding. The vid kicks off with a quick A-frame gap slider sequence that's hit once or twice nicely by everyone. Up next is Keith Lyman with the longest single session in the film at almost 4 minutes. We get a different look at him than in Metronome. Here he's like a bottle rocket of infectious energy, bouncing around with a fluid loose style, grinning from ear to ear the whole time and, of course, taking everything out into the flats.

Ruck is next and throws down his usual technical clean riding, followed by a quick section of various riders, highlights of which include Murray (who is only shown very briefly in this film) doing a wrapped KGB-5 and a short session with Parks. Apparently this was Parks' first day behind his new X-Star. Just check out that double-up wake. It's friggin' enormous. Which also aptly describes the mad height Parks was getting. As someone so succinctly puts it in the commentary, "F**k Parks!" He's that good.

Cut to almost a minute of footage lifted from the acid trip section of Dumbo (don't ask me...I have no idea) and then we're on to Shawn Watson's clip where he demonstrates the skills that had him leading the pack last year at the beginning of the Pro Tour. Smooth and stylish on both the wake and the rails.

Following Watson is an epic session with Aaron Reed wakeskating his ass off. A clean three minutes of wake tech with varials, kickflips and w2w spins. It also includes appearances by Jim Leatherman, Brian Grubb and Thomas Horrell.

After the wakeskating, it's a quick flurry of shots and then the Invisible Cinema logo shows up indicating to all it's time to go home.

The Music
There are only six songs in the film, but it's an eclectic bag ranging from old rock to new ambient/electronic. In my opinion, any soundtrack that includes the Boards of Canada and Fischerspooner can't be all that bad, but if you're looking for the standard punk/core soundtrack about the only representative you'll find is Cursive. Most of the sounds are mellower. The music credits (at least on the DVD) aren't included in the main film, but are listed in a Credits section off the main menu. For some reason the music during the wakeskating section isn't credited.

The DVD Extras
This is obviously where the "invisible" part of the title comes from. I.C. utterly fails to include almost anything worthy of mention in its "special features" section.

The entire running time of the extras footage is 25:21. Sounds impressive, ya? Nope. Only 36 seconds are actually worth viewing. The rest of it could be tossed, barely warranting one viewing let alone more. That 36 seconds is a series of 3 linked tricks by Parks, and it's definitely worth a look. It's appropriately entitled "Parks WHATEVER!," as after seeing it there's not much else to say.

But then it's all downhill. I've included a map of the menu breakdown for the DVD below. Most of the material consists of lame humor bits - including a painful 10-minute short film made by and starring the filmmakers. Parks' section is the only riding footage save for the three Invisible Cinema trailers and the Sfumato trailer. Everything else is...well, just stuff. 30-second practice tests in After Effects by Chase (After Effects is an industry-standard special effects software package), the Chase Heavener Dunk Tribute and Movie Art, where the annoying digital graphic creations are displayed sans the distracting rider footage so you can really appreciate them.

One other highlight, or lowlight depending how you feel about it, is the commentary track. In 24 minutes of commentary by Chris, Chase and Matt, I think they directly refer to the film maybe three times. The rest of the time is spent discussing their drinks of choice, phoning up acquaintances and collapsing into fits of convulsive laughter at inside jokes. The laughter is infectious and amusing for one listen through, but they themselves admit during the commentary that they're making a mess of it and need to do it again. Obviously they didn't. [Tech note: selecting the "Attention Deficit Commentary" option will re-launch the film but won't necessarily bring up the alternate audio track. I found I had to tell my DVD player to switch to the alternate track - which I could do without this menu selection.]

In addition to the main film closing credits, there are five static pages of credits (including the music listing), which are a bit difficult to read. These five pages end with an apology page where Chase offers up this apology to anyone he forgot to thank:

"And to anyone I might have possibly forgot, I'm very sorry, if you are hurt by it then i will by you and ice cream cone next time i see you, just a small one though, not one of those huge waffle cones, cause those have a lot of sugar in them and Lord knows the last thing we need is sugar." (sic)

In Conclusion
Not having seen Hot Doggin', I'll accept the readership's vote that it sucks. From what I see here and what I've heard of Sfumato, Attention Deficit have obviously stepped up their game. Judging from the riding sequences, I'd say these boys definitely know their sport and how to capture it on camera - and if you've heard anything about Chase and his crew, it's that they definitely know how to keep themselves entertained. I think their youthful energy and delight at all things ridiculous are part of their charm and shouldn't be lost, but when it comes to assembling a complete film that flows well, showcases the material and keeps things creatively interesting for the rest of us, I think Attention Deficit still needs to pay a bit more attention in class.

To review this video yourself, see other reviews or get more information like music listings, rider listings, video clip and retailers where you can buy, check out Invisible Cinema in our Video Buyers Guide.

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