Date: 3/22/04
Author: Christopher Stack

Related Items:
WakeWorld Video Guide: Premier VM #1
Review: Blacklist
Review: Scrubs of the South
Review: Invisible Cinema

Pros - No filler, just excellent riding. Fresh faces. Up-to-date footage.

Cons - Commercials. Low-budget. Sometimes sketchy camera work. Weak extras.

The Skinny - A low-budget, no-frills video packed with great riding, okay music and some less-than-perfect camera work, but overall an enjoyable basic riding vid.

Review

At first impression, the Premier DVD comes off a bit cheesy. The insert cover looks a bit cheap (like a photocopy) and gives the overall impression of low-budget, and, basically, it is. This is obviously a film made on a shoestring, which makes sense as this is meant to be a video magazine issue, not a stand-alone film. But delve into the DVD and you'll find that despite some flaws and a somewhat low-budget feel, this disc is packed with riding footage and represents a potentially rewarding angle on wakeboard filmmaking.

Doing a quarterly magazine (or whatever it ends up being) is a great idea (though Pendelum isn't the first). There are distinct advantages to putting out a timely up-to-date periodical that standard films can't compete with. Unfortunately, this time around those advantages weren't...well, taken advantage of.

For instance, during the Spotlight section with Daniel Watkins, Josh Sanders gets a cameo appearance and, apart from a heelside seven, doesn't throw much. This is the man that Wake Boarding magazine proclaimed might be the next 1080 guy. So why didn't we even see the wake-to-wake 9's he's famous for? Even just some attempts at the 1080 would have put this vids debut on the cutting edge, just ahead of WakeWorld's 1080 competition announcement. That's exactly the kind of advantage a quick-turnaround project has.

Regardless, what this vid does deliver is riding, and in copious amounts. There's even a healthy section of wakeskating. Clocking in at 26.5 minutes, with a good three minutes of that wakeskating, the vid isn't the longest out there, but at least you get an ample amount of riding footage. Aside from some interview footage with Daniel Watkins in the Spotlight section, pretty much everything on the screen takes place on water.

The best section here by far is Jimmy Wolf's. This guy absolutely rips, and if you've been on WakeWorld at all you've probably seen some footage of him. Back-to-back wake-to-wake heelside/toeside 9's, double-grabbed heelside frontside 7, osmosis 5, crow mobe 5. He's a spin wizard and just another example of how quickly what is considered "required" in the sport is changing. It won't be long where you won't be able to win a pro stop without including a wake-to-wake 9 and guys like Jimmy are the reason why. That day isn't here yet, but it's fast approaching.

My main complaint with the film would be the camera work. Much of it is fine, but quite a bit is basically not very good, at extreme times reminding me of amateur videos posted on the Internet where you expect folks to not know how to hold a camera steady, to shoot into the sun or be too zoomed in. There are a few nice overhead shots done from land and quite a bit is follow footage, but sometimes you're left wondering what the camera person was thinking.

Assuming this DVD is an indication of how Pendelum intends to keep the format, the magazine is divided into six sections, with the following descriptions as far as I could discern them:

1. Rookie [Jeff Weatherall] - New pro section
2. Dam Ams [Mike Fulton] - Amateur section
3. Wakeskate [Joey White] - Wakeskate section (duh)
4. Random Sightings [Rob Struharik, Brian Francis, Keith Lyman, Cathy Williams, various] - Mostly pros, some just briefly featured, others get extended sections
5. Up Next [Jimmy Wolf] - Outlaw section
6. Spotlight [Daniel Watkins] - Pro interview and riding footage

One thing not represented in the breakdown above is the two commercials inserted between sections. That's right. Commercials. One each for Collective Development, and Campus. I was stunned when I saw those appear on the screen. I can definitely do without ads for the sponsor companies in the middle of the film. Put them in the extras or tag them on the end, whatever. But smack in the middle? The Campus ad right before the wakeskate section? Come on.

As for the extras section...well, it's not even worth talking about. The so-called extras are the two previously mentioned commercials, plus another one for Axis Sports, and the intro that plays when you first pop the DVD in (and, ironically, it is also the backdrop for the extras section!). Pretty weak. I guess everyone just feels they have to put an extras section in because it's a DVD, but it just looks so ridiculous when companies try to pass off ads or footage already used in the film as "extras." Might as well just blow it off.

Wrap Up

At $20 for 26 minutes of riding footage, you're certainly getting more riding for your buck than some more recent "pro" releases. In addition, the producers apologized for not having more film. Apparently some of their planned shoots were rained out, so their next release may run longer. The photography isn't up to the same level as many, but that will probably improve. As a first step out of the gate, this isn't a bad debut. Hopefully from here out they'll be able to refine the process and focus more on maximizing their advantages (up-to-date footage, fresh faces, new developments) and minimizing their weaknesses (low budget production and packaging). And please, get rid of the commercial/promo spots in the film. Don't go there.

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 Premier Video Magazine #1 in our Video Buyers Guide.

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