The role that surf movies play in the life of a surfer is pivotal. Especially if you grow up as an adolescent surfing and watching surf movies. For the most part, these projects have now been trimmed down into quick 30 second IG edits. The stoke is still real; everybody can find some kind of content to raise their froth level, it’s just a matter of how long you have to scroll to get there. Before, we experienced the easier times – slap in your DVD, sit back and enjoy the show. You were somewhat forced to keep your attention tuned to each surfer: what waves were they surfing, what kind of equipment did they ride, how much different of a line did he draw than the last guy, who are their sponsors, etc, etc. I feel that some, if not all of this lore is lost in today’s world of instant gratification.
Of course any surfer would reach the point of having at least one entire movie stored in our own personal database that we call a brain – who surfs to what song, which surfer scored the ending part, our favorite sections, so on and so forth. After the first 10+ watches – yeah, maybe you’re right, maybe we did fast forward through a couple of sections to get to our favorite surfers part. But this pales in comparison to today’s ‘doom scrolling’, where we just zoom and zoom and zoom by waves being ridden in all manners. Before, you would have to at least try to appreciate every surfer. Watch a few of their waves, start to figure out their style and approach, give them the time of day. They earned a part in that movie you are taking the time to watch. Now, if you’re not trending, having your clips shared across the internets and accessing the algorithm, good luck getting some eyes (and money) flowing your way. Even if you can get some eyes (and money) rolling in, social media content is a moving target. Here today, gone tomorrow. Obviously that’s not literal, we can see a user’s past posts, but why do you think these vloggers are constantly producing content? A new post every week. Nonstop marketing. “Hit the like and subscribe buttons”. Every social media post is deemed to have a ‘lifespan’, with a youtube video lasting the longest at about 20 days. I’ve had most of my surf DVD’s for over 15 years. I can look at my physical stack of movie titles and start having flashbacks of clips, songs and sections racing through my pineal gland – from start to finish. I can not say the same for any youtube vlog video, and definitely not any IG posts.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some great movies out on youtube. A few of my recent favorites are PENTACOASTAL, GLAD YOU SCORED, SNAPT4, and NOZ VID (which looks like it may have been taken down). It only makes sense to post your hard work up on the internet for the chance at millions of viewers. Why would you go through the trouble of making physical copies of DVDs? You cant even see your work (how many views you get). Who even owns a DVD player anymore? A lot of cult classics that were previously DVD’s have been posted onto youtube for free, including Taylor Steeles collection ‘The Momentum Files’ which you can view here. Point being, the internet is the recent past, and the future. I’m pissed about it and I always will be. The cloud is the predetermined destination for any project that will come out. And you can count on humans attention spans shrinking at an alarming rate. If you’re thinking of putting any kind of surf content out for public consumption it better be striking.
One of the DVDs that I own and have downloaded in my system from start to finish is the first Innersection. And one of the sections that struck me as a grom is the late, great Mikala Jones’. This angle of a barrel might have been the closest I had ever been to getting in one at the time. The scene gripped me. How could you even get into waves like that with a camera strapped to the back of your board? Let alone surf them successfully? I remember being astonished. This was the first time I actually wanted to try and get barreled, no matter how scary it was. I rewatched this part hundreds of times. This specific section turned an unknown surfer into someone I idolized. I mean just look at this one! His barrel riding was unanimous throughout the surf world, and that’s what ultimately caught my attention. His in-barrel photos and videos were groundbreaking. In the news of his devastating passing I am reminded of a few more of my childhood surf heroes who never saw any spotlight after the internet took over. The (internet) world is moving too fast. I see a clip now and I keep scrolling. This movie made me follow Mikala’s career. Real projects with passion and time and love behind them are more and more rare to come by, only replaced by IG reels, posts, and tik toks to keep sponsors happy. I will miss the days of old when “content” was passionately made, intensely enjoyed. I am glad I got to learn of Mikala back in the day. He has been and will always be a legend in the surf world. He will be deeply missed. Love, thoughts, and prayers to the Jones family.
RIP IN PARADISE MIKALA. JONES.
Sincerely,
hwilsin