By Campbell
As discussed in previous blog posts, I have used this time to grow as a filmmaker. At the beginning of last summer, I went to the beach one day to film a friend surfing. Who would have thought that this would be the inspiration for my first film? Growing up in California, I was always surrounded by surfing. However, the culture is significantly different here in the Carolinas, and I was impressed by it. I wanted to show the world this community, and through exploration, I decided the best form was through cinema. I’ve made short videos for mountain biking and fishing, but never anything longer than 5 minutes or so with clips just thrown together. This time, however, I wanted to tell a story and showcase talent.
I did lots of research about the filmmaking process, storyboarding, and more, but not much of it applied to surf films directly. One piece of advice I took to heart was “film everything.” This was precisely what I did. I started by filming friends any chance I could and established a good network of surfers. I even met and became close to some professional surfers! Then, I got invited on trips and filmed our whole experience. We traveled up and down the Carolina coast from the Outer Banks to Charleston, and I recorded everything. I had so much footage of surfing, travels, and interviews, and a few months ago, I began putting everything together. Sorting through 50 hours of footage was, in fact, tedious, but I spent hours and hours trimming it down and editing each clip meticulously. I wanted every shot to be perfect and to tell the story the world needed to hear. The film is almost finished, and I must finish my transitions and other small things.
This experience opened me up to a new world of filmmaking and documentaries. I hope to keep telling stories through film, and one day, I will produce full-length documentaries professionally!
Here are some photos that I took through this experience that I am going to use as posters for the movie!
