Skating a Frozen Beach

An unusual environment for a skate film caught our attention this morning: the beach. Given that sand is a wholly inconvenient surface for skateboards (impossibly so), this seemed like a strange choice. This was until we delved a little deeper and discovered the film is set in Norway, during Winter.

In a similar ilk to the photography project by Hannu Huhtamo we covered a while ago on Qulture, this skate film was made during The Polar Nights: the Nordic Winter during which there is little to no daylight. The phenomenon seems to grab the interest of a number of artists due to the strange and unconventional hues of light that you can capture for both photographic and video content.

Anyway, in NORTHBOUND, these Norwegian skaters decided to tackle the cold and go and play around on a Norwegian beach in deepest Winter, whilst all the sand is frozen solid. This results in an unique surface upon which to skate: immensely slippery, rock-solid and a significant challenge for any skater. In fact, the films acts as a sort of learning curve for the guys involved; they begin by cruising along the beach, finding their feet, slipping and sliding, before finding bits of debris with which they can experiment: old rowing boats, barrels etc.

After clowning around on their newfound toys, they decide to do something bigger and better. In the little daylight they have, they build a halfpipe out of sand and leave it overnight. The result? A frozen, sand halfpipe. We are then treated to some incredible skating footage as they all get to grips and pull off increasingly impressive tricks on their innovative creation.

What struck us about this skate film, however, wasn’t just the creativity and innovation from the Norwegians. The cinematography is quite simply stunning throughout the 8-minute piece. This is partly thanks to the quite unimaginably beautiful scenery around them: a secluded beach, crashing waves, orange and pink hues warming the horizon line and teasing daylight: it is exquisite. Framing a skate film against a backdrop like this creates an aesthetically magnificent piece of cinematography. Additionally, the consistent blue/grey tint to the filming gives it an icy cold aura, mirroring the freezing temperatures in which this was filmed and sending a shiver down the viewer’s spine.

Scintillating cinematography for a Sunday, check it out here.