Johnny Wilson.
explanation required
Screen-friend from today so I’m gonna quote Palomino Nick as he summed it up better than I could anyway:
“Nowadays, we enjoy watching videos of people just skating as much we enjoy more formal, structured skate videos. Instagram has done that for sure, but I don’t remember people presenting skating how Johnny Wilson did, in a more relaxed setting with his first vlog-style edits, before then. Tricks not being landed, people having a cigarette on the curb, dicking about while someone is trying a trick for an hour. Now, there are entire productions presented that way. Somebody can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Johnny Wilson deserves a lot more credit for pioneering that way of making skate videos. The reason Johnny’s videos have that vibe is because he wasn’t even trying to do anything — he was just filming his crew out skating.
Those edits are almost a middle ground between the photo book of nobody skating and a skate video. It’s almost voyeuristic: “I’m hanging out with these people.” But I’m not; I’m at home watching them on a computer. “Those edits had that feeling of a coffee table photo book” — did I just say that? That’s going to sound horrendous.”
Emphasis I suppose on “he wasn’t even trying to do anything – he was just filming his crew out skating.”
Source (pardon the self plug): ‘A Place For The Nerds’ — An Interview With Nick Sharratt of The Palomino | Quartersnacks
Yes but you’re forgetting that Johnny Wilson was also being paid by a huge corporate entity to be “just filming his crew out skating” which in turn surely undermines the contention that he is doing ‘just’ that?
From what I remember Johnny Wilson was labelled as Nike’s “core” tier content guy wasn’t he? Tasked with filming/creating Nike related videos to act as the foil to Ty Evans helicopter bullshit with the ‘athletes’.
From - Reel Talk: Johnny Wilson - Transworld SKATEboarding - “Quartersnacks and Nike do a lot of stuff together, that shoe last year, he’s got Nike ads on his website. My friend Dom Travis is the North American brand marketing specialist or something for Nike, so he tried to incorporate Quartersnacks and us into a bunch of stuff which has been super sick.”
Doesn’t really sound like the kind of off the cuff flaneur shit that is being claimed to me.
Whatevs though - I’m only interested in it from a anthropology perspective.
EDIT: Bottom line - if everyone in an edit is all wearing the same branded shoes and the person filming it is being paid to do it then, regardless of the intent, it’s not ‘just someone filming their crew out skating’
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Nah I wasn’t forgetting. Johnny was filming those dudes and putting out edits with them in prior to them all wearing Nikes: https://vimeo.com/user2930232
There’s five logos including Nike on the cover for ‘Paych’ and that was as recent as 2014. And I’d wager even then all of them are there as a result of pulling favours to get the making of DVDs covered - not making profit by filming those guys.
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Sorry if it sounded patronising Farran, I was 4 pints deep and bored. You’re probably right.
It does kind of open up a wider question re filmmaking more generally I guess too.
2014 is 7 years ago though.
I’ve not watched Paych in quite a while - but doesn’t it have proper ‘parts’? Cyrus Bennet had a really good one, for example.
Maybe I’m wrong, but theres a lot of fisheye and a structure to it where they seem to be hitting spots with ideas and building ‘sections’ in more of a ‘classic’ skate video way than his Nike-salaried stuff.
So, I think there really is intention to do something. The same with when his videos changed up as he started to work for Nike. In its most basic form, his videos are the in between of proper parts and Thrasher My War edits. Except with cooler NYC settings.
I’m in no way saying JW doesn’t make great videos. I am just saying that I think there is a huge amount of intention in shooting and editing that output…and if you want this…
then I think probably the only example which springs to mind for me is this:
(Which I was always a bit bummed on when I got it on VHS).
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I paid full whack for that, (£20+), sat down for a ‘premiere’ with a whole bunch of mates and … it sucked 
.
Ok, it can be considered an oddity and does get a very occasional outing for old times sake now, but at the time that cash could certainly have been better spent. Although there are a few minutes in there, e.g. little Heath slinging crack in a bar etc that raised a smile at the first viewing.
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Underage nudity and crack dealing.
Imagine the (justifiable) outrage if it came out in the shareable age
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As we’ve wandered into this territory, I suppose those early videos that Colin Kennedy made for Numbers (before the veil fell away and everyone realised it was dogshit) were aiming for that neutral observer gaze.
Let me find one
Being edited to look unedited is a bit paradoxical though.
Long form insta clips I guess
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Yeah, I think I got it for about £13 a while after it was out.
Discounted for good reason, I guess. I bought it as it was the cheapest video in Slam.
I’m pretty sure it was only a few weeks before I went back with birthday money to buy Tentacles of Destruction which cleansed the Foundation palette.
Barbarians was weird. It was skateboarding which I loved. It was skaters I loved. But I was confused as all this together didn’t equal love.
It might have been a bit of a turning point for me where I began to not just love everything skateboarding I reckon.
Probably a good thing ultimately, but 14 year old me would disagree.
I got it when it first came out too, I really liked it. Which I can only put down to being desperate for any kind of ‘skate’ content however tenuous.
Kids these days etc etc
I loved it but I didn’t pay for it.
Nah all good. I guess it’s just easy to forget Johnny Wilson’s real early output because apart from the likes of Paych/Beef Patty/Horny - his swoosh (and now Supreme, I guess) output is in more regular circulation.
I haven’t watched Paych in a while either but @Londonskater is probably right. I was applying the thing about being totally removed from what’s going on and purely documenting more to the older stuff that’s on that Vimeo link I posted.
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Little bonus round on this to wrap it up.
I went through AVE’s parts as I was making the Green Bench video, pulled every curved ledge hit for this mixtape.
https://twitter.com/quartersnacks/status/1390738042147717122?s=21
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Johnny Wilson definitely did that style the best for in the Youtube/Vimeo era but prior to that when everyone used to use Quicktime for online skate clips there was a load of that ‘blog’ style content from various crews on Skate Perception forum and then sites like old Blueprint, Slam, Crail etc. which is all long gone from the net
Wouldn’t call him a pioneer but he popularised it for sure helped by exposure on Quartersnacks
In fairness…MYSKATEORDIE was the one.
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I’ve got rips of most of those old Tales of the Black Glove edits somewhere.
Will upload if anyone’s keen.
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Please do I remember enjoying them!
I’ll dig them out - shall I put them in here?
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