Snowboarding
The Economics of Snowboarding Videos
Teton Gravity Research. Stepchild. Mack Dawg. Do these names sound familiar? They didn’t to me, until a couple of years ago. They’re the names of some of the biggest, most famous producers of snowboard films. Even today, I couldn’t tell you what their most famous pieces of work are, or who they starred (unless maybe Jeremy Jones was in it). But although I am personally oblivious for the most part, it turns out lots of people are very serious about shred films; riders, sleds, helicopters, cameras and editing equipment ain’t cheap, but these production companies seem to generate enough cash to keep pumping out more movies. Some movies can get really expensive: according to Transworld Snowboarding, it was rumored the budget for Burton’s full-length “For Right or Wrong” ran into the millions.
So how much does it cost to make a movie, and who’s buying these things? Certainly I see shred films in just about every ski shop and ski resort lunchroom, but I never thought folks picked up these 30-45 minute films and took them home to watch them over and over. Given how many pages of publications like Transworld and Snowboard Canada are dedicated to talking about these movies, though, I suppose I’m the one missing the boat on all of this. Maybe I should start checking them out.
Here’s a neato trailer for “We’re People Too”, a Mack Dawg film from last year, complete with some Arcade Fire as part of the soundtrack. Cool.
Discussion
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I would love to know the same stuff… I’ve just started really watching them recently myself. My last purchase was ‘Picture This’. The video quality is great and you can tell there was a lot of effort put into post production. I also wonder how that market works, what the margins are, etc.
I used to skateboard and was watching videos as much as I could and when I started snowboard, I asked a good friends which ones were the best and got into watching them one after the other.
Follow me around from MDP is my favorite by far. Has Jeremy Jones in it too.
What I like about them is they show you the impossible. I’ve seen during a small competition a guy do a double backflip over big air with 2 snowplows in the gap but personally I think someone going down the tip of a 9000 feet mountain at insane speed and doing cliffs in the backcountry is far more impresive even on TV.
The movies show you what are the best possible conditions: blue ski and 3 feet of powder. They also let you discover new tricks and ideas.
I live in Montreal and the furtest I went to snowboard is Jay Peak. Nothing compared to what they keep talking about in the movies. I can’t wait to do waves of snow and burry my friends while I pass by. Or have a nice sunny day with no clouds.
As for the comment on
but I never thought folks picked up these 30-45 minute films and took them home to watch them over and over
I never click on advertisement on websites and even less on google adsense campaigns but google is making BILLIONS in advertisement revenues.
So I guess I’m also one missing the boat on this one by not making a website and putting google ads on it.
Hey Adam, Zaskoda,
I’ve probably got close to 30 snowboarding DVDs… I’ve bought around half of them and the rest have been a free addition to some magazine.
Some of them really are worth watching again and again. If a snowboarding movie works for me, it doesn’t matter when I watch it, it always makes me wanna go riding.
Have you seen afterlame or DC MTN.LAB? Great movies. There’s also David Benedek’s (please tell me you know who David Benedek is!) new move In Short, which is pretty good. It has footage from the slope in the UK that I’ve been riding this summer. Awesome!
You could always check out my site for other DVD reviews
Gav