HTH Three Clips

Illustration Rob Mathieson

We just launched issue 08 of Grey Skateboard Magazine online and to celebrate, we bring you London-based filmer Henry Edwards-Wood’s Three Clips. Issue 08 is loosely based around Henry’s film City of Rats and even includes an interview with the man himself. For his Three Clips, we asked Henry to choose clips which have inspired his film work rather than his skating.

Olly Todd, Portraits

I was 15 or 16 when I first saw Portraits – the whole video was amazing but this part  in particular had a big effect on me. It’s one of the best examples of a skater’s style, surroundings and the cinematography all gelling perfectly with the music. Such an anthemic British-sounding track with such inherently British skating woven together with such skill. I also learnt a lot about editing from this part – the way (Chris) Massey chose the footage to match the movement of Toddy with the sound of the Death in Vegas track, and not just the cutting of the clips to the beat… phenomenal.  I can still watch this over and over.

London Montage, Static II

This is probably my favourite montage to watch ever. I still put this is on as a pre-skate hype clip. Static II came out not long after Portraits and made me look at my own surroundings completely differently, in terms of both skating and filming. Again, the music fitting with the visuals was a big part but really it was just great to see London skateboarding in its own right, up there next to the likes of (Ricky) Oyola and (Bobby) Puleo. The 16mm footage is great and the night footage almost made me stop filming in the daytime altogether. My favourite part is is probably when Snowy throws his board on the floor with the drop and the London title pops up in smoke with a silhouetted Southbank behind it; so fucking sick. I was seeing my local spots shown in such a glorified and stylised way, it really made me sit up and take notice of how Josh (Stewart) had achieved that with his angles and editing. The skating is also next level and I feel really privileged to have just finished a video featuring so many of the same skaters from what was such an inspirational edit for me growing up.

Flo Mirtain, Cliché commercial by Fred Mortagne

I think this was the first of Fred Mortagne’s commercials for Cliché… at least it was the first one I saw. I remember being absolutely blown away. This came out of nowhere at a time when the big DV to HD transition was just beginning and I felt it was just in another league. The emphasis on composition, style and aesthetics was so refreshing compared to the super epic slow-mo dolly edits that were being pumped out by everyone else. I was so impressed with the amount of time and effort that had gone into the post production on the clips – I’m pretty sure he shot it all on the HVX200 (the same camera I have), but the way he manipulated the camera and the footage to create such a unique and unmistakable style is true genius. In a world of crappy web edits, this and the other commercials that followed are all true works of art which to this day have not been bettered.