Picture This (Mack Dawg, 2007): USA

“Picture This”, the best snowboarders, best terrain, a few cameras, and a great director. If you are into snowboarding or any type of extreme sport, you would really enjoy this film. In Picture This, 16 of the world’s best freestyle snowboarders show us their new innovative tricks and style. What elements stand out most in the film are its new style of cinematography and its breath taking landscape shots. This film is visually stimulating and will grab your attention, even if you don’t snowboard. I saw this film at Victoria hall and left more than satisfied. Mack Dawg productions is known for making the best snowboard films not only because of their style but also because of the great riders that appear in their films, like J.P Walker.

The first thing I noticed in this film that is different about most other snowboard films I have seen is the cinematography. Snowboard films have gotten better over the years but they usually consist of helicopter shots and ordinary hand held shots. “Picture This” uses new camera techniques that heighten the viewers experience. One technique I thought was interesting was how they put a camera on a zip line system. Once the rider approached a rail or a gap, a camera would run smoothly overhead, capturing the riders trick in a new and exciting perspective. For example, in one shot a rider jumps over a gap and the camera follows next to him, over the gap. This seems impossible to the viewer but later in the film, the technique is revealed. This shows the evolution of the filming of snowboarding. In the early films, snowboarding filmmakers were mostly concerned with simply getting the shot, no matter what way. They wouldn’t be to worried about which angle to get it from, just as long as it looked “cool.” Nowadays these filmmakers are more concerned of the right angles and cinematography. Next to the zip line shots, there were many dolly shots. What used to be a plain stationary rail shot is now an interesting, dolly rail shot. This again takes much more skill to do because of timing and finesse but also makes the film more enjoyable. As far as the landscape shots, these are always amazing to see.

I encourage everyone to see this film, snowboarder or not. The great soundtrack adds to the great experience of watching these talented riders perform unbelievable tricks in the most beautiful environment on earth, picture that.