Hill Street looks at the origins of skateboarding and the evolution of skateboarding culture in Dublin since the late 1980s up until today.
Director: JJ Rolfe
The film gives a great overview to the history of skateboarding, but there isn't much of a narrative arc, which makes it a bit boring to watch after a while.
- Starts with slow motion shots of feet skateboarding
- Montage of archive footage whilst narrating the history of skateboarding
- Interviews filmed on location, for example in a skateboard shop. This gives the audience a wider insight to the culture and the topic that is being discussed
- The voiceover addresses how skateboarding was previously not seen as a sport but culture
- The introduction features cutaways of one guy on a seemingly singular journey on his skateboard
- The documentary features ken burns style imagery
- Archive footage is also used and stylised to juxtapose the modern imagery
- Skateboarding began in California in the 60s for surfers who couldn't go to the beach
- People subsequently started draining swimming pools to skate in
- Tony Hawk discusses his reasoning for starting to skateboard - it was as a way to seek thrill, like a form of acrobatics
- Some of the imagery is really beautifully shot, for example this silhouette during the sunset
- The documentary also deploys the reflexive style, as it shows the crew and the use of clapper boards before interviews take place
- An interview reveals how skateboarding in made up of a community of like-minded people who are carefree
Watching this documentary taught me as a director, that our film needs to have some kind of edge in order to keep the audience interested. It can't just be a constant stream of facts, it should take the audience on an emotional journey.
http://hillstreetdocumentary.com/
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