The Endless Summer – Then And Now

Fifty years or so ago, I saw The Endless Summer in a suburb outside Washington, D.C., after it was released at the world premier on the 15th of June, 1966, in New York City, New York. The Endless Summer is the best of the best in ten years of Bruce Brown surfing documentaries, a cult classic, and arguably one of the best early documentary surf movies ever made.  For the plot, Director Brown follows two young surfers around the world in search of the perfect wave.  He ends up finding quite a few waves, along with a collection of colorful local characters .

Imagine my fascination as a fourteen years old, East Coaster growing up in the sprawling metropolis of Washington, D.C off to the local theater to see this film. Wow. In its day, nobody had ever seen anything like it. StarWars didn’t exist yet. The personal computer’s invention was still a decade off into the future. There weren’t any reality shows back then. Sanford and Son and All in the Family were dramatizations, considered by most very avant guard and experimental. A new Ford Mustang cost under $4,000 US Dollars. Digital cameras were a few decades away, so everything was film and chemistry.

I had never seen a surfboard before I saw the movie.  Few East Coast kids had.  There wasn’t any surf to ride on the Atlantic coast.  California seemed further away than Europe or Asia do today.  Much further.  A letter deposited into the mail took seven days to get there, and a telephone call was long distance, priced at $2 a minute.

How times have changed.  Some fifty years later, this morning, I saw “The Journey of the Beasts.”  I can not help but compare the two films. Both particularly good examples of the cultural extremes, the fringe edges of their respective times. Both films quite innovative for their time. Both exhibit excellent production values, of very similar sport based subjects. Sports clearly being near and dear to the documentarian hearts of both film makers. I marvel at the skill and production effort in both. Untold hours of footage to plan, film, view, select, edit.  Extremely difficult material to film in both cases.  Both telling in a way, the same hauntingly familiar story…

Note the difference between the film version above, made by an entire film production crew.  The digital video below, crafted by a two man team.  This digital film could not have been made in 1964.  The technology of the day simply was not up to the challenge of transitions or pull-outs of this complexity.

The Journey of the Beasts from Sebastian Linda on Vimeo.

The Journey Of The Beasts
Co-Produced by www.Titus.de
A film by www.Sebastian-Linda.de – FB: http://on.fb.me/1xVxHAX

“24 years ago I saw the first Skateboarder in my life. Since that day I had the dream of being a Skateboarder. 24 years later we took our Skateboards and travelled to the other side of the world, to create that dream for someone else.” Sebastian Linda

OCTAVIO TRINDADE – RICHARD NAUMERTAT – TOM KLEINSCHMIDT – ERIK GROSS – DAVID RADERECHT – THOMAS MEINEL – VLADIK SCHOLZ – CHRISTIAN DÖBRICH – STEFFEN KRONES – JULIUS DITTMANN – SEBASTIAN LINDA – SUNOTO

Stills by www.erik-gross.net FB: http://on.fb.me/WVITmd
Bali Timelapse Shots Daniel Kelly Brown – http://www.danielkellybrown.com/
Jakarta Timelapse Shots – Iphelo Lastiko&Rama Sutjipto
Thanks to Laksama Skateboarding and Kieron Brodie Laksamana Skateboards
https://www.facebook.com/LaksamanaSkateboards
Temple music by Fuzz Me https://soundcloud.com/fuzz-me , https://www.facebook.com/FuzzMe?fref=ts

Music will be updated within the next days. City Part: Thanks to Indonesia, Bali and all the happy people on our trip.
Mr. Elektro will also be released within the next days.
Share for the love of skateboarding and the freedom our generation has.

Please do not use any footage in musicvideos, remixes or that kind without asking or licensing.

Shot on Fs700 Canon
5d Mark III Raw
Lumix Gh3
Canon Lenses
Samyang 14mm 2,8
Canon 24mm 1,4 L
Canon 50mm
Canon 100mm 2,8 Macro
Lumix Lenses

Tracklist in order of the film

PLEASE RATE THIS STORY!  [ratings]