Witness, a research documentary company, partnered with Hotbed to create a branding documentary that would help Freebord get the word out that Freebords are sick.

Their concept was simple: combine well
crafted questions, insane footage, and talented skaters doing what they do best, going off.

Witness approached Hotbed to photograph and edit the piece. Hotbed chose to shoot a mixture of16mm film and 24p video to achieve the unparalled look that film can offer. While the project could not afford to shoot entirely in film, intercutting bits of 16mm gave the piece an organic look that's impossible to achieve with video. Film added an element of soul.

The scratches, white flashes, grain, frame rate ramps, lattitude... you simply cannot achieve this in video unless you are willing to spend a lot of time in post adding back imperfections. Even then, you lose the spontenaity of performing those techniques on location. Despite the cost of film, it's still the best way to achieve a soulful look.

The pleasant side-effect of the film is that it became an incredible "non-salesy" marketing film. It was posted to YouTube and has been viewed over 40,000 times and received nearly 100 comments. Most comments say something to the effect of "Whoa, that's sick!" or "Where do I get one of those boards?!!!" The film was picked up by other video sites and then reposted many times over for who knows how many visits.

RELATED LINKS:
Watch it on youtube
See the films web presence