What if skiing put all its efforts towards comps and eliminated the film industry entirely?

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dylhole

Active member
this is what the trend seems to be. so tanner, you are right on with some of your thoughts on filming.
 
team managers would rather put the majority of their athletes efforts into comps than filming. it sucks. what gets you more stoked: watching your first september film purchase or waiting to see an internet video about a honda ski tour or joi?
 
First of all, that would go against anything of skiing. Skiing is about freedom and fun, not about money. Competitions are what sports make money off of.
 
DEAD TO YOU and THE SKI will be in vermont soon to start filming a ski movie........

DEAD TO YOU and THE SKI will also be looking for team members...

more info very soon....

ethan

 
tell that to mack dawg, standard films, and absinthe. the competition is within the films themselves and the best one gets the most exposure = more money from sponsors for riders and filmers.

who really gives a fuck about the honda ski tour? did you honestly care when simon won in squaw or all the rest. the couple hundred people watching in the crowd? the few ignorant people who stumbel across nbc at an underadvertised time and 10 actual minutes of ski footage? what about the nippon open? the jump was whack, tens of thousands of dollars were thrown at it, and it will not sell a single pair of skis outside the small area of japan. yet, big prize money and stoked team managers were all awarded by the nippon open.

filming costs money, but an educated marketing manager (which doesn't truly exist in the ski industry) would recognize the value of a worthy ski segment and pay the rider accordingly. the marketing exposure of a segment like liam's in lss is worth more to me then a podium finish at the open, straight up.
 
Liam is operating on nothing basically. his sponsors pay for stuff. he has money for food and rent or whatever, but hardly anything else. he goes with the flow. now look at simon. big competition athlete. He's living it up, buying a house in florida. Im only an amateur, but i still feel the need for competitions. i couldnt do much filming in february and march because i had to compete nearly every weekend. If i dont make money competing, i wont have any money to take trips and have fun/film. If i had my choice, i would never compete and only film/ski for fun. you gotta do what you gotta do
 
but how much money have you made this year from all those contests? perhaps use those entry fees for trips instead
 
I think film better shows an athletes talent and the creative aspects of skiing much better than a competition does.

From a ski companies standpoint, the point of sponsoring athletes is to give their skis exposure on the feet of talented athletes. A competition happens once, and may be watched more than once on the internet or on tv with shitty substandard quality and commercials. A video may be watched many times by a potential customer, and so gives the brand greater exposure than does a competition.

The reason that high profile competitions like the XGames still exist is that they are showcases for brands. ESPN would not carry them if it could not make money from the coverage (commercials, payment from event sponsors). Skiing is simply being used as the intertainment that keeps the viewers glued to the screen between ad spots. I can tell you for a fact that Taco Bell does not give a shit about what is happening in the sport of skiing, and neither does ESPN. They are in it because they see money to be made, not a soulful experience to take part in.

Well made videos take a massive amount of time, money, and energy to make. Production companies, from the large such as Level 1, The Bigger Picture, and Plehouse to smaller outfits such as I Hate NY, 4bi9, and Meathead (just to name a few) are interested in skiing, because they are skiers. These production companies are still creating artistic and intriguing films, while a large portion of the ski film industry has fallen into the realm of big budget and slow mo (MSP, TGR, Poorboyz), elements that can be found in any big time action sports video.

Video requires a synthesis of talented skiing as well as talented filming and filmmaking. Just as ski photography is an art in and of itself, so is ski videography. The emphasis on competitions is a bad thing for the athletes as well as the productions companies, and I would challenge the industry to step back and reevalutate its priorities in this regard.
 
i hear large amounts of hate for "one" skier in particular and he is by far the highest paid american athlete. people hate on his double front and people hate on his pipe skills. with all this he still is the highest paid for sponsors and competitions.

 
straight up. fuck paying to go on a film trip. I think the trend this thread is pointing out is an explosion of talented young kids in the industry who still lack enough sponsor money to just film like a well known skier. i have talked to a lot of kids who say how they would like to shoot more but competing is the only thing that makes sense for them. even abma didnt get film segments untill he took 5th in the open.
 
i don't know if anyone here is into supercross/motocross/Freestyle MX. But our sport is following that same trend. There is always going to be comps, and always going to be films. We are just getting more exposure now than before. Comps can be filmed too. I am amazed that there isn't someone out there who compiles footage from the biggest events of the year and makes a video from it.
 
There is a new hour show being broadcasted this April called the Jeep Terrain Park Challenge. I thought it was well done. They actually called tricks correctly. But yeah, seeing the Opens in a film format is a good idea.
 
comps are gay.. cool to watch highlights though.. but standing in the snow waitn 15 min between each rider and having shitty music playing whilest every 10 seconds the fag j onthe mike is praising the sponsers and shit... and then they toss out swag that has the sponser logos on it and everything is fuckin expenive... its just a cluster fuck.. its not my scene.. not waht makes me ski and sure as shit does not make a person a god. cause they won a park comp!
 
What if every one stopped being pussy's and did both like all the O G's do

Tanner hall

Candide

Andreas

Vanular

Phillipi

Felton

Durtchi

sammy

ect......................

 
ive put about 400 into entry fees/tickets this year and got 5000 out of it. Now, every time i go to hit urban, i end up spending like 50 bucks and get no money out of it. Other trips will run me alot more money, and theres no way i could go on these trips without competing to get money. Id love to keep going on trips for my own pleasure or filming, but i cant wihtout competing. Maybe if sponsors would support their riders more, that opportunity could be presented. But the industry either lacks the money or the care to do that.
 
That would never happen, even though its obviously smart for companies to put their riders in comps, the core of the sport is based on creativity and freedom and all that jazz, and will always be centered around that.. i dont know why people are actually worried abotu this
 
i don't give a shit about comps. I hate organized sports in general, so comps are crap to me. The only comps i like are pipe because you gte to see all of the riders throwing down at once.  Everything else there is too much waiting and it get too repetative....films are waayy sicker and they get me sooo stoaked. 
 
You don't see MFM or JP at the X Games, do you?  And they're not living in homeless shelters.   
 
Yea, you might not see them at X-games... but MFM is a marketing name (MFM pro spy soldier, pro drop gloves, pro skullcandy headphones, pro backpack, pro section clothing line, pro snowboards etc...)

JP also works for Orage, and for Armada... that helps.

But if they were only filming, I don't think that they would have a lot of cash in pockets.
 
I think we are at the beginning of our sport exploding. It's not gonna happen in one year. It's still not in the olympics (hopefully soon). Our sport is small. There are not enough people to support big budget sponsors(unless you go outside the industry like simon and target). It's similar to in the late 90's when 1-800- Collect sponsored Jeremy McGrath and did a commercial with them. Now these races are aired on CBS, appearances on Jay Leno, the emergence of FMX as a premiere event. When this happens more people will be attracted to try skiing. Hopefully enough people will stick with it pump more money into the industry.

If a ski resort could figure out how to offer affordable seasons passes, and day tickets more of population could afford it. This sport is not cheap.
 
...accdientally hit enter.

If a ski resort could figure out how to make there operations cheaper, so they wouldnt need to charge so much for tickets and food to make a profit more people could afford it. Unfortunately, Joey's keep there sport going, I'm sure most people on this site don't have big budgets to spend on new equipment every year, buy meals at the mountain, and seasons tickets or day passes, maybe a hotel for the night. But that is what the general public has to do.
 
true, but skiers like sammy, and others are leaning towards filming already more than competeing. Next year will tell alot in this industry. I think you'll see alot of athletes go one way, and alot of the others another.

and to all you kids who dont think there should be film companies and there should soley be comps, think of this. More comps yes it means more money and more exposure, but it also means more riders. All of these riders will flood the competition scene. And eventually the number of events will keep many athletes from filming and many athletes from competeing. Eventually the number of events will reach a point, where there are so many kids, that only 100 kids or so will make enough to live off of comps, while there are like 3000 kids or more just trying to get a dime. The numbers may not get that high, but eliminating films, would only ruin what exposure and money the kids and athletes and make simply because they choose to film, and do something that requires more telent, and creativity.
 
a film is the only true way the general public is ever going to know what skiing should be all about.

comps are cool and all, but if you really want to see what somebody can do, or are even about, they need to make a bomber vid part.

BUT THE PROBLEM IS that most companies out there in the "ski" world who have all the money don't understand what this aspect of skiing is really all about. They aren't suporting it financialy as other companies do in say surfing, or skating ar whatever. these ski companies are putting all there money in to racing and rental skis and shit like that. if they only had half a brain they would suport the youth movement of skiing and put the money in the right place.

places like comp purses, suporting their pros and semi pros the way they should be supported. and by suporting films. cause with out films they won't get nearly as much exposiour for their brand.

so all in all some companies are chill but they can barley eat most of the time. well not really but you know what i mean.

that was a useless rant
 
I was referencing JP Walker--not Auclair--and what you said about MFM was exactly my point.  The big names in snowboarding don't waste their time with comps, and that's why their movies are way sweeter than ours (the only movie I bought this year was More).  The comp snowboarders (Shaun White, Mason Aguirre, etc.) are an entirely different group.  
 
to who ever mentioned mfm - the dude is a business man. he owns a hotel chain dude, he doesn't need to compete to get money, he could make money simply because of his name nowadays.
 
not entirely true! its basically allot sponsorship money! Sponsors fund the big contests, as well as the movies. Sponsors need the contests to say they have top-rank skiers on thier team. They also need the movies as a source of media and a way to show off thier product and skiers!

comps= money for the 3 best skiers

filming= money spent for producer as an investment

money= sponsors
 
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