Yeah Right! Explained

Yeah Right!
Director:Ty Evans
Spike Jonze
Producer:Megan Baltimore
Music:Sam Spiegel
Cinematography:Ty Evans
Tom Lohmann
Editing:Ty Evans
Distributor:Girl Films
Country:United States
Language:English

Yeah Right! is a 2003 skateboarding video by Girl Skateboards (featuring Chocolate Skateboards), directed by Ty Evans and Spike Jonze. Yeah Right! is notable for its soundtrack, length, and the extensive use of never-before-seen (in a skateboarding video) special effects. In his book Skateboard Video, Duncan McDuie-Ra considers Yeah Right! one of the four "finalists" of the skateboard video canon.[1]

Summary

A short prologue pays tribute to skater Keenan Milton, who died in 2001. Milton was part of Chocolate Skateboards team, a subset of Girl Skateboards.

The introduction credits for the video feature a unique series of shots in ultra-slow motion, filmed with Jonze's personal camera that is capable of shooting 100 frames per second. The camera is low to the ground and very close to the skateboarder as various flip tricks are completed. In this sequence a different skater is shot landing on the skateboard noticed by the different shoes on the feet that appear to land each trick.

Although Yeah Right features mainly skateboarding, there are many special effects used. There are several different scenes in between skaters' parts which make use of green screen technology like the "invisible skateboards" bit and other camera effects such as the "magic board" and the "Skatetrix" bits.[2]

A cameo is made by Owen Wilson. He is in a parking lot with Rick Howard, Eric Koston and Mike Carroll preparing to perform a trick on a handrail. By framing the camera very carefully, it appears that Wilson attempts a backside bluntslide. However, while the camera was facing the opposite direction for a moment, Wilson had slipped out of the frame and is replaced by Eric Koston who is wearing a wig and matching clothes. Koston performs the trick down the staircase and Wilson reappears in the shot after Koston lands to make it look like he completed the trick.[3]

Cast

Yeah Right! features the Girl Skateboards team, along with Chocolate Skateboards.

(in order of appearance)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: McDuie-Ra, Duncan . Skateboard Video: Archiving the City from Below . September 20, 2021 . Springer Nature . 978-981-16-5699-6 . 35 . en.
  2. Book: Borden, Iain . Skateboarding and the City: A Complete History . February 21, 2019 . . 978-1-4725-8348-2 . 86–87 . en.
  3. Web site: Russell . Calum . November 5, 2021 . The skateboarding film Spike Jonze made with Owen Wilson . 2022-10-13 . .