Surf film explained
Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:
- The surfing documentary — targeting the surfing enthusiast.
- The 1960s beach party films — targeting the broader community.
- Fictional feature films with a focus on the reality of surfing.
Surfing documentaries
The earliest-known footage of people surfing, an actuality film, was lensed by Robert Kates Bonine (Born: September 14, 1861, Altoona, PA; Died: September 11, 1923, Honolulu, HI;), beginning May 31, 1906., and at least until August 12, 1906, for Thomas A. Edison, distributed in 1907, called Hawaiian Islands, composed of over thirty segments, of which three segments, Panoramic View - Waikiki Beach Honolulu, Surf Board Riders - Waikiki Honolulu, and Surf Scenes - Waikiki Honolulu, depict people surfing.[1]
The surfing documentary film was pioneered by Bud Browne (e.g. Hawaiian Holiday) in the early 1950s and later popularized by Bruce Brown (e.g. The Endless Summer) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They were later advanced by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (e.g. Five Summer Stories) in the 1970s and beyond (MacGillivray and Freeman later went on to film IMAX movies such as To Fly! and Speed). The genre itself has been defined by surfers traveling with their friends and documenting the experience on film. In the era of Bruce Brown, Greg Noll, Bud Browne, John Severson and others, these films were projected for fans in music halls, civic centers, high school gyms, coffee houses, and high school auditoriums.
During the 1980s, the market for surf films surged with the release of more affordable video cameras. By the 1990s, the surfing market became saturated with low and medium budget surf films, many with soundtracks that reflected surf music. VHS and DVDs made the surf film viewing experience a primarily "at home" affair, leading to a decrease in popularity of public showings. Furthermore, large surf brands began sponsoring surf films to promote clothing and product sales. Titles like Sonny Miller's The Search for Rip Curl redefined the genre with exotic locales, big budgets, and big name surfers such as Tom Curren.
From the late 1990s into the present, there has been a revival of the "independent surf film." Artists such as The Malloys, Jack Johnson, and Jason Baffa have reinvented the genre by shooting self-financed 16mm motion picture film and utilizing indie music bands like G. Love, Alexi Murdoch, Mojave 3, White Buffalo, and Donavon Frankenreiter, creating what the surf media has called, "modern classics." Some venues still screen surfing films on the big screen.
Examples of surfing documentaries include:
- Hawaiian Islands (1906)[1]
- Surfing, National Sport in the Hawaiian Islands (1911)
- Burton Holmes’ Hawaiian Shores (1921)
- Topical Budget 884-2 Bucking the Waves (1928)
- Pictorial Sportreel: Riding the Crest (1939)[2]
- Surfboard Rhythm (1947)
- Thrills of the Surf (1949)
- Surfing Daze (1949)
- Slippery When Wet (1958)
- Surf Crazy (1959)
- Honolulu Surfing Daze (1959)
- Barefoot Adventure (1960)
- Surfing Hollow Days (1961)
- Waterlogged (1962)
- Gone With the Wave (1964)
- King of the Wild Waves (1964)
- The Living Curl (1965)
- The Endless Summer (1966)
- The Moods of Surfing (1967)
- The Fantastic Plastic Machine (1969)
- The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun (1970)
- Five Summer Stories (1972)
- Morning of the Earth (1973)
- Crystal Voyager (1973)
- Tubular Swells (1975)
- Storm Riders (1982)
- Momentum (1992)
- Endless Summer II (1994)
- The Kill (1993)
- Thicker than Water (2000)
- September Sessions (2000)
- (2000)
- Liquid Time (2002)
- Surf Movie: reels 1-14 (2003)
- Blue Horizon (2003)
- Step Into Liquid (2003)
- Glass Love (2004)
- Riding Giants (2004)
- Somewhere, Anywhere, Everywhere (2004)
- (2004)
- The Seedling (2004)
- AKA Girl Surfer (2004)
- Billabong Odyssey (2005)
- Fair Bits (2005)
- Going With The Flow: Classic California Soul Surfing (2005)
- Sprout (2005)
- A Broke Down Melody (2006)
- Free As A Dog (2006)
- Peel: The Peru Project - A Surf Odyssey (2006)
- The Secret Machine (2006)
- One California Day (2007)
- Sipping Jetstreams (2007)
- The Forgotten Coast (2007)
- Bustin' Down the Door (2008)
- New Emissions of Light and Sound (2008)
- Live: A Music & Surfing Experience (2008)
- Water man (2008)
- Waveriders (2008)
- Out of Place (2009)
- The Present (2009)
- Fiberglass and Megapixels (2010)
- First Love (2010)
- God Went Surfing With The Devil (2010)
- White Wash
- Year Zero (2011)
- Drift (2012)
- Here & Now: A Day in the Life of Surfing (2012)
- Strange Rumblings in Shangri-LA (2014)
- View from a Blue Moon (2015)
- Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable (2018)
- Self Discovery for Social Survival (2019)
- In The Water, Behind The Lens (2022)
Beach Party films
An alternative type of surf movie is the "beach party film" or "surf-ploitation flick" by true surfers. These films had little to do with the authentic sport and culture of surfing, and instead represented movies that attempted to cash in on the growing popularity of surfing among youth in the early 1960s. Examples of Beach Party films include:
Narrative Surf Films
In narrative surf films, surfing is occasionally portrayed more realistically within fictional storylines, or used as a backdrop or side theme.
See also
Sources
- Booth, Douglas (1996) "Surfing Films and Videos: Adolescent Fun, Alternative Lifestyle, Adventure Industry" Journal of Sport History
- Thoms, Albie (2000) Surfmovies: The History of the Surf Film in Australia
- Lisanti, Tom (2005) Hollywood Surf And Beach Movies: The First Wave, 1959-1969
- Warshaw, Matt (2005) Surf Movie Tonite!: Surf Movie Poster Art, 1957-2004 San Francisco: Chronicle Books
- Williams, Randy (2006) Sports Cinema 100 Movies: The Best of Hollywood's Athletic Heroes, Losers, Myths, and Misfits Limelight Editions pg 134-136
- Chidester, Brian; Priore, Domenic; Zuckerman, Kathy (2008) Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian surf boom Santa Monica Press Chapter 7
- Ormrod & Wheaton (2009) On the edge: leisure, consumption and the representation of adventure sports Leisure Studies Association Issue 104: 17-25
- Engle, John (2015) Surfing in the Movies: A Critical History McFarland
- JONES, DAVIS (2017) “History Of Surfing: Bud Browne Goes To The Movies” Surfer
- MacGillivray, Greg (2019) “The evolution of the surf film” Surfer Today
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: Everything you need to know about Thomas Edison's 1906 surf film . Surfer Today . 11 May 2022 . en-us . Hawaiian Islands (Thomas A. Edison, 1906): Chapters & Starting Times . May 11, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220511212301/https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/everything-you-need-to-know-about-thomas-edison-1906-surf-film . live .
- Web site: Bonine . Robert Kates . Hawaiian Islands . Thomas A. Edison . 11 May 2022 . en . 1906 . Surfer Today . via youtube; duration: 43:04 . May 11, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220511212301/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKNZZZHQpo . live .
- Web site: Was Thomas Edison Really The First Surf Movie Maker? - . Surfing Heritage and Culture Center . 11 May 2022 . 4 February 2020 . May 27, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220527030008/https://www.shacc.org/2020/02/04/was-thomas-edison-really-the-first-surf-movie-maker/ . live .
- Web site: Cater . Geoff . 1906, Thomas A. Edison's 'Hawaiian Islands' : online film and video . surfresearch.com.au . 11 May 2022 . 10 March 2022 . March 22, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220322042950/https://www.surfresearch.com.au/rutoobe.html . live .
- Web site: Watch the First Surf Movie Ever Made: A 1906 Thomas Edison Film Shot in Hawaii . Open Culture . 11 May 2022 . December 27, 2016 .
- Web site: Zaldivar . Gabe . WATCH: Edison Camera Operator Captured This Hawaiian Footage Over 100 Years Ago . TravelPulse . 11 May 2022 . March 3, 2017 . August 4, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200804141727/https://www.travelpulse.com/news/entertainment/watch-edison-camera-operator-captured-this-hawaiian-footage-over-100-years-ago.html . live .
- News: LaFrance . Adrienne . Thomas Edison's Trip to Hawaii That Maybe Never Happened . 11 May 2022 . . 23 February 2017 . en . May 11, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220511212301/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/thomas-edison-and-the-origins-of-surf-filmography/517614/ . live .
- Web site: Robert K. Bonine . PRE-VIEWS: The Motion Picture Cameramen in the Silent Era . 11 May 2022 . en . 17 March 2016 . November 8, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211108204901/https://buckeyg2.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/robert-k-bonine/ . live .
- Nelson . Kenneth E. . A Compilation of information about the life of Robert Kates Bonine 1862 - 1923 . MFA thesis . 1989 . 11 May 2022 . . . September 26, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220926102911/https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses/809/ . live .
- https://archive.org/details/44874-riding-the-crest-vwr Riding the Crest