about time (2001)

Simply put, I wanted to make this video in 1992. The idea was always there, a full length Southend Scene video, something that defined what it meant to be a skateboarder in Southend, not just for me but for all the dudes who ripped it week in, week out at Farringdon, B&Q, Victoria Ave, the Royals, the Precinct, Halfords etc etc. Although I started filming in 1992, when I got my first video camera (a VHS-C heavyweight courtesy of the great Ant Morgan), my desire to make a Southend scene video had to wait 8 years to become reality, as I just did not have the ability to cut and edit to the standard I wanted. This project was always ......about time.



the place to be!

Six years later in 1998 I was ready. I had a good job in London, had a car and was skating every weekend plus some weeknights. It was in 1998 that I also got my first mini DV camera and suddenly the quality and ease of transfer of footage increased dramatically. At this point I had already made 3 videos (Creature Pants, Summer 96 and Episode II) but the Southend Scene video still niggled away at me. Nobody had done it. There were so many great skaters in Southend, so much footage gathered but nobody had translated this into a full scene video. Sidewalk Surfer magazine never featured Southend which always annoyed me as I was proud of my home town and I wanted to show people the great skating there. The time was right to make the video…… but I decided to do it in secret!

My mission was to openly film everyone (which was common back then) but to edit in secret and not show anyone anything until the video was complete. Fortunately for me, my younger bother, Alex, had just started his career as professional editor. Although we were very much learning as we went, he had access to some decent equipment which meant we could edit properly. Alex’s contribution to about time was beyond a brotherly favour. Without him, this video would never, ever have been made, simple as that.

So I filmed. I filmed everyone that was out and skating well. That winter in 1999 was all about the indoor park in Southend (props to Ben & Luke for building it!) and it was a dream come true. For too many years I had spent winters freezing in car parks; just me and Simon Nash trying to slide unwaxed curbs. Suddenly we had an indoor park and it was amazing, so I focussed my filming there. The indoor park section of 'about time' was the first section we completed. I think ultimately for me it is the best section of the video in terms of skate quality, editing etc. It nearly killed us editing that section and took many, many long evenings. When it was done though, I knew a Southend scene video was possible.

Gav Martin, Southend indoor park.  Launch ramps...the greatest skate obstacle of all time?!?

I was desperate to show people the indoor park section right then but I made myself wait almost a year. What was very clear though was that I needed a lot more footage if I wanted to make this video work. So for the next 6 months I continued to film people at the weekend and edit in secret for a couple of hours a time on weeknights with my brother. I wouldn’t like to estimate how many hours we spent in that edit suite, but it was a lot.

When we were getting close to finishing the edit I knew we needed a big session to finalise the mix. We decided on a full weekend of straight editing. It was something like a 20 hour weekend but at the end we were finished. My man Ant popped round to the edit suite on our final day with a bottle of champagne, and we sat back and watched the whole 40min video from end to end for the first time. 40mins does not sound like a lot, but in weeknight editing terms, it is an eternity. A week later Ant set up a private screening in the client’s cinema of his sound studio in Soho and the 3 of us watched it on a big screen. Simply put it was a dream come true.

Martin Brothers, many many long hours spent in this room

What follows is a brief comment on each of the 11 sections that make up the video:

1. Intro

The intro is a piece of creativity from my brother Alex. It was one of final things we did for the video and it steals from a well known sci-fi movie. I kind of like the fact that it has nothing to do with skating at all. Musically I wanted a real mysterious piece for the intro and Mr.Scarface always had the best intros to his albums, so it was an easy choice.

name that sci-fi movie?



2. Opening Montage

The opening montage concept is an institution in skate videos, just think Plan B videos! Generally it contains some of the best skating in the video but also tries not to give too much away. Really it is there to wet the viewer’s appetite. With this in mind I also tried to pick tricks that did not appear in the rest of the video, to make it re-watchable in its own right. The opening trick for the video had to be a big one and Barry’s switch ollie at Prittlewell was just that. Incredible. I doubt anyone else has ever done that. What follows Barry is some full speed magic from Paul, a Simon Palmer rail attack and my own Fiat Panda manual fun. I used a double angle shot for each of these, which was pretty unusual back then. The rest of the section is some more amazing skating from a variety of people and some shots of Southend, which was really important to set the scene. To follow the Scarface intro I wanted something really upbeat and hard hitting for the music. The track I used, ‘Panic Zone’ by the Arabian Prince of NWA, is a really unique song that I have always liked. Crazy Dr.Dre beat. Love it.



Barry Dring switch ollie the Prittlewell 3.  Insane!   Phil, do you have that photo?



Super fast, super high, caught clean backside flip....it can only be Paul Griffiths.  Amazing!



3. Lewis Bowyer Section

The majority of this video was about the friends I had grown up skating with in Southend for 15 years. But I felt I should also showcase some of the future talent in Southend, and that meant little Lew! Lewis Bowyer was so good at such an early age and he really had the hunger and love of skating that we all had, before our twenties hit. Lew is also the nollie king, which I think comes across pretty well in his part. Some of the footage Lew already had himself, including the amazing ‘don’t try this at home’ car park jumps and the crazy car accident ender. For me this section was a great way to start the video proper.



Lewis Bowyer 2nd floor jump of death!

4. Back in the Day

This section was about honouring the video I wanted to make in 92-93. Amazingly, this footage is now almost 20 years old. My single favourite memory of skateboarding in Southend back then is Friday nights at Farringdon car park. They were the best sessions, with my best friends and something I looked forward to all week at school. I basically grew up there. This retrospective section therefore starts with Farringdon footage. I love the shots of Niall, Simon, Ben, Paul etc in this section, all looking mad young! The overall effect comes off pretty well I think but there was so much quality skating done in that dark, dirty car park that never made it to video but we did not care at the time. Skateboarding just for the thrill, without the need or desire to film. Anybody remember that? !



Simon Nash noseslide the main Farringdon curb, 1992.



Lil' Paul Griffiths noseslide to crooks, 1992



The rest of this section captures some other classic Southend spots from 92-93; Serviceman (the Saturday morning spot!), Sainsbury’s, Royals stairs, Pier Hill 10, Cliffs Pavilion, B&Q, Black Death, Seafront steps, Court House stairs etc etc. I shot some of that footage with the great Shaun Ward but for some reason he never wanted to be filmed so I am sad to say that my video lacks one of the Southend greats.



Gav Martin frontside 360 the Royals stairs, 1993



Niall Lynch backside tailslide the O.G. B&Q blocks, 1993 (my first ride in the background)

The biggest challenge with this section was transferring the old footage from the 10+ VHS tapes I had. Al and I spent a long time on this and we also went back to Farringdon and Serviceman etc to film the ‘present day’ shots to mix in with the old footage. I was pretty pleased with how that came out. I was also given VHS tapes of Barry, John, and Phil etc which added a lot to this section so I am really grateful for that. Overall I still wish we had made a Southend scene video in 1992 but this section at least reminds me of those great days!

5. Sound of Da Police

So this was a little interlude between sections using a few shots I had of Jay Tate and Lil' Matt nearly getting arrested for skating a school in Rayleigh. I cannot even remember why the cops let me film that stuff, pretty funny. Skateboarding is not a crime!


Skateboarding is a crime, in Rayleigh anyway



6. Indoor Park Section

‘Big Al rest in peace’. Guru’s classic line was of course directed at Big L not Big Al but I felt it still worked. I dedicated this section to Alan because an indoor park in Southend was his dream, and he made it happen. This section has over 50 tricks, over 20 different skaters, Phil Howes classic still photography mixed in, a magazine shoot and one sick section ender. As I said earlier, this section is my favourite in the video. I hope Alan would have liked it too!



R.I.P

Gav Martin wallride through 50 skate mags, as seen in Big Brother magazine issue 55!

Lee Blackwell wallride over Gav Martin's switch wallride.  Tidy



John Ellison, master of control, backside tailslide



Barry Dring, master of power,  noseblunt slide



7. Waistline Connection

Big up da crew; Ben Sutcliff, Mark Longman and Phil Howes.  Chow Down when you come to our town.  Nuff Said.



'Waistline.....!'



8. Sunday….4pm

B&Q is my favourite Southend skate spot of all time and I did my best skating there. Sunday afternoons at B&Q were unpredictable and spontaneous; you never knew who would turn up at 4pm when the store closed, and what launch ramp or homemade rail they would bring with them. I wanted this section to try and capture that and I also wanted an emotional song that would do justice to my favourite spot. I think I got both!

My favourite shots in this section are the ones that show how many guys would skate B&Q on a Sunday afternoon. 15, 20, 25+ was pretty normal. I have even skated there with over 50 dudes at one time, which is not bad for what is essentially just flat ground.



Some B&Q Heads



B&Qs other aspect was the centre stage manual pad. My favourite trick in this section is John Ellison’s backside 180 fakie manual. So ahead of its time and so impossible, even today!! B&Q was the best spot for me and I am pretty pleased with how this section came out and how it holds up 10 years later. B&Q 4 Life.



John Ellison backside 180 fakie manual, B&Q late 90's.  Amazing.



Gav Martin frontside 180 fakie manual, seconds later.  Symmetry.



9. Commitment

Someone once said to me that their favourite part of whole video was Jamie Moneypenny screaming in pain upon rolling his ankle for the 2nd time whilst trying to nollie the Blackdeath stairs. They said they couldn’t stop laughing and had to keep playing it back! A little harsh on Jamie but that was the whole point of this section though, as slams are pretty funny to watch. But as the classic 'Blade' vocal, on the accompanying music says, ‘don’t give up’. Jamie certainly didn’t and neither should you.



Commitment



10. Directors’ Cut

The only thing I want to say about this section is thanks to the reviewer from Sidewalk Surfer magazine for comparing my manual tricks to Henry Sanchez. That alone made everything worthwhile. If only the comparison were true!

sidewalk surfer magazine review 2001 

11. Southend United

The point of this section, the final proper section of the video, was to really emphasise that Southend has a great scene but also that it was bigger and better than I had captured in the rest of the video. Therefore there are shots in this section of dudes that I just did not have much skate footage of, like Glenn Steed, Phil Clutton, and Ben Doyle etc etc. Southend United was also the original title of the video I wanted to make in 92!

Barry Drings' garden

Incidentally, there are two versions of 'about time' in existence. The original is as per the link at the top but having shifted about 50 copies of the video more people wanted to get a copy so I had to make another 50 or so copies. On the second run I changed one of the songs, in the Southend United section. On reflection this was a strange move but it made sense at the time. The second run of VHS tapes has a red sticker, not a black sticker!  

This video basically represents my life as a skateboarder in Southend.

Gav Martin 2010