Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Marcos de Souza showcases his art in an all-new Videofolio
Taking it to the real-time streets of South America with our wildest Videofolio in a long time – this is life through the lens of Brazil's current top filmer.
If there's been a single major thread running through skateboarding since the turn of the millennium, it's been the decentralisation of the culture out of California and into something genuinely more pluralistic and democratic.
Although social media didn’t create the phenomenon, it's certainly had a force multiplier effect in the last decade and from a skateboarding perspective this has also allowed for the hitherto unthinkable possibility of professional skate filmers operating entirely outside the LA industry nexus. Marcos de Souza is one such guy.
A product of a wild Brazilian skate scene which can be denied no longer, just watch what they do on all fronts and in those conditions and ask yourself, honestly: does this actually bang, or what?
Humble, organised, well travelled and with a big, clean, expansive filming style, Marcos is a living embodiment of what's achievable in the shifting sands of the skate videographer landscape.
Alongside his superb Videofolio for us, we asked him to share some of his journey from the streets of Brazil to working with some of the top flight of the new wave shaking up skating today.
Marcos de Souza
© Gaston Francisco
Nicholas Dias – Crooks
© Pedro Macedo
Marcos de Souza in Bolivia
© Gaston Francisco
JP Oliveira – Lipslide
© Ana Paula Negrão
So, Marcos! Could you begin for us by sharing where you come from and maybe a little bit about how you got into filmmaking?
Hi! I’m from Brazil, and I got into filming because of friends – as is the case with most skate filmers!
At first, I had a Handycam, which I used to film myself and some homies back when I lived in the United States, back in the early 2000s.
Later on, I left the States and moved to Barcelona, where I met a whole new circle of friends. They were all good skaters, but at that time there were only a few filmers living in Barcelona, so my friends decided I should be their filmer [laughs]. This was the start, my very first independent video – A Place For Everybody.
That video had parts from Carlos Ribeiro, Neverton Casella, Alex Massotti and some other homies. Later that year, I was accepted to study in a film school – so, I guess that’s when it all started.
When, as a skater who also films, do you know it’s time to break out the camera?
I think you can sense a moment – good light, or the potential of a good trick… look, I like to go out and shoot no matter what.
Besides skateboarding, I like to have another vision of the world, which I can always use in the skateboarding edits.
I’m not the kind of guy to keep the camera to hand all the time, but I always pay attention to light, landscapes, people, to see if I find that good moment to shoot. The truth is that skateboarding is what guides us.
So, usually what leads me to grab it and start filming nowadays is seeing the skater’s desire to conquer what he wants to do and to pay attention to the right time to whip out the camera and show them that you're as ready as they are to get it done.
Who were your influences when you started, versus influences now?
My influences back then were Joe Castrucci, Lee Dupont, Greg Hunt, Ty Evans… Jon Holland, Jon Wolf, French Fred… Thomas Paulin, Sebastian Raban, Julien Castel, Jason Hernandez, Ewan Bowman… and from Brazil, Jeorge Simas and Anderson Tuca.
I’ve got lots of influences outside of skateboarding, today – other action sport films, cinema and other styles of video, which encourage me to try new things in my skate work. Nowadays, I would say Russell Houghten, Jeremy McNamara, Chris Mulhern, Matt Irving, Patrik Wallner – some of whom have become friends, as well as influences.
What makes filming skateboarding different from filming anything else?
Love. If you’re a skateboarder before you became a filmer, you're already doing what you love so that the whole realm of ‘difference from other filming jobs’ you just… get around it.
It feels to me like filming skateboarding just goes with the flow –sometimes there’s not much to think about – it’s just natural and fun.
Usually, you're with friends – or at least people that you admire: skate filmers tend not to film people they don’t get along with.
That’s awesome to me and in itself a real difference from other work, where you have to put up with all sorts of clients and… weird people.
You've travelled a lot through skateboarding; more than most, I think it's fair to say. Have there been any unusual situations which that itinerant lifestyle has thrown up for you over the years?
There are so many of them! Especially when you're younger and not established, travelling to film your homies, staying on couches and floors with no money. I remember once back in Barcelona when I was filming Italo Romano and a cop turned up, telling all of us we couldn’t skate there and that we all had to leave.
We were six, maybe seven guys and the cop told us we had to carry our boards or he would give us a fine.
Now, Italo doesn’t have legs -– so he had to roll on his board – but the cop told him he had to lift his board as well...and we were all, like, ‘what the fuck?’ when this old lady just barged the cop and launched into a tirade on him, in Catalan!
We always ask this ender – what advice would you give to someone right back at the start of filming skating seriously as a life choice?
Don’t think too much about the money at first, eventually that will come at the right time. Try to have as much fun as you can with your friends; find hook-ups, rippers… there are always good skaters with no filmer.
Make connections, try new things, be ‘outside the box’; keep filming all the time to have total knowledge of your gear… and study: it’s all for free on the internet.
What else? Really understand how the camera works, try to learn photography, be gentle with the zoom and know where it comes from.
Don’t hate on formats – learn about them and how you can use them for a specific project. No format is better than any other, they're all just different and they all have a different way to create something beautiful and original.
Oh, if you get an opportunity to tag alongside a filmer who's already working in the industry, offer to help out in exchange for learning from them – that’s a very good way to start your path into the business.
Most of all, make sure to keep time for your family, friends and people that you love!
