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Brian Wimmer Takes Action at X-Dance
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BW: Warren Miller is truly the godfather of action sports filmmaking. He is the reason we are all doing what we’re doing now. Not only did he bring skiing to the masses, but he’s probably put together one of the most successful film tours in the world. To this day, they continue to do these tours that are making millions and millions of dollars. It’s become a rite of passage, in fact, for skiers in September and October—when you’re just so crazy to go skiing—Warren Miller comes to town and you’re dying to go see the film. Warren has stopped making films in the past 10 years, but they continue to put some of his films out.
Everybody kind of originally followed after Warren Miller in his footsteps and they got better and better and better. Warren Miller, though, was truly a pioneer. He would just travel the world shooting people skiing in exotic locations and put together this fun voice-over and it truly became a rite of passage—truly an incredible part of the ski industry, of the ski world. And we’re extremely excited about the ability to give this award, we’re giving him the lifetime achievement award. It’s only been given to Bruce Brown who did [the classic surfing documentary] The Endless Summer. They both started at about the same time. Bruce didn’t really stick with it like Warren did. Warren put out a film every year—every single year, a new film, new locations all over the world. Warren Miller created more careers for skiers, and basically created this whole new “free-skiing” thing that’s been going on because it wasn’t just about ski racing, it was about people enjoying themselves in the outdoors.
MM: How has extreme sports filmmaking changed since the X-Dance Film Fest’s inception 10 years ago?
BW: The quality has increased incredibly. We’ve really been promoting story, which before wasn’t really promoted because most of the films were being financed by the T-shirt and equipment companies. They didn’t really want a film that you’d have to sit down and listen to. They wanted something that they could play in the back of the store that would be like a commercial for them. And they didn’t really promote these guys going out. They just wanted people doing the stunts, doing the tricks repetitively and [the up-and-coming moviemakers] went out like you would a real film. They started stepping up immediately. Even some of those films that are being made by the endemic gear companies, even some of those have been opening up a mic and been telling the story of the athlete. Because unless you tell the story of the athlete, you don’t vest your audience—you don’t really care. You see this once or twice, you don’t know who this guy is. He’s done something incredible, but by the 10th time, you don’t really care; 10 minutes into the film you’re so bored you can’t even stand it. That’s the kind of “action porn” that we’re trying to get away from in this industry.
We’re hoping to have the same thing happen to us that happened to the Sundance Film Festival when they had Sex, Lies, and Videotape break out into the mass market. We’re seeing a lot bigger numbers coming through action sports, millions of dollars are being made by a few films. But we’re sure that there’s going to be a film that breaks into the mass market, a film that’s going to be our version of Sex, Lies, and Videotape and break this wide open, because there’s a huge audience of people who love the outdoors and the sports and everything that goes with it. Wait and see what happens with the Olympics this year. Action sports—the snowboarding, skiing, those sort of things—are going to blow the ratings out of the charts. They’re going to be taking over. The kids are leaning more towards these individual sports, where it’s more a freedom of expression, than they are [the sports] where you win by a 100th of a second in some spandex suit.
MM: Is there anything more you would like to add?
BW: I think that things are just going to get better and better. When I said there was sub-par stuff coming in, we kind of scare them away with our criteria. They know now that you’re not going to get in the festival if you don’t have these things going on. I see some of the stuff that comes through that isn’t that great, but I gotta tell you, on the whole? The industry has improved leaps and bounds and we’re extremely proud of this genre of filmmaking. And these kids are the youngest, hottest, most technologically savvy filmmakers out there because they’ve got to do it on a budget, they’ve got to figure out a way to do things in incredibly rough conditions and dangerously so. I’ve got to tell you, you’d be impressed, if you got a chance to come to the festival, you’d be really impressed with the cinematography and things that are going on in the genre.
For more information on the X-Dance Film Festival visit www.x-dance.com.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Pelle on 1/15/10 at 6:03 am
Det är inte helt fel att välja weblån framför andra kredittyper i dessa tider.
- Comment by CV Writing Service on 1/25/10 at 7:27 pm
Salt Lake City’s X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival was a great event.
- Comment by Jackie on 1/28/10 at 1:05 pm
Checking why cant i comment
- Comment by TimD on 8/26/10 at 10:52 pm
Very interesting, I do agree on all three qualities.
- Comment by website design egypt on 10/27/10 at 4:18 am
تصميم المواقع كبيرة الحجم الديناميك لتكون قادر على تعديل وتغير المحتوى بنفسك
- Comment by Smslån on 3/18/11 at 6:50 am
Jämför mobillån när du vill låna pengar snabbt.
- Comment by Elizabeth on 6/17/11 at 12:14 am
These sports movies are awesome. I really love sports and watching it. I recently started enjoying a hockey pool my friends and I started. It is really important to pay attention to all the players and make sure you have the best team.
- Comment by مدونة العصابة on 10/04/11 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for writing this. It was very helpful. Keep writing.
- Comment by Absolute CV on 11/13/11 at 2:18 pm
This is great for a professional cv writer
- Comment by Create Click on 11/13/11 at 2:19 pm
This seemed like a great event
- Comment by como calcular o im on 12/18/11 at 9:14 am
wow Warren Miller is great
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