Repost: Brandon Fenton discusses e-clips!

As three years of flatmatters is almost upon us, and also the winter, its about that time to start a few reposts of some of my favourite articles during that time period! Kicking off with this short interview with Brandon Fenton discussing the classic video with Chase Gouin and Brandon, if you missed this, or somehow have never seen e-clips before, what a treat! Don’t sleep on it!

First posted: Nov 10th-2010.

E-clips appeared on you tube yesterday, I hit up Brandon Fenton for a lil’ insight into this classic flatland video, it’s ten years since it’s release on VHS, so many of might not have have seen this. Don’t sleep on this, this is a real “classic”.

Alright the video just appeared online Brandon, how do you feel about that initially? It’s been ten years since E-clips release, are you happy more riders will get to see this classic video?
It was a surprise to see it this morning that’s for sure, but it doesn’t bother me that it is now available for even more people to see. After all, I like to share what I enjoy with others.

What was the intensity like working with Chase in this? I know your good friends, but enlighten me as to the mode he was in knowing he was going to release a video?
It blows my mind that it is already ten years old. It certainly doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. We had talked about remastering it and putting it to DVD with new bonus sections from each of us but with Chase’s poor health keeping him from riding right now it doesn’t look like that will happen in the foreseeable future so why not have it available as a window into our past? With brakeless riding being the norm now it’s funny to think that this was the first entirely brakeless flatland video (if I’m not mistaken), and back then there were really only a handful of people riding without brakes.

How long did you guys film for e-clips?
The “e” in “e-clips” stands for ‘existence’, so the meaning of the title is: “clips from our existence”. That might sound a little strange but it was really almost like a journal or diary of our daily sessions and things we were exploring over the course of about a year. Both Chase and I get a little bothered by the little black box that is the video camera so it was a challenge to pull something and then have to do it again for film. The two clips where we curse represent the frustration that accompanied filming throughout, although there were a few days that were better than others. For the most part we wanted to get combos on tape so that we could move on to something else, since we would both tire quickly of trying the exact same combo we already pulled over and over again for film.

Ten years on this still stands out, how do you feel personally about that?
After ten years I am very happy if it is still able to inspire. I am inspired in countless ways by countless people and flatlanders from the past and the present so, to have had the opportunity to give something back is very fulfilling. It’s an honor and a privilege to be a part of of this creative thing called flatland and it was a great honor for me to have had the chance to ride and train alongside one of the most dedicated and inspiring riders ever. This video still represents to me a window back upon my greatest friendship and the springboard for a bunch of new friendships. Every time I see it I am reminded of a great time in my life and I hope that for others that see it brings back similar good memories.

Check out e-clips below:

13 thoughts on “Repost: Brandon Fenton discusses e-clips!

  1. Can’t say enough good things about this video. Still holds up after all this time. Great job guys…one of the all time best.

  2. Thanks a million guys! Nothing brings me more joy than to know that the work that we put into this film inspired and continues to inspire you all. I still really hope that Chase can get back to full health and that we can one day try again to break new ground together and document it for all to see.

  3. Very inspiring video. These guys both did really good things and captured the moment perfectly. Huge trick bags for both of them, which is something I always thought was important. Never just doing one thing. Knowledge is power, flatlanders, so learn it all. Once again, great job Brandon & Chase…and thanks,

  4. But its on youtube Howard just watch it there ? or you could rip it from tube and put it on dvd , the quality will be not so good though.

  5. There are actually a couple of DVD’s in existence but the quality of the image still isn’t so great in places. Jay Smith (our friend who edited the video) had them made and I asked him to up it like the One Love crew did their last video so that you could just go to a torrent site and rip it to DVD for free but he had some trouble with it and I think he gave up on trying to upload it. I’ll ask him again and let you all know if we can get it figured out.

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