The Last Dance

The Last Dance from hate5six on Vimeo.

This is awesome! Camera work, editing, storyline, new trick, it’s all here!

“In December of 2010 I found myself in desperate need of a change. My progression had plateaued and I needed a frame that would push me over the stagnant period in my riding. I’ve been riding flatland with my friend, Chad, for many years despite nearly a decade separating our ages. We bonded through flatland and that grew into a lasting friendship beyond BMX. In 2006/2007, Chad and our other friend, Paul, formed Function BMX. They set out to create functionally perfect and aesthetically simple parts. And they did just that, defying the frame trends of the day by producing street-inspired designs consisting of straight tubes but with flatland geometry.

Chad challenged me to try one of his old Function frames that had been collecting dust in his kitchen-turned-bike shop. Despite my apprehension to ride a straight-tubed frame, I took him up on the offer. Over the course of 2011, I saw my riding progress to levels I hadn’t experienced in years. I pulled the switch-handed turbined steamroller to framestand tomahawk that I had chased for years; I learned double footed underside time machines; and I made progress to my holy grail and own personal hell: the blender.

I recently decided to try a new frame, once again to see what the shock of such a change would do to my riding. I wanted to pull and retire one last trick on the Function, in honor of both Chad and how far my riding has come since I first started.

I call it the “Kneecracker” or the “Career Ender” for reasons that will become obvious. This trick is too risky to keep doing, and most modern frame designs won’t even permit it to begin with. This is my last dance with the Function ’07.

So here we go.”

21 thoughts on “The Last Dance

  1. too true you couldn’t do that on one of the newest frames. tidy trick but its down on tape so no need to risk serious injury with it any longer. this kinda reminded me about a bristol rider snapping his knee doing a candybar over some doubles years ago when his foot went thru the bars not over it- ouch.
    editing and filming really made this video look great.

  2. nice edit, great pictures, great trick.

    if i am allowed one small criticism though, i would say that i find it weird that the edit side takes so much over the riding side. Dont’get me wrong i love the trick, riding is super fast and clean, etc….but in these nice edits we see more and more, there is almost more time spent on taking nice pictures, than time spent on filiming riding. Wich isn’t wrong in itself, but that puts the editing in a different situation.

    Since the edit side is pushed so much ahead, i now find it normal to have stronger opinions on the edit itself. It’s all pretty nice, but black and white mixed with slow motion here and there, gets boring after a while

    I think the more the editing will take an important part, the more it will need to be creative and original so that the viewer doesn’t just want to skip it. Basically it’s like seeing too much of the same trick, too often.

    Please don’t get me wrong on this, i am no hater, this is constructive, there are so many different things to do with editing.

    About the trik in itself, it’s very scary, i wouldn’t dare…props to the rider !

  3. Scary sick trick Sunny, but I’m glad you’re retiring it. Just watching it makes my knee scream in pain! Lol!

  4. Julien,

    Thanks for your comments. I think we can all agree that flatland riders are creative people. Though I’ve been editing video for just as long as I’ve been riding, I’m seeing that more riders are allowing that creativity to flow into other areas such as photo/video these days. It’s just a medium and way of telling a story that evokes emotion out of the viewer. Flatland riders can watch a 10 minute edit with just riding, but to appease to non-riders I feel like clean editing can produce a narrative that crosses that boundary.

    You raise another good point; the same shooting and editing techniques are popping up in webedits all the time. That trend, along with your comments, are making me think about what can be done that hasn’t been done yet. At the same time, I feel like there haven’t been any paradigm shifting videos in a long time so I’m not sure if that’s justification for not bothering to edit anything at all.

    Thanks,
    Sunny

  5. nice edit!the song is great ..i heard this 3 years ago and i wanted to do a video with it,i never thought someone would use it,i guess i was wrong šŸ˜‰

  6. Great editing, great trick, congrats hate5six !!
    just for information, that trick has already been made, I remenber a old pic, in 2003, 2004 or 2005, figuring a asian guy with a Standard Shorty frame, in pink color, his 2 feet on the back pegs but one leg was through the frame, very impressive pic. I can’t find it easily of course on the internet…

  7. Then there’s no proof heu ,only word of mouth and that is like saying a verbal agreement is not worth the paper it’s printed on. Pic = proof

  8. haha sorry, George! Clint’s work is amazing, I just had to use one of his songs for this.

    heu–Please post that pic if you ever find it! I’m sure it’s been done before, I just haven’t seen or heard of it

    Then again, I’m sure good old KJ has done this in his sleep.

  9. @Howard
    what??
    you think I invent that? Why could I do that?
    loooooool
    but
    keep cool man
    but that’s funny what you said, take it easy, ou will feel better maybe,
    and you know that’s hard to find a picture 6 years or more old on the internet…

  10. Julien, on the one hand, you raise a very valid point in my opinion; there ARE a lot of filming cliches in flatland videos, at least for people that regularly watch videos. On the other hand, I think guys like Sunny are aware of those and try to minimize them by incorporating new ideas. I also feel – because I watch so many videos, that in a way, they do start to look the same. I attribute that to sheer volume tho; as the mind makes connections and says basically “this looks like that one”. It is a very difficult task to constantly stay original, but I wish all the videographers out there the best of luck in that respect!

    A friend of mine told me, when I first got my camera, basically “jm, don’t just go out and film blurry shots of dudes putting on their hats, wiping off sweat, or shoot through the spokes in a wheel. It’s been done too much already”. I fully agree with that šŸ™‚

    Great edit, Sunny!

    • A lot of good points raised, as JM said, due to the sheer volume of edits being made on the daily it is going to be difficult, its also worth remembering we are flatlanders first and foremost, is this edit good, yes! is this trick good, yes! does it motivate you watching it, yes! job done!

  11. my man Hew its not funny what i said its factual evidence prove it ,internet or not photo’s can be scanned now its nearly 2012 i’ve seen countless old pics online of tricks dating back to 1983 damm even earlier the 70’s even when i started riding, no need for excuses and a pink Shorty must be a home paint job Standard didn’t make a pink frame haha ask Rick ? i feel fine bro just want to see it for myself ,people always go on about this tricks been done before blah blah blah but don’t prove it if any trick like this has been duplicated i would of seen it even so tricks are there to do there are no royalty rights involved you can’t be fined for it haha , fact is Sunny here has made a dope edit thats to be appreciated .

  12. looool
    and I suppose you are not a young guy, geek, loving spend time on internet but a adult, mature, so that’s more funny to imagine that, you like to lose your time…loool
    Just think, just read again what I wrote,
    1. I gave props to hate5six for that edit and that trick
    2. the pic I remenber didn’t figure myself or a friend of mine, just a guy i don’t know the name. So I have nothing to prove, nothing to gain. And you think that I could have invent all the small details I remember about it (asian guy, Shorty frame, pink color)? for which reason?
    what could I win if I lie?? hahaha I can’t write normally, i am laughing too much, you’re so ridiculous to keep arguing about something so useless…

    If I ever find that picture, i will send it to you, your email adress should be given on that site
    loooool
    sorry, you’re so funny, it took me 10minutes to write all of that instead of 2

  13. you can’t write normally why am i not suprised.What an over reaction yes funny ha ha you must have short attention span if you think iā€™m funny either that or your very over dramatic and sensitive hense the over reaction and defensive comment ,give you my e mail address like who are you ?? some pubeless kid with no nuts, or the nerve to give me grief online like a coward son your a liar simple really unless you proove otherwise.yes its really funny haha iā€™m splitting my sides with laughter Hewie ,are your brothers louie and Dewie by any chance seeing as the brain of a duck seems relevant here

  14. And it makes me laugh to think that a mouthy little geek like yourself would lie unless proven otherwise ,if its something so useless why do you keep replying trying to justify yourself that would make you as bad as me its sad and pathetic as is your pointless comment , i know i’m funny i make jokes about bored little boys making irrelevant and useless contributions online you bring it on yourself and if you think i’m funny heaven help the rest of society.

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