Spotlight: Ty Evans

So yeah, you pretty much have the internet hanging on everything you do or say.

Is that good or bad?

It's what you make it man.

That's fine man, I'll be honest I'm psyched that theres so many people into filming and people on that level where they get psyched on that type of stuff. It's good to know that there's other people that want to keep doing the same stuff that you and the other guys out there are doing with filming.

First off the video is completely ridiculous, but everybody wants to know the background story behind the intro.

Well the way it came about was throughout the course of the video obviously I'd sit down with Spike and Rick. Originally we had the idea of making the intro just really crazy with guys trying tricks with their boards shooting out into the street like a car swerving, missing it and hitting something [or] causing a crazy wreck to happen and the other guy would be smashing things, punching through walls. Just different stuff that'd be super over the top. I think the final version of what we ended up doing was a pretty timid version of what we were first thinking about doing, ya know?

So it kind of got started from there but Spike was obviously been really busy finishing his film. So basicially it started where he said he at least wanted to do something to where the guys would be skating and the spots were exploding and that was pretty much it. So between Rick and I, we had to figure out where could we permit the spot to build this stuff, what stuff do we need to build and who we'd need to help us. Once we had all that stuff kind of figured out another friend of ours a producer named Emma that has helped us on some stuff in the past helped she kinda just lined everything up everything else like handling all the permits and lining us up.

Our friend Marty helped with the pyrotechnics stuff. From there it kind of went on to where we'd go to Marty's place and explain to him what was going on, what we were trying to do and what we were trying to figure out. It was funny because the whole time Spike was busy and wasn't really there for a lot of it. He went once to Marty's and kinda looked at what we were doing and kind of made some changes. Then we ended up building all the stuff at Marty's. Brent Kronmueller helped us build all the stuff and basically the way it worked we'd build all the obstacles and we'd leave spots inside the obstacles where Marty could figure out where the pyrotechnics would go and he would put explosives inside the spot we left opened then he'd place pyrocell which was like a fake cement on top of that to fill in the square. Finally we'd just spray paint it to make it look as real as possible.

So that worked from there, we'd just built everything at Marty's place and then loaded everything on to a couple of flatbed trucks and flatbedded the stuff all over there, set everything up in one day, then the next day we shot it, then the day after that we finished shooting, then the day after that we processed & telecine'd, the day after that I made a rough edit and the day after that Spike and Rick came by and I showed them the rough edit. We made a couple minor changes but the edit you guys saw in the video was pretty close to the first edit I made the first night. I mean that's pretty much how it all came about. We had so many ideas that we wanted to do.

Its funny some people are like "its like the Yeah Right intro you've already done that with the super slow-mo". But obviously you want to see all the stuff in explode in slow-mo, it really gives a different feel like you're in a different world. Originally we tried to rent the Phantom HD camera which can shoot 1000 frames a second. Originally we were going to do that, but looking back on it now it might of been too slow. We probably would have had to do was a bunch of speed ramps. I think what we ended up using worked out pretty good. We had three 35's, the first main camera that Spike operated was a Photosonic 35 that shot 300 frames per second, I think it did up to 360 but we shot at 300. The second camera we shot I believe was an Arri 435, our friend that's who's a DP his name is Mark Williams he was manning that camera which went up to 150 frames. The third was my camera which is a 35mm Arri 2C and that maxes out at 72 frames per second. So that was basically that's what we had for filming and obviously we had a bunch of HVX's going for the behind the scenes stuff.

Are you guys ever planning on putting out a Deluxe version of Fully Flared with extra bonus features like everybody else does?

Ideally I think it would of been really good to put that stuff out on the video right now. I've gotten emails from kids complaining "why isn't there any bonus stuff". But I think you have to look at it if people wanted that in there the video wouldn't even be out yet. It took so long to make it, to tell you the truth I don't really know. We don't really have a point to right now, the video is the video right now.

When November 16th was decided as the day to premiere where were you at with the whole production? What was left to do? Were you done filming? Any last minute things to wrap up?

Yeah, totally. The time we made the video I think the next day was when Bird put the date up on the Lakai site. I guess it was around 122 days before the premiere.

Did you have a long way to go or did you pretty much know it was done and pretty much and you were in post after that?

No, not at all it was crazy there was so much had left to be done. At that point I think I still did a US trip, a trip to Europe and we did a trip to China all within that timeframe. The intro had never been shot, we didn't shoot the intro until three weeks before the premiere. So it was really down to the wire and I was really stressed that it wasn't even going to happen. I think it was the biggest relief out of everything to see it finally come together. It was so stressful that it was three weeks before the video even happened.

There was a ton of stuff to do. I mean it was edited to a point but the majority of the footage wasn't even in the computer yet. So yeah it was crazy to say "fuck it" and put the date out there and do it. I mean obviously it got pushed back so many times but I think it was good to get it on the website and say "its official now". It was a good feeling, scary at the same time.

Did it put additional pressure on you knowing you after everybody's parts were done filming

Yeah, well I mean nobody finished filming up until the day of the premiere, ya know? The day before the premiere Eric was still trying stuff.

Was there a particular trick or session that just sticks out as epic to you

The favorite shot to me was Marc's last trick doing the switch noseblunt to backside noseblunt. Just because I know it gives me the feel since you can see the lights in the shot and it's feeling almost behind the scenes. It's also filmed on the HD cam on a jib arm. When you look at the video you can see the direction as far it was like an old skate video like with the vx1000's. The same sort of setup that people have been using since videos have been started. You can kind of see these new things that we're starting to do now, we have these tools and we're utilizing them and you can start to see the future of skate videos is going to feel more on that side. It's cool to see the whole world is meshed together with video a little bit more. With that last shot it was cool to see a really hard trick like that filmed in a different way with a high def cam, filmed in a different way and you can see the lights in the shot so it kind of has a behind the scenes and it gives it like a final wrap on everything, you know?

Probably one of the biggest ones that is still up for stipulation and internet bickering is that there's tons of VX1000 footage but we know filming goes back 4 years and you start incorporating alot of your B-angles and such on HVX's. Next time you start a project from scratch is it going to be entirely HVX footage and retire your VX's?

Yeah, I mean you have to look for this film we started it the normal way everybody else was filming skate videos with VX1000's and the Century lens. The standard way, we filmed like that for two years and all the way up to the day the video was done. At the same time we had all this new stuff and we should utilize it. I think it's really funny that people are under the impression that it would all be in high definition and 16:9, but what would the last the point of the last two years we were filming before be then? Like what we're only going to put out a high def video now? It'd be retarded to think like that. Like I said before it was a meshing of the two and moving forward. The next project we do will be filmed on HVX and all progressive HD.

Are you going to miss filming lines on the VX1000 with the 4:3 aspect without chopping heads off?

Yeah, I mean honestly to tell you the truth I never cared about heads getting cut off. I know some people have this preconcieved rule about filming. I've never had a rule like "you can't cut this guys head off, you can't do this" it's like fuck it, make your own rules. Sometimes I like seeing just the feet and the board in the shot. I don't understand why there has to be that rule in filming. Obviously there's an unspoken set of rules, but fuck I got mine, the dude next to me has his and you have yours. Fuck it, do you own shit and don't really stress about it, you know?

To tell you the truth I've been filming with those cameras since they came out. I mean the first main video that utilized that setup with the VX1000 and the Century fisheye for me was Feedback. I mean there was other people that had them at the time. But for me that was the first one, and what did that come out '98 or something? I mean either if people want to keep using them then that's cool. I'm sure people can use it for cool things and people will use them to do cool stuff. But for me I'd like to keep happening with whats out there. Like when the VX1000 and Century fisheye of course everybody wanted it to use it. Now there's something new and I'd be foolish for not wanting to go in that direction.

Can you see P2 being adopted as the standard by the video magazines and such as the standard way of submitting footage and completely cutting off standard definition?

I think the HVX is a really great camera and the P2 workflow is really cool. It does have it's flaw as far as using old technology as far as it's slots. The new Sony camera coming out uses newer express cards but then at the same time has a weaker MPEG codec using the GOP and 4:2:0. It has CMOS sensor where the HVX doesn't. Its like a trade-off so I wouldn't say the HVX would be the new VX1000 because I feel the stuff is changing so quick. I would say all these new technologies like filming HD and progressive with variable frame rates. I would say that's definitely something that would be the staple hopefully.

It's pretty cool because with all these tools you have alot of other options. Let's say another company wants to make a video or you guys and you can shoot it in 1080i and that would look like its own thing. Then this other guy over here would do it all in 720 and film it progressive. It's cool because there's all these new tools to utilize. So it's so exciting to be witnessing all this stuff happening. It's definitely a changing of the guard right now, it's cool to see it happen. For myself I'm just psyched that in skating we're lucky enough to throw our two cents in the whole bigger picture of it.

I'm going to jump to a Fully Flared Question, from a year ago to today could you even picture Guy's part being anything it became and how did you convince him to shoot a full part

How did I convince him? I don't know man, I just really believed in the guy, ya know? I didn't really know him too well and when he started coming back around it was like the one thing I started working for Girl that was the one thing I always looked forward to doing that never got to happen. Once he did come around and we were starting on the video and everybody had a ton of stuff and he was talking to me "yeah I wanna have a couple tricks" and I was really pushing on him "look dude, I'm not going to put out the video till you have a part". He called his girl that night saying "this guy is crazy! These guys all have parts and I haven't skated in however many years and he wants me to film a part?". I know he was stressing because later on he did tell me that. But then after he started getting stuff and really seeing how things worked. It was cool seeing some of the things he experienced, like he had never been out before with generators and lights or jumped in the van and been to different places. [He] just really felt the whole work ethic of not only me but the whole team and everybody is putting 100% into it. I think it was cool for him, it was totally different but it worked for him. It worked to his advantage where he was the one motivating me sometimes. There would be times he'd be at my house at 9 and I'd be the one lagging or I'd be the one that's sore. It was definitely cool and really rewarding to see the stuff Guy pulled over the course of filming the thing and it really means a lot to me that he put his heart into it and did what he did. It was good for skating as a whole he's done that and put so much dedication into doing it. I feel thankful that he just listened to me, I know alot of people had issues with the songs we used and this and that, I'm totally fine with all of that and I'm just thankful he put forth the effort to make the part what it is ya know?.

How did you do your transition from a skateboarder to a full time filmer?

Well I mean I always sucked at skating ya know? Everybody around me was always really good. I was a ramp guy, I had a vert ramp but I couldn't really skate it. It was really weird, but later on I learned how to skate ramps and got into it. I was that kook kickflipping on a street course and knee sliding [laughs] but that was from me being a weirdo. I was the weird guy that never talked to anyone, I still am that weird kid. I think from back then I always knew it was something fun and it's still something I do, I still skate all the time. I always knew in my heart I wanted to be doing it, ever since the very first video I saw Future Primative back in the mid 80's. I just remembered them, being so amazed with the stuff Stacy Peralta did. For me, I didn't have cable and I didn't really watch TV so that was my entertainment. I would seriously watch videos hundreds upon hundreds of times the exact same video on repeat and I knew that's what I knew I always wanted to do. Over the years I just figured out a way to make it happen and asserted myself. I'm definitely greatful for everything.

Do you ever find it hard to balance your private life with your filming duties, like some dudes can take the night off like "yo I got a bum ankle" but it seems like you'd have to get in the van every night, does it interfere?

Nah, well it totally does. Thankfully everybody is really understanding about everything. It does suck, it kinda sucks sometimes but you can't be lax'd about it and if you do it's going to show. Especially for somebody like me I never went to film school, I really wish I did. I don't really have training on anything and I guarantee 99.9% of all the other guys out there making skate videos are a 100 times better, talented and educated than me. And I know that and I'll never preach to somebody that like I'm some guy that knows I'm talking about. I'll try to do my best and I'll try to research stuff and try to figure out how stuff works.

But all in all, no I really don't know what I'm doing. The only thing I know I can do is to follow the path of all the groundwork all the guys before me have laid down and I'm just kind of repeating what they've done. I'm not trying to say I'm doing anything different because I'd be trying to kid people if I was. It was all established with all the stuff Stacy Peralta, Mike Ternasky, Jake Rosenberg, and Spike did, those guys laid the groudwork. I don't feel like I've really changed anything, maybe I've put bells and whistles on stuff. But all in all it's all the same skate video when you get down to it. I think for me it's just harder because I need to figure out the stuff that's frustrating to me because I don't know the simplest things, you know?. Like "fuck it, I wanna go shoot 35mm" I get a 35mm and have to figure it out, then I go get a HD camera and now I have to figure that out. It's hard for me because I'm under a microscope, basically because my learning curve is out there for everybody to see, you know what I mean? It's frustrating but I always have to keep that at the back of my head I know that I'm the same kid as any other kid out there doing it and I'm just learning. So I could help a lot of people by learning by my mistakes. I know that, and hopefully it's helping the next guy that can help me or help skateboarding to make the make the next video thats going to be better than the next one and push skating as a whole. I'm doing what I'm doing, I'm helping the next guy that's going to help the next guy to push everything. I guess it's just really hard to please everybody.

Does it everybody put additional pressure because like you said you're under a microscope and everybody is always expecting something new from you. Do you ever feel like you're lacking to deliver in your head and psych yourself out?

I mean yeah, always, of course. I try to adjust and adapt. I guess I could say I try to do my best but like I said before it's hard to please everybody and I just try to please everybody I can

Obviously you have access to all the toys available, have you ever considered using 35mm adapters?

Yeah, well we have used them before in the past. I think the one key thing once you start getting into stuff like that is to think about in skating is like when you're going out filming somebody and they're ready to try a trick they want to go and they're ready to do the trick as soon as possible. When you step into the direction of what you're talking about it definitely puts more time on it, it's definitely a big endeavor. As far as making sure the adapter is on right, making sure you have the lens you want, making sure all the glass is clean. Then obviously when you get into that realm your focus is critical so it's almost like you need somebody pulling for you. So what are you going to do? cruise around all the spots with some dude pulling focus for you? [laughs] Don't get me wrong, yeah I think going into the next project coming from this one is what I've been trying to dive into is using those tools. Using dolly's and using jib arms, yeah I'd definitely would want to use a 35 adapter and dive into other cameras. Yeah going into it obviously I wanna do it, you just need to know the trade off, like you can't be setting up for an hour when the dude is going to be done 45 minutes before you're going to be done. I understand, I know everybody is pushing it and that's the direction it needs to be going for sure.

I saw at the premiere after the little countdown the Chomp face came up, was that foreshadowing to something?

Maybe

What do you mean maybe??

I don't know I guess we'll figure it out when we get there, I honestly couldn't tell you right now

Are you lying?

I wish I knew[laughs]. I don't know what that was about, it is what it is. It'd be cool, ya know? it was definitely fun to do that.

Anything else you'd like to throw out there, maybe a word of advice to those trying to follow in your foot steps?

This is going for your website skateperception right?

Yeah

Yeah I've gone on there and seen all the stuff kids are doing, and you know it's really cool to see everyone is progressing skating and skate filming on a whole. I feel like that it's cool to see guys starting to use jib arms, dollys and 35mm adapters. It's really cool to see guys pushing and it's only going in the right direction and the guys that want to keep doing the VX1000 stuff, that's great and they'll keep progressing that as well. It's weird when skating first started skaters were a minority and now it's huge. Now filming has turned into it's own sub thing within skating, It's really cool that how much everybody is pushing skating and skate films. The only thing I could suggest is if you can go to school then do it, if you can take jobs outside of skating that has stuff to benefit you then do it. For me that's how I learned stuff, like taking on a commercial that uses a 35mm adapter I get to learn that workflow. Same thing with all the kids filming skating, take in as much as you can man, be a sponge, fuck help me out, let me know. I think it's cool that everyone is progressing everything and keeping it going, it's cool to see how everything is changing.

Is there anything else you want to know about the video?

Man there's a million things I just can't think of them right now

I think the one thing is that there are a lot of things people don't like about the video and there's a lot of things I don't like about it either. But ultimately I ran out of time. Anybody says this with any project you're doing, you're always going to want more time. There are a ton of things I saw in my head while editing where I was like "okay I need to fix this and this needs to be this way...". In the end I only had so much time to make it the way it was. And that's the thing that sucks about making a deadline, so it is what it is. There's a lot of things people like about it and a lot of things people don't. I mean it's just one thing to keep in mind. I know some people were expecting different things about it, I mean for the film itself there's 19 guys and when I watch it there's stuff I filmed and stuff other people filmed. It's funny because I know some people think some things are the certain ways because of me but a lot of things were out of my control. The guys they were filming with sometimes that's just the clip I got and that's what I had to work with. It's definitely funny that people do have this idea that I'm in control of the whole thing. When in the end I'm not, ya know? It's the whole team coming together to make this thing. Even with like edits and music it was everybody coming together like Rick, Spike and the skaters coming together to make it to figure that stuff out. I dunno I just wanted to let you know it wasn't me putting my foot down on everything.

That's cool you made it to the premiere, I think ultimately the best way to see a video like that is at a premiere on the big screen with thousands of people there, I think there were two thousand people that showed up. It's totally different than watching the video because it's this whole other thing were you can feel the energy and people reacting to it. For me it makes me really proud for the guys that put all the work into it and you can hear people's reactions. You know like how much work Guy put into it and the everybody standing up when his part was done. It was a good feeling, when the lights came on I didn't even know Pappalardo was sitting next to me and I looked over and his whole family was there. You know that's cool for his family and everything, ya know?

Ideally I think that's how every skateboarding film or any film for that matter should be experienced. But obviously that's not possible, it does suck as soon as it gets sent out because back in the day somebody would get a video and call their friends up "okay I got it" and everybody would come over that night and all watch it together, you get that same feeling. You know like ten guys or fifteen guys at a friends house watching a video at the same time and experiencing the same feelings like you were at a big premiere. Now it's different because it gets on the internet and it definitely gets watered down as far as like okay instead of that feeling it's some kid clicking it and watching it on Quicktime on his screen with some shitty speakers coming out or compressed with some flash version of it with a super bad codec. You know it just sucks, honestly it does suck about the whole money thing of it being on the internet. For me the major gripe is people seeing it that way, it just sucks. A lot of people their first time they ever saw it was on a three inch Quicktime window. That does suck, it takes away from it, then when you see it on video you're like "Oh I've already seen it", I dunno, I think it kinda sucks seeing it like that.

Yeah dude, definitely appreciate it a bunch

Cool man, thanks for helping out with everything.