Making a skate video isn’t just about the tricks documented within the final product. The true enjoyment of such an undertaking is often found during the countless days of accumulating footage. The smiles and laughter, the failed attempts and frustration, along with the triumph and the cheers add to the allure of the project; and no one captures it all quite like skateboarder/videographer, Darin Lee. His whimsical style of filmmaking is admirable– but more importantly, makes you want to grab your skateboard and roll around.
Lee grew up in Mililani—just a few blocks away from me—and before I really got to know “The DL,” I used to see him and his crew skateboarding at the local spots filming with an enormous video camera that recorded onto VHS tapes. “Yeah, that camera was pretty big,” remembers Lee, “But the quality of the picture was really good.” [Laughs]
A few years later, we started to skate together on the daily and I would finally get copies of those youthful videos that he had worked on—with the camera I admittedly used to clown. They instantly became my favorite videos to watch because they inspired me to skate…and not just because of the tricks being dropped. See, Darin had put together films that conveyed the fun in skateboarding—the reason that every skateboarder skates (or should). He also had a knack for capturing personalities, and each individual’s character shined through in their skating as well as in the short, often comical interludes between sections.
This all took place in the ‘90s—during the VHS generation —before computer-aided video production was accessible. Storyboards were put together with two VCRs, and good editing was credited to efficiency with the play, pause, and record buttons– the low-budget linear video editing of the past. “I remember not being able to use particular songs that I wanted to due to the fact that I couldn’t get them to play loud enough off of my CD player or tape deck for recording onto a VCR,” reminisces Lee. “I also remember using Super Mario Paint by Nintendo to type out titles and names for a video.” [Laughs] Even with archaic technology, Lee always found creative ways to splice together gems.
The DL would continue skateboarding and filming, and he progressed at both. Lee developed the smoothest style with his technical and functional bag of tricks, all the while gathering clips that would be used in his retail video debut Portfolio—the first locally sold video that truly encompassed all of the different styles of skateboarding in Hawai‘i, and wasn’t bound by a brand or team. “Actually, I initially decided to include as many skaters as I could in Portfolio in hopes to sell more copies,” says Lee with a mischievous smile. He later realized that his initial decision to film a diverse cast of characters would prove to be an important one. Portfolio would gain a large following and—at the time—was “the issue” to discuss on the streets as well as on the decks of vert and mini ramps.
In 2003, Lee took part in the production of Lowercase, the second release put out by A‘ala Park Boardshop. And with the boom of independent filmmaking—which happened partly due to the release and popularity of Apple’s Final Cut Pro—Lee saw a future in his trade using the now more accessible non-linear Macintosh video editing station.
Soon after, Lee left Hawai‘i for a five-year stint in San Francisco where he attended The Academy of Art University for video production. While in SF, Darin filmed countless hours of skateboarding that will be used as one-half of a two-disc DVD set that he plans to release in 2010, fittingly titled The Everydays. “The footage from San Francisco was totally unplanned,” states Lee. “I just brought out a camera and filmed whatever and whoever was skating that day. It wasn’t like, ‘This guy wants to film this trick so we got to go to that particular spot.’ It was all improvisation. I just don’t want to do the same shit everyone else is doing. The other half [of The Everydays] will feature skateboarding in Hawai‘i and interviews, I want it to have dialog.”
Whether behind the camera or in front of it, Darin Lee has skill. He has always kept his love for skateboarding and has gained the reputation as one of Hawai‘i’s finest skateboarders as well as a talented filmmaker. His current project The Everydays is a vision from the Visionary. It is sure to be a wake up call to those who have been sleeping on independent skateboard videos, and a proper introduction to newcomers who may not be familiar with his previous films.
Promo video for the Stussy/In4mation skateboard deck release featuring Ian Okui
