With a library of video parts on his shelf, Jeremy Jones knows how much work it takes to put together a good part. Equally adept in the streets and in the backcountry, Jeremy lets us in on what it takes to get it done in two totally different environments and gives us some details about his plans for this coming season.
Location: Government Camp, OR
Chair: Lawn Chairs
Time: 13:30
Temp: 70°
Windspeed: S 5 mph
Date: 8/5/12
How was filming for the new Burton movie?
It was good, the footage we got with the street kids and myself was pretty unique. I was pretty happy with the way it looked. It was a bit tricky because the season started out so slow. We didn’t start filming any street footage until January and normally we start in late November. That was a little rough, so we played catch-up and had to cram in some trips. But the trips were good, the footage is really cool looking and everyone did quite well.
Did you film in the backcountry too?
After filming in the streets I moved into the backcountry. We had to battle with the sun a lot and it was hard to get it done, but again, we’d cram it on the sunny days and make it work. There were some injuries that slowed it down, but overall the footage came out and we’re going to have a movie. I’m pretty excited to see it; I think it’s going to look pretty good.
Did the lack of snow this year force you to go to new places?
It did for street stuff. I went on three trips to Anchorage this year, and that’s all my street footage from this year. I normally bounce around quite a bit while filming my street part. So it was a little weird for me to hit the same spot over and over, but we kept finding new stuff. It kept producing, so we kept going back.
Where did you go besides Anchorage?
I headed up to Whistler, which is pretty standard for me. I usually head up there a lot later than the other backcountry guys. They had a good snow year, there wasn’t a lot of sun, but snow was deep and there was lots of it. There was no snow-shortage up there.
Who were you filming with up in Whistler?
Mostly Jussi Oksanen and Mikey Rencz.
What was it like going to Anchorage and not being as familiar with the area as you are with somewhere like Minneapolis?
I liked it. It reminded me of five years ago when we would just roll into a city and have to scope out spots a lot more. You have things in your mind that you want to find. Now with the winch, we can go anywhere with snow and find obstacles because speed’s never an issue anymore. That’s kind of opened the doors…for anything, really. It’s made the scoping process a lot easier. But it’s different to go somewhere that you totally don’t know. Like, we know where to eat in Minneapolis. All those kinds of things take time to learn when you go to a new city. It seems silly, but when you don’t know where anything is, even something as simple as eating can take more time than it needs to. Instead of taking two minutes to run and grab some food and get back to work, that extra time can kill a session or a whole day real quick. It all takes away from your time window to get something done or before security comes or something like that. There are a lot of those little factors that add up, but all in all it was successful. Anchorage is a good spot.
Who were you filming with up in Anchorage?
I was with Zak Hale and Ethan Deiss, they are both doing really well. Ethan had done it a bit; from growing up in the Midwest he had some experience. Zak grew up at Bear Mountain as a park kid, so this was one of his first go’s in the streets. They both did really well, they’re both talented snowboarders and I’m stoked that we have them to come up and start reppin’ that scene for Burton. They did good.
What was it like filming video parts for movies like Decade and The Resistance versus filming parts for videos these days?
For me it’s so different, compared to guys like Zak or Ethan for instance. I’ve been doing it for so long, that I need to go out and find stuff that challenges what I’ve done and what I’ve done the year before. I don’t base any of my trick selection or spot selection off a standard of “what it is to become a pro” anymore. I’m not trying to become something anymore, I’m just trying to put out a good, entertaining video part, and do something different every year that I haven’t done before. Whether it’s an advancement to my talent, or just a new obstacle or scene selection- I just want to bring something new to my video part.
How is that different than what kids like Zak or Ethan would have to do?
For the kids, it’s tough, because they are still trying to meet that mark of “is this kid good enough to be a pro?” That is way different from 10 years ago, and that’s what I had to do 10 years ago. The level of snowboarding is where its at, and you have to meet that mark no matter what generation you’re in. It can be intense, but for me it’s just building a different video part than the year before and staying healthy. For the kids, they still just need to build a part based on tricks.
Was it easier to film in the streets before without getting kicked out or is it easier now with snowboarding being much more popular?
It’s almost easier now because there’s such a formula in place now. We know what to do; we can roll into a city and don’t need to do as much experimenting as before. We have the basic layout done. Twelve years ago, we hadn’t learned the most efficient way to get that stuff done. We were just trying this, and trying that, and you could have a full trip that was a total botch. You go on the next trip, and take everything you screwed up on the first trip, adjust it all, then on the next trip you would do much better. So your season progressed like that, and it did that for years.
Now, you go on your first trip, and other than your legs and body not totally acclimated to snowboarding at that level again, your scene’s dialed. You throw your winch out, you’ve got all your shovels, you got all your garbage cans, light kit, all your generators and everything’s ready to go. The backcountry is the same way, everyone has a sled, a truck, their pieps, backcountry kit, and food all dialed- there’s a program in play. Its much more plug-and-play now than it used to be.
Have you thought about any goals for next season yet?
Not quite yet, we’re winding down this year with some of the intro shoots for the movie, so my brain is still winding down and tying up everything for the 13 project. Once that’s settled up, I’ll reset at home for a little while and that’s when I’ll start thinking.
When it comes to tricks and obstacles, you get stuff in your head, then you have to wait until the season starts and see what its going to hand you. I had a whole different plan for my video part at the start of the season, but on the first trip I turned it off and did something totally different than I wanted to do. I already would like to do what I wanted to do this year, next year. But if I can’t start early I’m not going to be able to do it. I was two months behind this year because of the weather and some injuries so I couldn’t pull off my plan like I wanted and had to switch gears. I’ll probably start this season like that again, because it hasn’t been done yet, and still see if I can pull it off.
