Behind The Lens: TransWorld’s Get Real

mike lewis

• September 09 2009
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Photos by Joe Carlino.

After the success of its first feature film, These Days, the TransWorld SNOWboarding crew was back on the road last winter traveling the globe with nine new riders, new sponsors, and a fine tuned business model to bring some of the most progressive riding going down to the screens of hungry shreds with its second film Get Real. From the peaks of Alaska and the streets of Minneapolis to the silent forests of Japan, Get Real takes viewers on a crystal-clear HD adventure to the core of modern snowboarding.

As TWS prepares to premiere the film at its Carlsbad offices tonight, we caught up with Video Production Manager Joe Carlino, Director of Photography and Video Nick Hamilton, and SNOW Publisher Adam Cozens, the crew behind Get Real, to find out what we can expect, how the model has been refined, and how they are leveraging various channels of content delivery in an evolving digital age.

The yardstick was set pretty high out of the gates with These Days. Where did you take things this year to bump it up?
Joe Carlino: To me our biggest improvement was the production quality.  I think that the whole look and vibe of the movie was stepped up big time. [It’s all about] watchablity!

Give us a brief synopsis of the film? Who’s back, who’s been added to the credits?
JC: It’s all new riders this year. This was taken from the TransWorld SKATEboarding model - new faces to keep it fresh. This year’s crew is: Scotty Lago, Jed Anderson, Eero Niemela, Patrick McCarthy, Scott Stevens, Kyle Clancy, Mikey Rencz, Sammy Luebke, Chris Grenier, Devun Walsh, Iikka Backstrom, Benji Richie.

Having a new crew has its advantages because each year we give nine guys an opportunity to do something new. The riders’ parts look different and feel different when working with new filmers/editors. Sometimes I feel like riders are stuck in a rut of having their parts look the same each year when working over and over with the same crew. On the other side, each time we make a movie you need to find guys that are hyped on each other, get along, ride the same style of features. On top of that, they have sponsors who are willing to support the project. I feel like a major part of having a successful movie is having riders who are hyped on who they are with and what they are doing.

So is it all new sponsors as well?
Nick Hamilton: Sponsors were based on the group of riders we wanted to work with and highlight, so this year’s were all different.

Adam Cozens: Monster Energy came in to support this project in a big way along with Volcom, Billabong, Oakley, K2, Airblaster, Under Armour, Option, Rossignol, Salomon, and Banshee Bungee. We couldn’t have pulled off this project with out our sponsors’ support.

What were the biggest lessons you learned on the business end of things with These Days? How have you improved on that to bring more value to sponsors, sell more copies, and get this round in front of more eyes?
JC: This year we [had] a micro site dedicated to Get Real. That gave the viewers a chance to visit one Web page to see all our up to date content.

AC: We also nearly doubled the number of webisodes during the season, we’re releasing the complete film on iTunes, and doing a full West Coast movie tour courtesy of Billabong. We also signed an exclusive agreement with VAS to build up our distribution channel at retail.

What are the goals to officially label Get Real a “success”?
JC: There are so many ways to label something “successful.” For example, if the riders are stoked on their parts it’s successful, if you sell 20,000 copies it’s successful, if you get one kid stoked to snowboard it’s successful.  For me it’s not a number that will make the project successful it’s doing something to make a difference in snowboarding.

How have you leveraged the various channels open to the film for TransWorld with print, Web, etc.?
AC: When we first decided to enter the film game we knew the content had to touch all of TransWorld’s channels. We have the number one snowboarding magazine and Web site so it was a no brainer that it would help promote the film and the riders involved. The Web was especially important because kids were consuming video content on a daily basis. The weekly webisode updates from the field gave kids a taste of what was going on right now.

JC: We use the movie to its fullest potential for the mag and Web. It’s great working with a solid group of nine riders all season, they become part of our family.  It makes getting that content that much easier. For example when I was staying at Pat McCarthy’s house for two months straight, you learn a lot about the guy and it makes things simple when you get a phone call looking for a Q&A or TOP 5’s. The riders are with us 24-7 so why not take advantage of that?

Which channels were most successful last year? Any surprises or light bulbs there?
AC: The These Days webisodes had a big impact last year and drove close to 400,000 views during the season and produced approximately 60 pages of print content including a feature and cover shot.

JC: I think DVD is the most successful still. I thought we were at a point where iTunes was going to be breaking down the doors with numbers, but to me it’s still about having that DVD on your shelf and being able to pop it into the player before you go boarding.

What feedback have you heard from sponsors about maximizing their investment in the film?

NH: From the start we built an exposure package based on much more than the DVD, including the movie on DVD, iTunes, the print magazine, online, and West Coast Premiere tour this fall.  It’s a one-stop shop for the riders’ coverage.

What’s on the horizon for this season?
JC: The next movie!

If you can’t make it to the premiere tonight, where can you score a copy of the film?
JC: You can buy a copy in your local shop, twsnow.com and by the end of October it will be on iTunes.