Too Much Love 2 / Blake Cohen Interview

Tags: blake cohen, brett dasovic, interview, jeph howard, john haynes, ryan googins, too much love 2

Do you like this? Share it with your friends and help Be-Mag to spread the word about Rollerblading. Like us on Facebook, add us on Google+ or follow us on Twitter to get the latest updates from the Blading world!

Q: So this is your second video. What did you learn the first time around? How will you do this one differently? What have you changed and what have you kept the same? A: I learned a lot of mistakes the first time around like spending money on unnecessary things to make the video.

Q: So this is your second video. What did you learn the first time around? How will you do this one differently? What have you changed and what have you kept the same?

Blake Cohen: I learned a lot of mistakes the first time around like spending money on unnecessary things to make the video. I thought I would be making some profit but with the mass amounts of videos that came out last winter and the recession added up to me breaking even and not being able to pay riders the amount of money I wanted to. I am changing a lot about the way I do things this time around because I refuse to not make a profit. I learned to be in charge of your own money and try to avoid as little amount of people making money off your hard work.

Too Much Love 2 Filming

Q: Do you have a great source of creative inspiration? What in skating and outside of skating inspires you?

BC: I felt no creativity while being in Minnesota this summer, I was seeing the same things I see everyday and nothing was inspirational but going on two tours the end of this summer, one in the Midwest and the other to the east coast really inspired me. I was seeing new things around me and I wanted to capture it on film. Even when I got home the inspiration was still flowing threw me. Seeing what others can do with a video camera inspires me and it makes me want to go out and try to make things look cooler then anybody else.

Q: We all saw the mechanical troubles you had while on tour, how did this affect the movie? It seems to me like a great opportunity to capture some of the reality of a road trip, can we expect to see great coverage of the whole ordeal?

BC: The breakdown was definitely a frustrating time but we made the most of it. We were supposed to go to Iowa for 4 days but were unable to due to the RV breaking down. We were still able to skate and get around thanks to the help of friends in Illinois and there are clips in the video that happened only because we were stuck there so it wasn’t too much of a loose but definitely a bummer we couldn’t make it to Iowa. Being stuck on the highway lead to some good footage but the seven of us were separated at times and when the rv broke down for the second time I wasn’t there and the whole ordeal took place in a 7 day time period.

Ryan Googins - Pudslide

Q: Besides breaking down in Nowheresville, what was the hardest part of making this movie?

BC: The hardest part about this movie was making the changes I told myself I wanted to make and organizing these tours we went on. Skating wise the hardest part was getting everyone out of bed and ready to blade on tour. We always had a new city to be in the next day and after a night of drinking it was hard to hit the road at a decent time.

Q: What really grinds your gears about filming skating? What is the best thing about filming skating?

BC: Filming skating get really frustrating at time. I want to be able to get the coolest looking shots and setting up my dolly or crane isn’t an option when you know you don’t have much time skating that spot cause you are going to get kicked out. My favorite part about filming skating is being with my best friends and doing what I love.

Brett Dasovic - Launch to Ao Topsoul

Q: We are in a recession, everyone is broke including me, in fact I have to sit in a specific spot in the living room to get Internet to send this to you! Why should kids spend their money on your video and not another video? What do you have that the other videos dont?

BC: I learned about the recession the hard way on my last video and I learned my lesson. People need to support the industry weather its my video or any other video but I am trying to put money is some of these pro rollerblades pockets and trying to do things the right way when making a skate video and hopefully kids see that and that makes them want to support Too Much Love 2

Photos: John Haynes