Footage Tape

Tags: cody porche, footage tape, jamie olmstead, julian bah, kevin dowling

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When thinking about the creative and developmental process of FootageTape there are certain words that come to mind such as: reminiscence, nostalgia, videogroove, warfare, bloodshed and coffee.

When thinking about the creative and developmental process of FootageTape there are certain words that come to mind such as: reminiscence, nostalgia, videogroove, warfare, bloodshed and coffee. We knew that we needed to do something and by god we were going to discover that something even if we had to kill puppies to do it.

The amount of time that Kevin and I spent in his apartment drinking copious amounts of coffee and bitching about rollerblading is immeasurable. We have always seemed to hold onto the "good ol' days" and it was something that we wanted to re-ignite. What was it about our earlier days that we loved so much? Why does it feel different now? What can be done? These are questions that we asked ourselves.

Jamie Olmstead

At the beginning of our journey I was a year out of film school and Kevin was a current student of photography. We both had burgeoning careers in our respective fields and it was difficult deciding whether to pursue FootageTape or not. We were fighting a good bit given that our personal styles have always been so different but for some reason we have this middle ground that we meet at. When it comes down to blading we always seem to be in agreement on what we like and what we don't like. Even though it was tough we felt obligated to do something not only for the city of Atlanta but for rollerblading as a whole. We have both been blading for over 15 years and we figured who better to light some fire under the ass of this industry.

First things first, we knew that we wanted structure. We knew that we wanted personality. I can sit down and enjoy a wide variety of skate videos but it will never leave an impact unless there is something unique in the character of the video itself and in the people who's blading it documents. We immediately thought to ourselves "what if we hosted it like a news show?" I had recently watched VG9 which contains a news segment hosted by Mike Opalek. Mike Opalek was always someone I looked up to for his unique personality and sense of humor along with many of the OG's of this sport. We liked this idea a lot and thought that it would be a good way to give a meaning and a theme to every section. It gave us a way to give people a feeling about what they were about to watch before they watched it. I think that is one of the reasons that people liked the NYC section in Ep. 1 so much. Kevin had an amazing and somewhat awakening experience on that trip which gave him a much needed revitalization in his faith of our sport. That came off in his introduction to the section and kids could immediately feel the love and would get juiced before they had even seen anything.

Julian Bah - Fishbrain

Julian Bah - Launch to Fishbrain

Another important factor when developing the show was making sure that we did not stay too regional. We have respect for every rollerblading scene in the world and it's the diversity of our sport that makes us so unique. It's not easy to travel and film all of the time but we are doing our best to do just that. This is why Videogroove was the shit. It was about showcasing the best blading in the world. Everyone wanted to be in it and if you were then that meant something. It was a standard in rollerblading that does not seem to exist today. We want to change that. Cue Music.

FootageTape is on a fast rise and even though the first episode has had extremely positive reviews I assure you that it will only get better with each episode. We have a lot of exciting things in store for future episodes and to answer a lot of kids questions....

Yes, we will have more "hot girl on blades" segments. Also, even if we have to fly them to Atlanta ourselves, we will find a way to do a section on Canada's favorite mushroom bladers, Todd and Joey.

- Jamie Olmstead

Adam - Bs Torque