Young Laguna filmmakers to premiere skate video

SUZIE HARRISON

Laguna filmmakers Cory Sparkuhl, 21, and Cyrus Polk, 24, have formed

their own production company, C & C Productions, for their latest

project, “The Broken Video,” a skateboard film to be premiered at

Laguna South Coast Cinema on July 25.

“We’ve been working on videos together for a while now,” Sparkuhl

said. “We thought we might as well have our own production company.”

Sparkuhl and Polk, along with Laguna skater Derek Dew, 21,

released the skate film “FTW” in June 2004. Polk released “The Chosen

Few,” a skim boarding video, in December 2004.

Sparkuhl prefers to stay behind the camera, whereas, Polk has been

an avid skater for 10 years.

“This film is strictly skateboarding, straight forward, not

wasting time, not joking around,” Sparkuhl said. “In my last video,

it had footage that dragged on.”

They described “The Broken Video” as fast paced with no breaks.

“This one is straight up, hard core and raw,” Polk said. “It’s

what a skateboard video should be.”

Polk said they used top-of-the-line equipment -- a Power Mac G5

with two external hard drives, three Sony Vx video cameras and a

Minolta Super 8.

“This video went a little artsy,” Polk said. “It gives a true

feeling of what a video should look like and what skateboarding is

all about.”

They were able to combine their skateboard friends and contacts to

create a better video.

“The Broken Video” features Scott Nelson, 17, Wes Verdugo, 21,

Jeremy Henry, 18, Connor Cevatli, 17, Luie Isais, 16, Jesse Isais, 18, Jesse Palares, 16, Travis Arnold, 22, Devin Lynn, 20, Devon Agar,

15; and the youngest of the bunch, Drew Agar, is 13.

Polk and Dew are in the movie but have less prominent roles.

“Since day one Derek has been one of our main characters,”

Sparkuhl said. “In this video he has two clips. We miss him; he has

talent like nobody else.”

Their previous projects took years, however, they’ve been able to

produce this video in about four months, starting while Polk was at

film school in Tucson, Ariz., and Sparkuhl attending a film school in

L.A.

“One of the biggest sessions was when all the kids met in

Arizona,” Polk said. “Everything was coming together to make a huge

video. The footage was insane -- a lot of brutal falls, a lot of

hammers and big hand rails.”

Schools served as their playground of choice to capture footage.

About 40% was shot in Laguna; other locations were San Francisco, San

Diego and Los Angeles.

“We got at least 10 to 15 trespassing tickets at schools,”

Sparkuhl said.

That irks Polk.

“Skateboarding is not a crime; it’s an art,” Polk said. “People

shouldn’t dog on it just because they don’t have talent and can’t

work on their feet. Everyone is jealous.”

Polk said they have been kicked out of every school and are known

by name in Laguna.

“They finally caught on and put skate stoppers on everything, but

we’re still skating over [them],” Polk said.

Besides problems with the police and security guards, they dealt

with other nightmares.

“We had tapes break, computer crashes and cameras dropped,” Polk

said. “Both of Cory’s tires blew up in the rain when he was trying to

drop off some footage.”

He pointed out some highlights too.

“I bombed Third Street,” Polk said. “And in San Francisco, to get

our coffee in the morning, we would start at the top of Market Street

and bomb to the Embarcadero.”

Enduring tickets, strife and asphalt lined with cars was by far

preferential to filming in a skate park. In fact, filming in skate

parks was out of the question.

“What can you film in a skate park?” Sparkuhl said. “If you want

to express talent you have to take it to a real skate spot, some

place you can prove what you can do.”

Sparkuhl said Verdugo aptly showed his ability.

“I want to thank him for creating one of the most outrageous

stunts anyone could ever think of,” Sparkuhl said. “You’ll know it

when you see it.”

Polk lauded Nelson as one of the best 17-year-old skaters he’s

seen in his life.

“He has potential to go somewhere and make money,” Polk said. “He

has the best and the most footage in the film, including the last

segment.”

“The Broken Video” is the first film of a three-part series. It

will premiere at 9 and 10 p.m. July 25 at Laguna South Coast Cinema,

162 Coast Highway. Tickets are $7.