The world has moved on since the days of watching a pirated, scratchy VHS copy of The Green Iguana. Technology has moved on too. As has surf trends. Not to mention surfing advancement; wavepools, full rotation airs, zip free wetsuits and surf changing mats once being barely imaginable. However, some things don’t change. Sometimes all for the worst. So the medium in which we now consume surf videos may have changed, but we still have plenty of corny, eye-rolling surf clichés that you’re bound to see in surf clips. Check a few out.
Number 1: Shots of the surfer changing fins/tightening the grub screws of his/her fins.
Somehow, seeing a reel in which a surfer waxes their board seems more authentic. But even that seems overdone and unnecessary. But, clips of a surfer changing and/or tightening their fins? It’s about as interesting and unique as a clip of a motor sports driver/rider checking their oil. Speaking of driving…
Number 2: The obligatory “Driving in a car to a surf spot” scene.
Sure, clips of a beautiful landscape/seascape can be truly spectacular. Here’s our gripe though. Firstly, clips of okes talking garbage while travelling in a car with “pretty” backdrops is hardly unique to surfing films. Still, Trident is all for beautifully filmed shots of picturesque landscapes. Perhaps our more significant gripe though, is any clips of surfers driving with a nondescript background. There’s nothing entertaining nor captivating about a bland expanse of over-exposed blue nothingness seen from the car windows. Such background scenes need to be disallowed. They’re dull, and add nothing to the video unless you recognise a landmark such as Table Mountain or the darn Eiffel Tower in the background. So yes, unless the guys in the car are saying something profound, these scenes are about as exciting and necessary as showing surfers buying coffee and/or filling up their tanks at a petrol station. Why? Just, why?
Number 3: Broken surfboards.
Ja, we get it. Us mere mortals need to fork out thousands for new surfboards when we snap ours in pitiful splinters of foam and resin. Thanks, though, paid professional surfers, of the shot of your board broken in two. We’re sure your shaper will be just thrilled to make you another four new surfboards. For free.
We get that in the context of a surf clip, showing broken boards as a consequence of the search for awesome surfing is tactical. The aftermath of heavy waves and/or gnarly tricks. But, what? Must our hearts bleed for you pro’s when you break your free, sponsored surfboards? Come on. Seriously, there’s zero need to include shots of poor departed surfboards in surf clips for the 18 000th time.
Number 4: Phone calls.
Phone calls are not worthy of inclusion in surf films. Yes, occasionally they can be insightful and/or funny… But mostly they are not funny nor clever in the slightest. Phoning a mate to check on the local conditions is what we all do occasionally. And including a (one sided) phone conversation in a surf flick is as innovative as a Please Call Me text. Our article may be Top Five eye-rolling Surf Clichés in surf clips, but honestly, we’ve realised this applies to almost all film media.
Number 5: Scenes with the non-surfing locals.
Similar to the “Driving in a car to a surf spot” point, candid depictions of the locals can add colour, flavour and a sense of location to the surf spot. All cool, all admirable. But clips of toothless local fisherman with skin the colour and texture of a relief map of Tatooine? Morbidly obese washerwoman in floral print dresses preparing meals of flour, bean paste and cockroach turds? Malnourished kids filmed being given the broken surfboards the spoiled pro’s snapped while slumming it in their third world nation? I did not sign up for that.
