Spotlight:Seb

Whats up Seb? tell us a bit about yourself and whats happening in your life right now?

My name is Sébastien Abes, Im 26 and I live in Montpellier in Southern-France. I'm still a student at an audio-visual school, studying mostly motion graphics and other editing effects. My life is pretty cool at the moment, my skating and filming are coming together , and it's all running smoothly with my girlfriend. In July I'm going to move to Biarritz which is on the other side of to start working for a small production company.

How long have you been filming for and with what setup? Got any big productions under you're belt?

I started filming 5 years ago with a Hi-8 cam like alot oldies, but now I'm rocking the Canon Gl-2 with Death. I also use my friends Vx1000/mark 1, and I have a small collection of Super 8 cams which I love with all my heart : I find that film is way more aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and every time you get a roll of film back from the developpers its a surprise, seeing how everything came out and how good it looks. I've filmed some stuff for a Dvd that appeared in a Sugar magazine (European mag, you might have heard of it), but otherwise nothing major.

I've often heard you express your dislike for many vids that come out nowadays. What do you think of the way skate videos are currently composed?

I find that in most videos exactly the same things come up each time : the same tricks, the same spots, same kind of music, there is an obvious lack of originality. Of course their are some exceptions, like the Girl - Yeah Right video, there are many quality ideas in that video, but many videos pass along just due to the fact of the insanely high quality of skating, take Kyle's spotlight for example : the filming is solid and enjoyable, but the editing is pretty basic, I would prefer something more complex. Don't get me wrong, I love Kyle's spotlight, I watch it pratically everyday before I go skating, it gets me so stoked.

So what projects are you working on right now? Anything that's going to be out of the norm?

Well that's exactly what I try to do, be out of the norm. I'm working on a video with some friends which should be called "Nouvelle Vague" (means New Wave in french) except if its already copyrighted, with for example a section with footage only from people I have met from different countrys over the internet. That section will have an internet theme with some motion graphics to give it a nice feel. Of course there will be more basic sections with "normal" skating, but trying to pack in as many original tricks and spots as possible.

Any last words?

Thanks Grandman and I hope that Perceptioners will keep the site going.