We were pleased to be able to catch up with Will Miles to talk about the new Nike SB QuickStrike video which just hit our screens. Following the 7Ball video which was one of last year’s highlights, Will jumped straight into this ambitious project for Nike SB with five times the number of skateboarders involved, and less than half the time to deliver it. The following conversation covers the whirlwind of time Will spent behind the lens and discovers more about this incredible new video which shows just how good the epic squad of humans he set out to document really are…
Words and interview by Jacob Sawyer. Will Miles filming on the streets of Taipei. PH: Korahn Gayle
Was the name QuickStrike already decided before the project began?
No it wasn’t, it was something that Scuba [Steve Chalme] referred to it as at some point. When me and Johnny [Wilson] were trying to think of a name Scuba mentioned that and we both agreed it worked for us. For me there’s never a particularly good name for a skate video so my gauge is that as long as I don’t hate it we’re good.
How did the project come into play, did it naturally evolve?
It didn’t actually. At the premiere of 7Ball in Copenhagen I went inside to get some beers and saw Scuba. As I was getting the beers he congratulated me on 7Ball but also said “you’re ready right? Ready for the next one?” Then he explained they had another full-length video on the cards and didn’t know that Colin [Kennedy] hadn’t told me yet. Colin was leaving that one till after the premiere. That’s how I found out. We knew off the bat that the deadline was going to be around the time of the Olympics so we knew we had ten and a half months to make it.
So less than half the time of 7Ball and five times the amount of people to film.
Yeah exactly. It’s funny, I’ve been seeing people online commenting before it’s even out saying if there’s 43 people in it then it’s just a team montage but it’s not. It’s a full-length video with six people having full parts but there’s other people in it throughout. That was the only way to make it work with the amount of people who filmed for it.
A completely different process to the video before.
Wildly different. I think I counted that I did fourteen trips in ten months which is way more intense. It was a lot, there wasn’t a point where myself, Johnny [Wilson] or Ant [Travis] weren’t on a trip somewhere throughout that whole ten months. I would return and then they’d be off on another one. We all went to Puerto Rico together. It was constant, and it was over before I even had a chance to think about it in a way. No time to think. We got so much footage. I think there’s probably about thirty minutes of footage we didn’t use and the video is forty five minutes long.
What trip ended up being the most productive?
Hold on, I need to start remembering some trips, it all blends into one. I think probably Puerto Rico, that was really good. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. I guess I wasn’t aware that Johnny [Wilson] and Scuba had been there so many times. Andrew Wilson lived there for six months too. We were driving to tiny little towns in the middle of the island surrounded by jungle but then there’s a perfect gap to hubba, the only thing in the town. It was such a great experience and everyone got a lot of stuff on that trip. Then also the last trip for the video was to Paris, we had Noni [Augustin Giovannoni] filming as well so we could split it up, and we just had eight people. It was one of those where it felt like it was working really well. Four or five clips a day felt quite normal on that one which isn’t always the case.
Who was unstoppable?
Everyone was on one, the video is a lot to take in because everyone went in. For me probably Deeddz [Didrik Galasso] is someone who I would describe as unstoppable, he absolutely destroys it. Cyrus [Bennett] as well, he wasn’t really filming for it then six months in he started, and he ended up having a full part which is ridiculous. Then Joe Campos, he got a part over basically three trips and two weeks back in LA filming which is insane. Some of the stuff Joe does is ridiculous, he really is unstoppable and the video shows that even more. If you didn’t know already he really is unfuckable with.
Were there any sagas you thought may not reach fruition?
There were a few things we were planning on going back to. There was something Deeddz [Didrik Galasso] tried in Downtown LA, it was a 50-50 to lipslide. It’s the spot where Nick Garcia did a nose press-nose manny and then 50-50s the curved rail. It’s where all of the whippy quarter pipes are. There was one that was the opposite side from where Nick Garcia did that trick. Deeddz was frontside 50-50ing the ledge and popping out to front lip on the handrail. He got so close to doing it. We went there about three times for him to try it. Whenever we were in LA together we’d go there. He got completely robbed and we were thinking about maybe flying back just to try and get it at some point. Then my friend sent me a photo of it and somebody had just cut the rail off completely. Who knows if that was a shot at us but the rail doesn’t exist anymore so the saga was ended and everyone involved has peace of mind.
Was there anyone you intuitively clicked with who you hadn’t filmed before?
Yeah a few people, I got on really well with Jake Anderson and Vilma Stal. I had never met Vilma before and she is so sick, I really like her section in the video. I’m really excited because I don’t think people are that aware of her. She got the cover of Grey recently. I think people will be stoked on her skating and think it’s really dope. She’s wicked and Jake is as well. We all went to Taipei and Jake Anderson was on that trip, him and Vincent Huhta got on so well together which was such an unexpected duo. I loved that so much. I had never really had the opportunity to film with Jake but had a great time every time I did while working on this.
Vilma Stal nollie flips onto the cover of Grey VOl.05 Issue 22. PH: Kenji Haruta
Who would you most like to film a whole part with based off of this project?
Joe Campos. That would be nice, a good next project
Do you have any interesting off-the-clock stories that went down?
I genuinely can’t remember it, I feel like in two years time I’ll be able to remember stuff.
In therapy?
Hahaha, yeah when I’m lying on that chaise longue it will all come out. I honestly can’t remember most of it. People have been talking about places we went and I’m thinking “wow did we do that? I guess we did”. There isn’t a story that comes to mind immediately. Too much happened for me to be able to take it all in.
Had your camera kit changed at all since the video before?
No it was the same camera kit, the Panasonic HPX with the extreme fisheye which is what everyone who filmed for the video uses.
One thing Casper Brooker mentioned finding impressive was how well you handled so many different people, personalities, and different types of skating. Was that ever-changing cast of characters overwhelming?
It could be but it became quite normal I guess. You just have to accept that anybody is going to react differently to anything. Not expecting anyone to do what you would do. Then you can’t get annoyed when they don’t. Also, and this sounds cheesy as shit, but when you’re doing this so much that you can’t remember the last place you were two weeks ago, it’s also important to remember that we are there to have fun at the same time. We’re there to go skating which is meant to be fun so it’s all about keeping it like that in some way if possible.
Did so many people mean you had to don the backup TM cap at times?
Yeah and no, it’s always a bit of a collaboration between the filmer and the TM. I was lucky to have Korahn [Gayle] on pretty much every trip and if he wasn’t there Scuba was. Korahn is fantastic, having him as support is great. It’s trying to get Korahn to skate as well as being the TM which is hard. He feels so bad for taking up other people’s time so he won’t do it which is funny. You have to all work together. I think the thing about it is that most of the time everyone there is there to try their hardest so just accepting that is the best thing. If they can do what they’re trying today they can, if they can’t then they can’t. You can’t force things all the time so it’s about letting it happen in a way and trusting that everyone is trying their hardest. If they are then pushing them doesn’t work anyway.
Casper mentioned different types of skating too. Your back is good right? Some gnarlier than normal long lens stuff in the mix might have provided a yogic break.
I have never been someone who got to the gym but I had to start. I would go to swim and go to the sauna and stuff because I knew I couldn’t go on the next trip and be fucked, then get back and be even worse because the next trip would be ten days later. There was no choice, I had to start going. The beauty of it was enjoying that everything and everyone is so different. Somebody could be doing something really tech, or something really gnarly down a big drop. I enjoyed everyone’s different approach, and that’s what makes a good video. Especially nowadays with the amount of skateboarding that’s about you want it to feel like the video changes throughout or else it’s just formulaic.
“when you’re doing this so much that you can’t remember the last place you were two weeks ago, it’s also important to remember that we are there to have fun at the same time”
You have had your eyes trained on a lot of Swoosh silhouettes over your time in the field this last few years. Which shoe, or what persons way of wearing them was most pleasing to your eye while working on this?
One thing I was pleasantly surprised about was how much I liked the Olympic Pack Dunk, the shoe from that Electric Pack. I didn’t think I liked that colourway from the photos and then when I saw people skating in it I realised I did. I’m a sucker for a simple Dunk or a black and white Blazer Mid. Nik Stain, wearing a black and white Blazer Mid, I’m happy.
What’s your favourite Nike shoe for filming? Any modifications to minimise squeakiness when dragging your shoe to slow down while filming?
You have to wear them in a little bit because that initial squeakiness can be an issue but I love skating in Dunks which have a grippy sole so it’s about wearing them in. I feel like the new Ishod shoe isn’t that squeaky actually straight out of the box. I’m just a Dunk guy though really, there may be some slow down squeak you just hope they don’t land it before that’s worn off, haha.
Do you have a favourite moment you captured in here?
Ville [Wester] fakie olies a road gap and I would say that’s my favourite moment in the video. It’s a road gap in Paris and it was just so exciting filming that. We had already had such a good day, and everyone had got such good tricks. Ville turned up late having been trying to film something elsewhere with Nonni. He showed up and just started skating the road gap with everybody. He backside ollied up the kerb and fakie ollied this huge road gap. He doesn’t shifty the fakie ollie in any way and he was initially purposely landing in fakie manual to avoid hanging up, he almost held the manual on one of them. I reversed it on my computer and it looks like he’s ollieing it the wrong way.
Ville Wester signs of a perfect day filming in Paris with a powerful fakie ollie
We all wanted to go to this African restaurant called Waly-Fay. Korahn and I love going there and we had a reservation so we knew we were potentially going to be late. Korahn thought they might cancel our booking but this fakie ollie was going down. We arranged it so that Korahn went and sat there to hold our place so half of the crew left to keep our table. Then maybe five goes later Ville just did it. I’ve never seen anyone fakie ollie a road gap like that, it was so sick to see. Dylan Jaeb, Joe Campos, and David Stenstrom are there in the roll away and can’t believe what he just did. That moment just completed the trip for me in a way. It was the best day, Joe [Campos] had filmed his ender and we had already got so much good stuff. That was my favourite moment, it was just as the sun was going down.
The tail end of the journey.
Yeah exactly, that’s why I can remember it, hahaha.
With so many people involved was editing a challenge? Did working alongside Johnny Wilson make that whole process easier?
Working with Johnny did make it easier, it was great working with him, I enjoyed every moment of it. We spoke together at the start and it was obvious that he should do Karim [Callender], Antonio [Durao], and Cyrus [Bennett]’s parts because he had filmed all of them so it made the most sense. We knew that was what he was working on so I was to be working on the rest of it and also making it flow and work where possible.
It was interesting, for the first week or so of trying to edit it I was unable to wrap my head around it. Then I went and bought a huge whiteboard. I wrote down everyone’s name who was going to have a part and went from there, it looked like I was searching for a serial killer or something, lines to names, who was going to appear where. That was the way I had to make sense of it because it was such a jumble. I think it doesn’t look as much of a jumble as it probably should somehow but that’s all down to the whiteboard.
Will and Johnny Wilson on a productive trip to Puerto Rico pre-whiteboard purchase. PH: Scuba Steve
Were there any music debacles?
There were two who weren’t getting back to us, Johnny [Wilson] and I both still had one song each waiting for clearance maybe six days before the premiere. The record company wasn’t getting back to us, and one track was self published but the artist hadn’t responded either. We went straight to the source and direct messaged both of them. The kid who had self published his track said he didn’t know what to respond to the email so I had to beg him to get back so we could use the song. We had spoken to the other band and they were down to do it too, it just took time. We found out that both songs had been cleared on the same day.
How was your Olympic experience?
We weren’t really involved, we were just on the sidelines but the screen outside the Pompidou where we held the premiere was insane. I have never seen a screen like it, and just to see everyone, and everyone’s name was fucking dope. It’s not often that we have those moments, where all of your hard work is presented on that kind of scale. That blew me away, they really didn’t half-arse the presentation of the video. It was great, the crowd was such a mix of so many people involved in skateboarding, past and present too. It was such an honour to have everyone there. I didn’t really experience the Olympic event though, we didn’t make it to any of the skateboarding. One result was that it felt like everyone had fled Paris and no tourists were going there so the city felt more mellow than it usually does which was nice. Having returned I enjoyed watching some of the Olympic bowl stuff the most because that doesn’t feel like the same thing. I’ve seen some people who are good at skating bowls in my time but that whole thing was wild, everyone can just do kickflip indy’s apparently, when did that happen?
Are you rolling straight into another project or taking a breather this time?
I don’t think the body could take another one right now! I’ve got a good break, I have another trip on the horizon somewhere but it’s not until some time in September. I’m taking at least a month off. My girlfriend and I are going to get in our car and drive as close to Italy as we can get. I’m looking forward to swimming in lakes and turning my phone off for a bit.
Nike SB | QuickSTrike by Will Miles, Johnny Wilson, and Ant Travis
We hope you enjoyed those insights from Will Miles and have carved out a viewing of the QuickStrike video he has put in the work to produce. We’d like to thank him for his time and look forward to what’s coming next. Will that Joe Campos part be on the cards? Shop with us for the all the shoes Will mentions and more from Nike SB.
Related reading: Visuals: Will Miles , Visuals: Korahn Gayle, Grey Skate Mag: New Year in Taipei