Video Days (1991)

A Video Days (1991) is a skateboarding short subculture avant-garde documentary video that captures five young skateboarders' skateboarding skills, skateboarding lifestyle, and youth culture in early 1990s Los Angeles, featuring representative music and urban landscape.

• Context:
  • It can serve as a seminal work in the history of skateboarding videos, setting a standard for the genre.
  • It can highlight the early career of Spike Jonze, who later became an acclaimed director.
  • It can capture the raw and authentic energy of youth culture in the early 1990s, particularly in Los Angeles.
  • It can showcase the skateboarding skills of Mark Gonzales, Guy Mariano, and Jason Lee, among others.
  • It can be considered an influential piece of avant-garde filmmaking within the context of skateboarding videos.
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• Example(s):
  • the original release of "Video Days" in 1991, which premiered in a private screening at the Laemmle Theatre in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, a pivotal moment that brought together key figures in the skateboarding community.
  • the role of "Video Days" in launching the career of Spike Jonze, who filmed much of the video on the streets of Los Angeles, particularly in iconic skate spots like the Venice Beach Boardwalk and Downtown L.A.
  • the portrayal of early 1990s youth culture in Los Angeles, vividly captured during filming sessions at famous skate spots such as the West LA Courthouse and the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
  • the video segments featuring Mark Gonzales, Guy Mariano, and Jason Lee, shot in various locations around Los Angeles, including the infamous Gonz Gap in downtown LA, which became legendary after Mark Gonzales' daring ollies.
  • the influence of "Video Days" on subsequent skateboarding videos, particularly those filmed in the urban landscapes of Southern California, where the video set a new standard for authentic street skating footage.
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• Counter-Example(s):
  • Mouse (1996 Video).
• See: Blind Skateboards, Spike Jonze, Mark Gonzales, Guy Mariano, Jason Lee (Entertainer), Blind (Company), Skateboarding, Danny Way,

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Days Retrieved:2024-8-18.
  • Video Days is a skateboarding video by Blind Skateboards released in 1991, which is often credited as the most important skate video of all time.

    Video Days is the first movie/video directed by Spike Jonze and stars Mark Gonzales, Guy Mariano, Rudy Johnson, Jordan Richter, and Jason Lee. Legendary professional skateboarder Danny Way was briefly on Blind Skateboards from 1990–1991 and shot some footage for Video Days. However, he soon quit Blind, returning to his original team H-Street Skateboards and his footage for Video Days was omitted. A brief shot of Way can be seen during Gonzales' part in this video.

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