james dj davidson

Southbank alert!

We already featured the man's previous video offering: "GRINGO DIARIES" (as well as the corresponding interview) a while back and today, Chris Komodromos a.k.a. Koncise, skate filmer but also musician, producer and D.J. is back with something a tad more local: "TRAPPED" is the by-product of two years spent nowhere but at Southbank, that historic London spot the scene of which persists to save again and again, most notably via Long Live Southbank. An undercover initiative supported by SB Skateshop which practically translates into twenty minutes of in situ VX with, on the other side of the mirror, neighborhood champions aplenty, including the likes of James 'D.J.' Davidson or Jeremy Jones.

PREMIERE / Jamie Manning "IT'S A SONY" / Jude Harrison / INTERVIEW

Now this update really should fall under the "D.J.'s tip" designation, as it's originally James "D.J." Davidson (whose works we've heavily featured before) who got us in touch with Jude Harrison, a young filmer from Kent, England, bringing to our attention the imminent completion of Jude's new full-length VX-1000 video: "IT'S A SONY". The first glimpses we got to catch immediately caught our interest as a high-quality piece of the author's local labor of love; although it does feature some London clips, in general, neither Jude nor his friends needed particularly fancy urban surroundings to achieve motivational greatness, instead making optimal use of their natural environment and putting in love that can be sensed as far as in Jude's meticulous camera settings and on-point maneuvring. And if that's not surprising enough levels of maturity for a sixteen-year-old to you, well, his answers to the few questions we went to ask him should do it, below! For a first LIVE feature, Jude's pick of a section from "IT'S A SONY" is the last segment, signed by local ripper and Globe shoes rider Jamie Manning - who also happens to be Jude's age and demonstrate a similar devouring passion for his own craft, on the other side of the lens. Welcome to year twenty twenty-one, "IT'S A SONY" and the Tunbridge Wells scene - all at once!

Midpoint

Already strong of quite the brillant VX-1000 resume comprising montages such as "SHMARA", "LOST" or "BOOF", all well worth your time, U.K.-based skate filmmaker James 'D.J.' Davidson hits hard again today with "MIDPOINT", the newest chapter in his personal saga. And this time around, it is the city of Crawley, West Sussex (that's in England), that gets to shine as both the stage and canvas: the birthplace of Robert Smith (and the hometown of The Cure), the place was prosperous for a while after World War Two only to then slowly fade into a cultural limbo of sorts both the aforementioned Robert and D.J. seemingly agree on regretting. Well, motivation over desperation and here it led D.J. and his friends to film on location, around and throughout lockdown. In the end, "MIDPOINT" is the quintessential, seven-minute proof that they did manage to insufflate some life there - and decipher quite the number of hidden spots!

Honest bouffe

Passionate filmer still infatuated with the VX-1000 from the suburbs of London James "D.J." Davidson (already the author of "Shmara" and "Lost") is back with one more hard-hitting edit - filmed over the span of a five-day trip to Paris - and, per usual, many a story to tell. This time, his problem on the trip had less to do with the absence of fresh socks than with the one of functional camera viewfinders; meaning that, deprived of any visual control over the settings and footage whilst filming, D.J. had to document everything blind, in addition to learning to function in a world temporarily devoid of visible menus. That technical hiccup in mind, the quality and colors he eventually managed to come up with are especially incredible, as all D.J. had to trust the whole time was his own practical knowledge of the camera; eventually dropping "Boof", an edit with, ironically, not one rough bit in sight.

His homie Dino Torres was aboard the party boat too, and also documented the trip in a completely different style, all in H.D. and in the vein of the style William Strobeck has been popularizing over the past few years with the Supreme videos. His edit of the same week, entitled "Honest Work", can be peeped here; the opportunity to compare both approaches is rarely that accessible!

"LOST" in London / PREMIERE

LIVE has shared South London-based filmer James 'D.J.' Davidson's independent productions in the past; namely "Shmara" - immortalizing an army of Russian skateboarders overtaking Shanghai the most noble way they know how. The editing was catchy, punchy and the utilization of the VX-1000 D.J. claims to love as far as in his personal Instagram handle, wisely optimized.

It has now been two years since D.J. returned back home from China, during which he didn't go without filming, or traveling. His new audiovisual offering, "Lost", is the eventual representation of that timespan, consisting in footage captured out of pure feel, resulting in a kaleidoscopic display of fragmented skate moments as D.J. himself explored more of his own existence and the world, as he even made it as far as Paris in his search for new directions, new thrills and new socks from Carrefour.

Existential doubts, maybe; an original and genuinely brillant video as a direct result, that's for sure. The author put a lot of himself into the craft of this little time capsule, which can really be felt.

Follow D.J. on YouTube, ici !

Shmara

Russian skaters in Shanghai, China - wait, what? James Davidson, aka. DJ, documented just that over a period of six months; filming sessions intertwined with his schedule of a teacher in Shanghai at the time. Seeing Russian skaters constantly swarming around the place, DJ picked up his camera and made it a point to document the schtick of daily stylish destruction those skate rats were on. "They skate hard and often get swept under the rug when it comes to exposure", DJ says. "Many of the Russian skaters often come to China solely to skate, film, travel. These guys are the definition of skate rats!". Well the proof is in the pudding, or in the Shmara apparently, according to these guys. Get ready for some intense street skating and editing!

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