Lately (2005)

Initially entitled ‘First Blood’ and designed to be a mix of old footage filmed between 1991 and 1995 and new footage the video took on a sea change as more and more new footage was logged. Around the summer of 2003 it was decided to change the name (at the time no name was chosen) and to just use new footage.

Filmed between 2002 and the end of 2004 ‘Lately’ highlights the convergence of a group of friends and their skateboarding. The video not only focuses on the Essex aspects of the Monster Network, both old and new, but also the strong connections to both Southsea and Cardiff.

With the video about to go in to editing many titles were mulled over including ‘A Harvest’ (dropped but then used as the title for a segment in the final video) but finally ‘Lately’ was chosen. The title reflects both on the history of Monster Network video making and also re-iterates that the video showcases new footage and new skaters and reflects the current group of friends and their travels, experiences, etc. The name ‘Lately’ comes from the title of a 14 minute long British Sea Power song.

The visual aesthetic of incorporating cine, footage of local historical scenery and the ‘aged’, rich colours (every single clip in the video was colour corrected with its contrast raised and colours deepened) was to evoke a sensation of history and reverie of good times passed. This was a reflection of both living and skateboarding in the oldest recorded town in the UK that is steeped in history but also referencing the history of the group of friends involved in the production.

The video was edited from December 2004 up to March 2005 and premiered in early march in Colchester.

DVD authoring (titles, menus, box and disk artwork, extras editing, etc) was completed by the middle of April with the first batch of DVDs arriving for sale at the end of April 2005.

In total more than 150 copies were produced and sold.

Titles

http://www.vimeo.com/2040891

Russ Cowling

http://www.vimeo.com/2043717

Ben Sutcliffe

http://www.vimeo.com/2043758

Adam Leeds, Lloyd Cowling, Barry Ewers & Kevin Peacock

http://www.vimeo.com/2043793

Driving at Night

http://www.vimeo.com/2043825

Dan Jacka