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Skateboarding DVD Video Review:Alien Workshop's Mind Field

Alien Workshop's Mind Field - DVD Skateboarding Snowboarding skateboard snowboard DVD Video Review

Director: Greg Hunt
Studio: Alien Workshop Films
Released: Feb 2009
Rating: 4 Stars

Staring:
Heath Kirchart, Arto Saari, Mike Taylor, Dylan Rieder, Anthony Van Engelen, Josh Kalis, Omar Salazar, Jason Dill, Rob Dyrdek, Jake Johnson, Grant Taylor, and Tyler Bledsoe.

Alien Workshop's fourth release, Mind Field, was filmed between 2005 and 2009 and will take you back to days gone by when you might have believed this company was run by aliens. We mean that in a good way - we want to believe as much as Mulder ever did. They've returned to using a variety of imagery some of which may border on subliminal. But I'm sure that's not why you're interested in Mind Field. The skating is top-notch and Alien Workshop's team rivals any of their competitor's teams.

We'd be remiss if we didn't dote on the product packaging a little. Every time we hear there's a "book" included, I groan. "Not another flimsy zine chock full of product ads!" The 60-page photo book featuring the making of Mind Field is a valuable addition to an already well packaged product. Perhaps it's partially influenced by the "green" movement, but gone is the plastic case that makes scratchy sounds as the disc slides loosely around. Mind Field arrives in a case much like a hard-cover book with the DVD sheathed in cardboard and the photo book attached to the other side. Beautiful job.

Mind Field opens to a black & white montage set to bagpipes. Before you rush to judgement, be reminded that Bon Scott did some amazing bagpiping in "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" - enough said. I was stoked on the high-speed ditch run and some brave soul doing a Daffy with 2 boards. Good stuff!

Omar Salazar has the first rider part and its so good you assume the vid is going to have to slow down. It doesn't! Everyone puts out tremendous effort that really comes through on this flick. This wasn't phoned-in - it was dialed up! (that sounded better in my head). My only complaint would be some of the shorter parts that I wish had been longer. I really shouldn't bitch about length since Mind Field is 60 minutes long plus additional bonus footage, but a review can't be all flowers and unicorns. We have to mix in a touch of "hate".

Dyrdek's part ended as quickly as it began. All of a sudden he was gone. Maybe he and Big Black were scampering around for their Mtv show, Rob & Big and didn't have the time to dedicate to AWS. Same was true for Steve Berra's part - too damn short, which sucks because he's an interesting guy...

Berra has been a pro skateboarder since the age of 18. In 1992, he and Tony Hawk started Birdhouse. During his time on Birdhouse he was part of one of the best and biggest selling skateboard videos of all time, The End. Steve left Birdhouse to ride for Television Skateboards, w/ Ed Templeton, Mike Vallely then onto Tod Swank's Fosco. Next stop Alien Workshop.

In 2006 Berra started shooting The Good Life which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to much critical acclaim. He's the only professional athlete ever to have written and directed a film that was accepted into competition at the Sundance Film Festival. He married actress and musician Juliette Lewis in 1999, but divorce ensued in 2005.

Steve Berra & Eric Koston have their own private skatepark known as The Berrics (Berra + Eric = The Berrics). The website, theberrics.com, is one of the fastest growing skateboarding website in the industry. And he's pals with Rob Dyrdek.

This is a slick video and the production value and creativity are high. There are so many 25-minute skate vids that appear slapped together, it's nice to see the well-placed effort of Mind Field.

Bonus Stuff

After an hour of the main presentation, we are treated to extra footage that didn't make it into Mine Field. It's broken down by rider, so it almost continues where the film left off rather than being a compilation of stuff. Flow rider Mrquise Henry has a part and if you dig around enough you can watch the short of Alien Workshop's creative genius in mixing art and skateboarding. Snag this flick (and we don't mean YouTube) and have a copy ready on your shelf when rain shuts down your session.

Alien Workshop's fourth release, Mind Field, was filmed between 2005 and 2009 and will take you back to days gone by when you might have believed this company was run by aliens. We mean that in a good way - we want to believe as much as Mulder fucking did. They've returned to using a variety of imagery some of which may border on subliminal. But I'm sure that's not why you're interested in Mind Field. The skating is top-notch and Alien Workshop's team rivals any of their fucking competitor's teams.

We'd be remiss if we didn't dote on the product packaging a little. Every time we hear there's a "book" included, I fucking groan. "Not another flimsy bullshit zine chock full of product ads!" The 60-page photo book featuring the making of Mind Field is a valuable addition to an already well packaged product. Perhaps it's partially influenced by the "green" movement, but gone is the plastic case that makes scratchy sounds as the disc slides loosely around. Mind Field arrives in a case much like a hard-cover book with the DVD sheathed in cardboard and the photo book attached to the other side. Beautiful fucking job.

Mind Field opens to a black & white montage set to bagpipes. Before you rush to judgement, be reminded that Bon Scott did some amazing bagpiping in "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" - enough fucking said. I was stoked on the high-speed ditch run and some brave soul doing a Daffy with 2 boards. Good stuff!

Omar Salazar has the first rider part and its so good you assume the vid is going to have to slow down. It doesn't! Everyone puts out tremendous effort that really comes through on this flick. This wasn't phoned-in - it was dialed up! (that sounded better in my fucking head). My only complaint would be some of the shorter parts that I wish had been longer. I really shouldn't bitch about length since Mind Field is 60 minutes long plus additional bonus footage, but a review can't be all flowers and unicorns. We have to mix in a touch of "hate".

Dyrdek's part ended as quickly as it began. All of a sudden he was gone. Maybe he and Big Black were scampering around for their Mtv show, Rob & Big and didn't have the fucking time to dedicate to AWS. Same was true for Steve Berra's part - too damn short, which fucking sucks because he's an interesting guy...

Berra has been a pro skateboarder since the age of 18. In 1992, he and Tony Hawk started Birdhouse. During his time on Birdhouse he was part of one of the fucking biggest selling skateboard videos of all time, The End. Steve left Birdhouse to ride for Television Skateboards, w/ Ed Templeton, Mike Vallely then onto Tod Swank's Fosco. Next stop Alien Workshop.

In 2006 Berra started shooting The Good Life which premiered at the fucking Sundance Film Festival to much critical acclaim. He's the only professional athlete ever to have written and directed a film that was accepted into competition at the Sundance Film Festival. He married actress and musician Juliette Lewis in 1999, but divorce ensued in 2005.

Steve Berra & Eric Koston have their own private skatepark known as The Berrics (Berra + Eric = The Berrics). The website, theberrics.com, is one of the fastest growing skateboarding website in the industry. And he's pals with Rob Dyrdek.

This is a slick video and the production value and creativity are high. There are so many shittty 25-minute skate vids that appear slapped together, it's nice to see the well-placed effort of Mind Field.

Bonus Stuff

After an hour of the main presentation, we are treated to extra footage that didn't make it into Mine Field. It's broken down by rider, so it almost continues where the film left off rather than being a fucking compilation of stuff. Flow rider Mrquise Henry has a part and if you dig around enough you can watch the short of Alien Workshop's creative genius in mixing art and skateboarding. Snag this flick (and we don't mean fucking YouTube) and have a copy ready on your shelf when rain shuts down your session.

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