Blog Archives

Feb 18 2014

Cranberry Field Wakeboarding

The Red Bull Winch Sessions used a high-powered winch to explore action sports in unusual locations, and this short video is no exception. They take the winch and wakeboarder and snowboarder Josh Tranby to a Wisconsin cranberry bog. This short but beautifully-shot high definition video has over 300,000 views and shows Josh wakeboarding through the red sea of cranberries. The winch makes the boat unnecessary and Josh is pulled at a rapid pace from one end of the bog to the other, making his own waves and a visually stunning video that became a classic among action sports enthusiasts.

+ Who

Josh Tranby is the star of this video. He is a wakeboarder and snowboarder from Minnesota who is very active in the wakeboarding scene. He is sponsored by Slingshot Wakeboards, Reef, Bern Helmets, Lake-Life Apparel, Pinewski’s Boardshop and Vision Wake Park. The video was shot as part of Red Bull’s Winch Sessions, which featured action sports athletes such as paragliders, wakeboarders and snowboarders filmed performing their sport with the help of a high-powered winch. The videos were featured on Red Bull’s website, and Josh became more well-known because of his participation in the project. Red Bull is an energy drink and one of the primary sponsors of action and extreme sports.

+ Where

Wakeboarders are normally towed across the water tethered to a motorboat, but this video makes use of Red Bull’s winch and takes place in a cranberry bog. The bog in this video is located in Tomah, Wisconsin. The blanket of red fruit covering the water makes the video somehow intensely appealing to watch.

+ What

“I’m headed to the frickin’ cranberry fields right now,” Josh begins in this video. As he travels in the Red Bull van towards his destination, he continues, “I don’t know what to expect but I know if you look to my right you’re gonna see one!” Some beautiful shots of the cranberries and surrounding fields are overlaid with Josh talking about the project. At (0:35) he begins his session, wakeboarding back and forth across the ripe cranberries. The beautiful, high definition, slow motion shots are interspersed with shots of the Red Bull winch at work, close-ups of the cranberries and the stunningly beautiful area surrounding the cranberry bog. (1:11) features a wonderful shot of the wakeboard floating among the bright red cranberries. At (1:15) the Red bull logo is floating in the berries and at (1:20) the van is loaded and rolling away from the bog. Music throughout is the song “909s and Half Minds” by Jack D. Elliot.

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Dec 05 2013

Parkour video compilation of 2013

Parkour has been quickly gaining popularity in the past few years and this video is great example as to why. It can be hard to get a grasp on the concept of parkour when it is explained in words.  This video shows what all the fuss is about. Parkour is more than jumping and stunts, it is an art form. Art such as parkour is not meant to be described or heard, but seen and lived. This video shows what parkour really is and why people do it. 

+ Who

This video is compiled by MonthlyWinner (a channel on YouTube) and contains multiple freerunners’ stunts. The stars of the video that wanted their names(or aliases) known are as follows: In Motion, Cherepko, MegaMatrixs, sonicvova, DragonFireTeamLive, and AlexandeR RusinoV. Many of these users are simply interested in parkour and have multiple posts about them. For the others it seems to be a smaller interest of theirs. Their YouTube libraries contain a large amount of other parkour and stunt videos similar to those shown in this video. While some of the people in the video are from America, others are from France and Russia which shows the international popularity of the sport. While many users prefer not to have their names disclosed, they do have many of their stunts available under their aliases shown above.


+ Where

The video takes place in multiple undisclosed locations. The users come from America, France, and Russia as well as other countries of origin. The nature of parkour calls for city areas as well as other stunt friendly locations and that is exactly what the video shows. There are no famous landmarks or recognizable location that can be used to decipher precise location, but actor locations can be found on their YouTube channels. It can then be assumed that the videos likely took place in their countries of origin. Terrain also includes construction areas, malls, residential areas, parks, and several parkour training centers.


+ What

The video shows a compilation of parkour tricks from different people on multiple terrains. These tricks show many common moves as well as some that are seen as far more risky and are rarely performed by casual freerunners. Many of the stunts include jumping from high heights and landing flawlessly as well as standard freerunning techniques. There are multiple people doing the tricks in the video and all of them perform many styles of parkour. In contrast to most parkour videos, this video gives a good focus in cooperative parkour moves in combination with solo stunts. The video is a focused compilation of only parkour and is targeted primarily at parkour fans.


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