Beauty: In the Eye of the Beholder, or the Holder of the Fisheye?

This morning, during one of my many daily perusals of the handful of skate news sites I frequent, I noticed a video over at Skate Daily , a short part welcoming Phil Ladjanski to Keystone Skateboards, a small company operated out of Phillidelphia, PA. I figured I'd share it with you, not only because the skating is good, but something I noticed about it brought to mind something I've mulled over to myself many times.



Any guesses?
Anyone?
....Bueller?
For anyone who didn't notice, not a single clip seems to have been shot with a fisheye lens. For that matter, the entire part looks as though it was shot with a point-and-shoot digital camera, as opposed to whatever high-tech HD camera, replete with a price tag higher than my last year's university tuition, is considered the "industry standard" these days.

Panasonic AG-HVX200A (enough of a mouthful, guys?) - $4,295

Panasonic AG-LW7208G Wide Angle Lens - $499

Filming a skate video that looks like every other skate video in the last decade? - Priceless?

Now, I'm not one to completely downplay the usefulness of the fisheye lens - I've been on the subject side of a fisheye in both stills and video on several occasions, and under certain circumstances I think it's very useful, after all, why lese would it have become the standard for skateboarding documentation? What I will say, though, is that the industry has developed an unhealthy dependence on the fisheye. I can remember being fifteen, and picking up an issue of Skateboarder Magazine that featured a list of "The 100 Greatest Things About Skateboarding"

I couldn't find the actual cover anywhere, so here's another one that just so happens to have the number 100 on it.











At any rate, one of the spots on the list was given to filmer Fred Mortagne's use of rolling long-lens footage, notably in the 2000 èS video Menikmati, as exemplified in Eric Koston's ender in the video:



For what it's worth, the number of second, and occasinally third angles seem to act almost as a gentle hint to other skateboard filmers, a way of saying "Hey guys, look! All these tricks can be shot using different angles and lenses!" That's the kind of creative filmwork I can admire.
Having recently finished editing the FnM promo video, all of which was shot on lower-end cameras (mostly point-and shoot), and having filmed a good portion of my own part myself, reliance on creative camera positioning became a must, and I feel like the effort put into it paid off.
Maybe I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, here... I guess the moral of the story is that people just want to watch some good skateboarding, and filming it well shouldn't have to involve taking out a line of credit.

Oh, and best of luck to you, Mr. Ladjanski.