The ‘Showreel Sandwich’: A definitive recipe for powerful parkour training videos
During my frequent lunchtime routine of eating at my desk: watching the latest emissions from the YouTube pk scene, I’m beginning to philosophise. Holding aloft today’s source of nourishment like a modern-day Hamlet, I’m thinking that parkour and freerunning videos are little more than sandwiches... Bear with me.
Allow me to elaborate. You’ve worked tirelessly at developing your skills over a period of weeks, months, maybe even years. After enduring the exquisite cocktail of physical and mental battles of continued failures and successes, you feel you owe it to yourself to finally release a showreel and show the world what you’re made of. It’s gotta be big: explosive and beautiful and worth every damn minute of training. It’s all led to this point, am I right?
Well, any sandwich connoisseur is familiar with the notion that all dishes are subject to a distinct set of criteria – a recipe, if you will – which determine the end product’s overall deliciousness. The success of your video, your showreel sandwich, rests on a delicate equilibrium of flavour and texture, a balance so precarious that many a traceur/traceuse has perished in its nonfulfillment.
Scared? Don’t be; I’m here for ya, and I will teach you the way. Together, we will do extraordinary things. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you a fool-proof, works-every-damn-time, thousand-views-guaranteed, recipe for total showreel sandwich success:
Now, I’m well aware that this detail is pretty much a given, though for the less well-informed of you, I’m going to say this once and only once: the camera is unequivocally the star of this show. This, this is what holds this entire project together – this is the bread and butter, and don’t you dare forget it. No two ways about it –if you think you can get away with filming your back tuck progressions with the simple camera function on your smartphone, the end product is going to be so bland, so lacking in flavour, so forgettable, you’ve really no need to bother. Your audience demands high-definition image clarity and an edit which flows like quicksilver – so deliver. We are children of the third millennium. This is the future and I want you to prove it to me. Think Nikon or Canon, with the added plethora of lenses, lenses, and more lenses. Think Premiere Suite software and bask in the satisfaction of techno-opulence. This is absolutely non-negotiable, you hear me?
As for the wholesome, meaty filling (or veggie/vegan equivalent), its ingredients are similarly easy to determine. You will need:
1 Close-up shot of your trainers. This is absolutamente a must. Everybody wants to see your shoes. Of course, the more scuffed the better; it looks like you train allll the time and dedicate your life to your sport. N.B if your shoes aren’t scuffed invest in a pumice stone or whatever and make them so; this is important. (Also consider getting a shot of you tying your laces for dramatic effect. It worked for Rambo and it will work for you.)
(at least) 1 shot of a train in motion. This can be recorded from inside or outside of the carriage, subject to personal preference. Popular locations include station platforms or dynamic vistas of rolling hills/urban areas by night. Rainfall, too, (like where trails of it cascade down a window) can look cool. Basically, wherever, whenever, whatever the weather but there. must. be. a. train.
1 Time lapse recording of a cityscape. This, my friend, is indispensable. The presence/absence of one of these beauties will be responsible for the making/breaking of your sandwich. Find somewhere high up and film the day’s progression. I want dawn ‘til dusk with everything in between. Aim, with every fibre of your being, to capture the locus of the Sun, the pattern of domestic lighting and continual movement of cars. Whether you are in the frame or not is, as always, by the by.
For Decoration:
I leave this open to your imagination, however depending on your choice of music, a shot of you walking around and hugging people may be conducive to an effective showreel. No kidding, walking around and hugging people looks incredible on film. Take those videos with acoustic-y folk-y soundtracks (y’know the ones which promote the ever-so-fashionable humanist approach to parkour) - there’s a lot of bros in sweatpants hugging each other and the occasional one taking a stroll on his own. Both instances are super effective at making you/your team appear deep and emotional human beings, grappling with your own painful self-awareness and doing the best you can with your limited time on Earth. The more time walking around and hugging each other and the least actually jumping – God forbid – the better.
And there you have it! One parkour/freerunning showreel sandwich. I hope that my advice has cleared up a lot of your anxieties regarding the effective production of your videos, and I look forward to seeing what you can cook up with these pointers in mind.
Bon appetit.
