Industry News

Published on novembre 4th, 2015 | by Kayak Session

Interview with Steve Fisher on Dreamline Project

In the first 35 issues of this magazine, Steve Fisher wrote us a regular instructional column that was some of our best received content to date. As a result, Kayak Session and Fisher have decided to partner in producing an instructional film accompanied by a custom 60-page custom magazine containing the print version of his video curriculum, covering skills necessary to become a better paddler, along with images and stories from the field.

But it’s more than just any instructional film: Along with Fisher’s award winning story telling, cinematography skills and state of the art equipment, he’s gathered a dream-team of instructors including Eric Jackson, Pat Keller, Dane Jackson, and Ben Marr, who will skillfully articulate and demonstrate the style and techniques needed to foster progression.

With a well organized script, Fisher will approach this video format in his unique way that will show beginners and advanced paddlers alike that the mastery of fundamental skills will ultimately translate into a safer, more confident and enjoyable paddling experience at every level. Using Kickstarter to confirm interest, advertise and fund the production, shooting will start in December 2015 in two scenic and inspiring locations: The big water of the Zambezi River and the rocky creeks of the Southeast USA.

Learn more and pre book your copy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1584241374/dreamline-a-fresh-spin-on-kayak-instruction

Tell us more about this new instructional project. After producing big adventure films, why an instructional?

KS: We’ve called the project ‘Dreamline’ and it’s future home will be at www.dreamline.ninja We’re all searching for that Dreamline right? I’ve always enjoyed doing coaching clinics and have often thought of doing an instructional video. The reason I haven’t is because it’s a huge amount of work and there have been other good options out there in the past. I’ve also always felt that I would only do it if I could make it better than what’s already out there, and that of course costs money. Raising sponsorship for this kind of project is actually quite difficult and would have potentially been at the expense of some of the other projects I wanted to complete. But as I enter the latter part of my paddling career, I think the time is right. I have the skills and the desire to do it, and I feel that since kayaking has given me so much, I owe it to the community to share some of my experience for others to enjoy.

Why the crowd-funding option?

When I provide bigger sponsors like Red Bull or Jeep with a menu of potential films to sponsor, they don’t all dive for the kayak instructional. That’s because it’s endemic to our sport in its outcome – it’s not really something that will appeal to a broad audience beyond the kayak scene, like my other films do. Indeed, they’ll sponsor me to be in it, but in order raise the funds for the quality of production that I insist upon, I need to look elsewhere. In addition, like always, I will pay the paddlers themselves for the work that they put into it. I think that asking the paddling community to fund my next big kayak holiday would be inappropriate, but since we’re providing something useful and of value to the backers, this method makes a lot of sense. It also acts as a nice market test: It takes a lot of work to make a film just a little better and this one will require even more work than normal, so I’d like to know that people really want it before I start with the work, which will take most of the next six months to complete. If the kickstarter doesn’t fund, we simply don’t start the work and I won’t make an instructional film—but I sure hope it does!

Your team certainly contains some big names… How did you choose them?

Most instructional films are by one main person, sometimes featuring shots of a few others, but I think that combining different perspectives will make it better. EJ is an instructional veteran with multiple books and videos, Dane is WWGP and World Freestyle Champion and just needs to be asked how he does it, Pat is World Waterfall Champion and the ultimate technician who analyzes every tiny nuance of every stroke, Benny is just handsome, and I’m there to pull it all together and deliver it along with my two cents. We’ve all worked together before and I think that it’s going to be a super productive collaboration that will not only make for a good product, but actually advance the technical base of our sport.

Where will you be shooting?

Many of the action examples will come from footage that I’ve gathered over the past two years, and even prior to that, but we’re going to do two dedicated shoots for the actual lessons: One on the Zambezi for big water and one on the creeks of the Southeast US. I’d also like to do some fundamentals at the US National Whitewater Center so that we can illustrate how very basic moves on small rapids translate directly to big water and hard creeks. I want to demystify how we run hard whitewater and I think that once people see that we use the same skill set for all levels of whitewater, they will be inspired and confident enough to take the next step in their paddling.

How will this be different from previous instructional videos?

Well for a start we’re due for an update with new techniques and knowledge; but mainly what will set it apart is the combined knowledge of the team mentioned above, and then the production value: We will use close to $100K in production equipment to capture super high quality examples from ultra close-up super slow-mo’s, to awesome onboard angles. But what’s most important is the organization of the curriculum before shooting and building something watchable after the fact. In the field we’ll use a teleprompter to keep the instructors concise and on track and that will in turn make the edit more organized. Sometimes a good instructor is not a good filmmaker, but I think that with my film experience and this team, we have the best of both worlds.

When can we see the final product and what form will it take?

We will launch the package next spring. The main product will be a bluray / DVD combo with a Custom Kayak Session Dreamline magazine containing the print form of the video’s content as well as some fun stories from behind the scenes. We then also intend to build a website, app and social media platforms under the ‘Dreamline Ninja’ handle where paddlers can find excerpts, out-takes and additional lessons. This will become an instructional resource that we’ll also share with other instructional platforms.

Given the team behind it, how will beginners and intermediates realistically relate to what is being taught?

The whole point will be to show that we’re using a pretty basic quiver of skills and a very understandable method to break down complex rapids into digestible pieces. I believe that I can teach almost any pro-kayaker something new on flat water within five minutes, and I could simultaneously teach that same skill to a beginner, so I’m going to do just that. Each concept will be demonstrated on small easy whitewater and then scaled up to the big stuff. High-end cinematography and epic whitewater will be used to keep the film entertaining and to demonstrate how moves scale up, but we will be hyper aware that the skills first need to be shown on whitewater that a beginner or intermediate paddler can visualize themselves running in the foreseeable future.

Learn more and pre book your copy: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1584241374/dreamline-a-fresh-spin-on-kayak-instruction

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Tags: ben marr, dane jackson, dave o'harey, dreamline, ej jackson, green river, pat keller, southeast, steve fisher, zambezi

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