Surf video makes waves

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers MY THREE SONS—Rick Way, right, made a surfing DVD with help from his sons, from left, Chapman, Maclain and Brocker. The 44-minute video, “Best Hours of the Day,” was shot on a tight budget at Cojo Point, near Bixby Ranch in Santa Barbara. Rick said making a surfing video has its challenges because the waves don’t always cooperate. For more information, check out www.besthours.com. Things have really taken off since the Los Angeles Times last spring and Longboard magazine last year praised Rick Way’s surf video, “Best Hours of the Day . . . A Surfer’s Journey.”

Following the publicity, demand for the video has skyrocketed. It’s selling well in 31 surf shops from Ventura to San Diego, according to Way, who teaches English at Agoura High School when he’s not at the beach.

“We didn’t anticipate this kind of success,” he said.

Way promised his three sons that one day they’d make a film conveying the true essence of their beloved sport. A wave rider since his days in high school, Way didn’t appreciate that surfers were often portrayed in films as dim-witted ne’er-do-wells. The Ways’ film would “show the surfer as hero,” he told sons Brocker, 21; Chapman, 18; and Maclain, 15.

Although Rick Way was new to filmmaking, he wasn’t a novice writer. Before becoming a teacher three years ago, the card-carrying member of the Writers Guild of America had written TV movies, including “Convict Cowboys,” starring veteran actors Jon Voight and Ben Gazarra.

After months of writing and planning, the shooting days finally came for the Ways in 2003. With fingers crossed, the cast and crew set about making the film. For three days prior to the start, a storm drenched Bixby Ranch, the Santa Barbara working cattle ranch whose beach is legendary in surfing circles. If rain were to have shut down the shoot, Way would have lost not only the $2,000 location insurance he’d paid the ranch, but also days of salaries and lodging for the cast and crew.

“It was very nerve-racking,” Way said. But “this is how surf videos go. Nature doesn’t wait for you.”

The weather did hold, and shooting went well, despite the offended bull which tried to charge their vehicles and the lovesick seal that stalked the inwater photographer. “In retrospect, it was a lot of fun,” Way said.

“Best Hours” is primarily a family affair. All of the Way men played a crucial role on the film. Way wrote and directed. Older sons Brocker and Chapman wrote and performed the music.

Brocker, a music industries major at CSUN, and Chapman, a Moorpark College student and 2005 alumnus of Thousand Oaks High School (TOHS), were so elated by the response to the video they formed their own group, Chapman and Brocker. They performed their first gig at Harmony Sweet in Simi Valley last Wednesday and plan to release their first CD next summer.

Family friend and fellow surfer Mickey Drummond, whose father is the drummer for five-time Grammy-winning band Ambrosia, played percussion on the film’s soundtrack, and friend Kristin Breane contributed vocals.

Chapman and Brocker plan to produce and distribute Breane’s first CD next year.

Way’s youngest son, Maclain, a TOHS freshman, completes the family effort by demonstrating in the video the difficulty in learning a sport the experts make look effortless.

Although Way used real surfing stars Mike Gee and Landon Earl and professional cinematographers, he recruited them through word-of-mouth.

“This is guerilla filmmaking at its best,” Way said. “It’s the absolute opposite of Hollywood filmmaking. . . . It was a great adventure.”

Why go to so much trouble to make a video about surfing? “We did this because we love surfing,” Way said. “It’s an intellectual think piece that reveals the soul of the sport.”

Way wanted a video that reveals the deeper feelings the sport inspires, “the one-on-one connection with the forces of nature—that’s undeniable and (is) powerful.” In it he finds a spirituality other areas of his life don’t provide, he said.

Motivated by the success of “Best Hours,” Way said they’ll definitely make another surfing video, but one with an entirely different perspective.