John Cavan Miniview

photo.cavan

Cavan's all about the earn it route in this thing, Hailing from the East he's worked on Grenade films and now Rome SDS last two movies. I threw a few in the strike zone for him to see if he'd pull a Big Papi, he did. Nice Swing Cavan!

So filming for NCW wrapped, it's edited, and first premiers are in the bag, reflecting back on the season whats a moment that stands out?

Shit man that's tough, there's a lot, When Eiki did the double back it was pretty crazy because we had really bad weather up in Revelstoke for like a week strait and we had a bunch of jumps built and we were just sort of waiting around we were just sitting at the lake and all of a sudden it clears up Eiki bolts up to his jump and gets his shot while Marius took off with Foy and Trent and got his ender for his part and Foy got some crazy crashes then Jesse got a back 9 and WIll got the three off a cliff, all of those shots were in a half hour of one another and the sun was gone in an hour and then I left Revelstoke and headed for the Magic Bus trip, pretty crazy eh.....

Wow sounds like a heavy day, how did you take to your second year of filming for a team video as the primary filmer?

It was good, I'm a lot better at speaking french. I'm lucky we have a good tight crew, we all get along like a family and we are all trying to push each other the riders and the filmers, just trying to push the snowboarding and the brand that we are all committed to. As far as "taking to it" I just hang with some of the best riders in the world and cruise with them and try not to blow it....HA!

So filming is the casual art of not blowing it, how was the intro to the USA for young Eiki? I believe he hit the Midwest first, he didn't seem to blow......

HA HA yeah he doesn't suck, it was pretty mellow he instantly hit it off with all of the team guys, he's a crazy skater too so he and LNP are good buddies, I think he was just really hyped to snowboard and to film and he's really particular about progression so that's rad I think he had a blast, I know he was surprised by how aggressive and mean certain US people were especially when getting kicked out but that was about it, He was really stoked on how easy it was to get Pepsi here. You know that he landed the double cork 1st try and the backside double cork second try.....HA that's insane.....that's why everyone calls him the Jedi.

Frist tries, means you better have your camera ready,do you have any "ones that got away" nightmares you want to share?

So ones that got away huh..........LNP did a sw noseblunt reverse 270 out on a rail and right when he was in the middle of doing it Greg stepped on the cord for the lights and it went dark.......He couldn't get it again after that so it was crazy, pretty nuts there was a lot of swearing in french and things broken and not so much talking at the hotel. There were a couple times when we got busted before we got what we wanted, that always sucks, and there may or may not have been an angle of one of the double corks that might not have come out by one of the filmers but i will never tell which one of us.....HA! Good thing we had three filmers there that day

Good thing indeed, So after a long filming season whats on your mind? You have any trips or do you lock yourself in a room?

I've got some shit I got to do for the team for the next little while and then, do some more premiers, I have a slave driver for a boss so even though we just worked our asses off non stop we're already on to other things I don't have the luxury that some film makers do where they get to "chill" for a bit HA! but I'm gonna go on couple trips at some point. but for the most part I'm just trying to make sure our guys and gal are taken care of, and doing well. Trying to keep the machine going you know. I'm kidding about the slave driver....kind of.....everyone at Rome works ridiculously hard there's probably like 15 people at Burton that do what I do for Rome...HA!

So not only are you the principle filmer but the TM, how does that add to your everyday? Any insider up and comer rumors?

There's no bullshitting me, I see every shot everyone has, I know who's doing what, I don't sit on my ass in an office or hang at the typical industry bullshitshow, I'm actually out there with the riders. the hardest thing for me right now is that we are a tight team and I want to make sure they are all taken care of the best we can and given the best opportunities to progress and push our brand and themselves the best. there are so many kids that want to be sponsored and everyone feels they deserve shit. Every rep wants their kids to be hooked up, but what people forget is that we can't sponsor everyone, me and Runke have chosen the crew that we feel pushes it the hardest and works the best together. Rome is a family and I have the utmost respect for our team and how hard they work for me and for Rome. As far as new guys, well Eiki is kind of new so is Foy and expect big things coming from Johnny Lazz and Johnny Paxson really soon, I'm hyped on them!

I see you have to serve and protect, One of the thing that's unique about Rome SDS is that you often give the ams a chance to be involved, this year with magic bus and the echo shoots, how does that effect the brand and the ams?

Yeah for sure, I mean look at the movie some of the best parts are from the ams......Foy and Bokenkamp's part, Will Lavigne's part, Eiki, even LNP christ he's still an am. We give everyone a chance and I think these young fresh riders who are focused on progression and moving forward are what makes our movies special, we are also really lucky that we have such talented ams. When a rider trusts me and we believe in the riders talent, we do whatever it takes to get them where they need to be regardless of their "title" on the team. that's pretty awesome and pretty rare.

So it's more about the riding then the title in the end? Does that tie into the title of the movie?

Yeah, I think this title is perfect for this movie because as it says there is "No Correct Way" for one, all aspects of snowboarding are represented in this film all kinds. Typical movies just focus on hammers we focused on the vibe of snowboarding and having fun snowboarding but at the same time we focused on hammers, you see you can do both you can make a movie that is about having fun with friends while at the same time being ultra progressive you just have to have the right people and we're lucky to have that crew. I think robotfood was like that. but then a lot of people lose sight of this and they for some reason think that it's cool to just film a movie of shredding around not doing anything. I've always been like Why? why do that if you want to just "Have fun man" than why on earth would you have a camera with you, you should just snowboard and fuck filming. No Correct way I feel captures the fun and enjoyment of all aspects of snowboarding and at the same time I think it's pretty damn progressive and it reinforces brand values and the values of true snowboarders. I am fortunate that our team is really good at producing quality snowboarding, but they are really fun to snowboard with and watch so it's a good mix, they really like hanging out together and that translates well in the film. So long answer to your question the title is the most meaningful part of the film and I think it is right on. We nailed it on this title if I do say so myself. Rome SDS actually means something it's not just some bullshit, and this movie means even more I believe it speaks to snowboards of all kinds.

Nice Cavan, so Congrats on a a great snowboarding movie in No Correct Way! Any shout outs, thoughts?

Shout outs......First and Foremost the Team they do things for me that are in human and they put up with all of my weird habits and my swearing and what not so them first and fore most, I have the utmost respect for them. then Josh and Paul for doing a snowboard brand that is real and means something in a world that doesn't have a lot of that anymore. Runke for being Runke. Trent for killing it this year like way far beyond what I expected. Garytime for everything. "Joel Brinson, even though he's a traitor and dead to me". All of the reps and everyone at Rome for being my family. All the other filmers who helped out. The Forum crew who even though they were around a lot of the time we were never once did we ever get in each others way or bite each other's shit, unlike some other crews. Jared Slater and Curt Morgan. Danny and Matt Kass for giving me my first real filming jobs. I don't know I hate these things Snowboarders who are stoked on what we do and actually buy movies and not download them on the internet like thieving bastards. I guess thats it. See you around, and thank you Pete!


photo.cavan via tom