SoleMates delves into the subculture of sneaker heads, as we investigate and ask the question, what does a shoe mean to you? Ft – Zuriel Vinzon.
Synopsis
SoleMates is a documentary that takes a look into the subculture of sneaker collecting. The obsession with sneaker collecting came about in the 1980’s and goes hand in hand with two major supporters, Basketball and Hip Hop Music. With avid collectors being coined as ‘sneaker heads’, we look into the life of Zuriel Vinzon, a passionate sneaker head who actively started his sneaker head journey a year ago, spurred on through his work as a graphic designer at Saint Side. We explore the relationship that a person has between them and their shoe, and ask individuals the question of, what does a shoe mean to you?
Director’s Statement
Our inspiration for our documentary came from exploring the idea of a person’s relationship with their shoes. As Rebecca works in the retail industry with sneakers, she has experienced and seen the many facets of people and their relationships with shoes, whether for its practical, visual or brand name purpose. Within these shoe individual’s, we see people called ‘sneakerheads’, who view sneakers in a very different and special way.
Thus, we wanted to make a documentary that took a look into the sneakerhead subculture. However, with its rich background and history, it would be impossible to condense it all into one documentary, so we decided to focus on one particular person’s (Zeus’) experience, along with his lifestyle and motivations to collect sneakers. As everyone’s motivations and reasoning to collect sneakers is different, we hope for viewers to be able at least gain some insight of the sneakerhead culture through one person’s perspective.
This studio class has tested our skills in producing a documentary, and being able to tell an engaging story with a camera. Unlike a scripted film, we learnt that it is not always easy to create a documentary with its unscripted nature, which can prove to be difficult at times in terms getting the content you want, however it taught us to use what we have, and to try and create the best content we can out of it, sometimes producing a surprisingly good result. Overall, this studio has taught us the fundamentals to successfully create a story through the use of one
Rebecca Zhang – Director
Rebecca Zhang is currently a second year RMIT University student undertaking a Bachelor of Communications (Media) degree after transferring from a Design (Digital Media) degree. Rebecca has a big passion for TV and film, and hopes to have the opportunity to work overseas in Asia, with hopes of producing content in the TV and film industry in the near future.
Shae McCormack – Director
Shae McCormack is a second year student at RMIT University currently enrolled in the bachelor of Communication (Media). SoleMates is not her first dabble with documentary filmmaking as Shae has come from the Advance Diploma of Screen and Media which she completed in the year 2014.