Week 11: Thursday’s Tutorial

After completing our first shoot with Jenna, Grace, Claudia and I used Thursday’s tutorial to film Riverslide Skatepark to get a better look and feel of the place. This was one of the most lively and active days we had when filming at Riverslide, where the three of us were able to shoot the park at its upmost peak. Children, teenagers, adults and everyone else in between, women and men, were present at the park and gave us a greater opportunity to capture the sense of community and inclusive nature that skateboarding in Melbourne has evolved into. While we weren’t able to film any female skaters, we came across a number of guy skaters who more than willing to speak on camera about their excitement to see more females shredding at the park and, ultimately, how supportive they are of seeing skateboarding becoming a more progressive and gender-inclusive sport.

We spoke with skaters, Lachlan and Joshua, who told us about Riverslide hosting a ‘Girls Skate Progression Session’ where they’ve been seeing a surge of women partaking in the sport – and they couldn’t be happier to see this sudden change in demographic.

This proved to be a very productive day as we were able to interview the evolution of girl skaters from a male perspective who spoke candidly about their support of skating’s inclusive and supportive nature. We were also able to capture additional skatepark close-up shots that further showcased the sense of community, friendship and camaraderie that permeates Riverslide skatepark.