VXercise is a recent skate video out of Utah, USA. It captures the essence of friendship and skateboarding with one of the best cameras ever constructed, Sony VX1000. With amazing skating, filming and editing, you can clearly see this video contributes to the definition of passion. The video is now available online for your viewing pleasure. Skateboarder and filmmaker Mac Berg was nice enough to do an interview about the video.
Name, age and where you’re from?
My name is Mac Berg and I’m from Salt Lake City, UT. I’m 24 years old.
How did you come up with the name?
It kind of started as a joke about all the weird positions and stretches skateboarding puts you in. Especially while filming, you end up in some weird positions. We started collecting some funny b-roll footage making jokes about old exercise videos (like Jazzercise) and it grew from that.
Any funny stories while filming?
Oh, man. There were a lot! It’s hard to think of just one. Some of the memorable ones for me were Kaleb Hadlock grinding the quad-kinker in his part as the cops rolled up. We had the door propped open and kids inside that building were literally in class as Kaleb was pushing down the hall. Someone must’ve called the cops. But when he rolled up he gave us props and then told us to get the hell out of there.
Watch the full playlist HERE
The most battled for trick?
Mentally, probably Kaleb’s ender. We talked about making that spot skateable for a long time. It required a few days of prep work. Smashing the rocks off the top of the ledge, rub bricking, lacquer, bondo, etc. But the day we went there to get the clip, it went down. Physically, Dillon Barton’s ender: the hardflip the hard way over the rail. That spot has a crazy run-up, a crack at the bottom, and a sideways uphill landing. Everything about it says it’s impossible to skate. And it’s right out front of the University of Utah so security always shows up. I think we went back 3 or 4 days to get that one.
Was the style of the sound track dictated by you or did you let everyone choose whatever they wanted and it all worked out?
We all knew we wanted the overall vibe of the video to be lighthearted and fun. Which I think we accomplished. So I had a playlist of songs I liked, and I’m always trying to find songs that fit the skater as well as the vibe. And I’m super open to suggestions and meeting somewhere in the middle. So it wasn’t really dictated by either party. Kaleb found Shylio’s song, for example.
Were you ever torn on part order?
Yes, definitely. That’s always hard. Kaleb ended our first video, so that was a consideration. Throughout filming, it was looking like Coda, Kaleb, or Shylio could all snag the last part. It was a last minute decision for the flow of the whole video. And Dillon went first because he was the rookie of the crew!
How long did you film and how many hours of editing?
We filmed for one year. Between the capturing, editing, and all the associated stuff, I don’t even want to think about how many hours. Too many. I had libraries crash and need to be recompiled and all sorts of issues. But it’s the labor of love!
Talk about your newest project, OlympusMons?
Olympus Mons is a name I came up with for what I’d like to be a consistent web series of videos. Think like ‘Atlantic Drift’ or something. I just want to switch things up from the full-length year-long DVD project and make smaller, more discrete edits that can all have their own little flavor to them. They’ll still all be VX and mostly with the same group of dudes but this way we don’t need to sit on footage for a year, or use similar songs, or deal with as many of those factors that come with a full-length.
Closing remarks or anything extra you’d like to add?
Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way – shop sponsors, photographers, people who showed us spots and all the homies who helped make this video happen! We do it all for the love of skateboarding.
Dillon Barton Coda Bonell Ben Rothenhoefer
