Sitting down with First Tracks Productions - Anthony C.

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OK the basic details….where are you from and what got you into snowboarding?

I’m from New York originally – about 45 minutes north of New York City. I skateboarded a bunch as a kid and the first time I saw someone snowboarding, I knew it was something I wanted to try. That was back in ’89 (yeah, I’m old) and I’ve been snowboarding ever since.

How did you end up in Tahoe?

I really got in to snowboarding more and more in high school and college – and my junior year of college I went to Jackson Hole for spring break. That was it for me. Right then I knew that after college I had to get off the east coast and head west to bigger mountains. I’d been instructing for a local hill in college and figured it’d be a good way to get out west – being and instructor – that way I’d have a job lined up before leaving New York which was pretty important because my parents were supportive of me going, but they weren’t going to support me financially. I got offered teaching jobs at Jackson Hole, Snowbird, Mt. Baker and Heavenly. I’m sure I would’ve had a blast at any of those resorts, but I picked Heavenly for 2 reasons – employee housing – and it’s proximity to the coast – because at the time, I’d never even been all the way out to the Pacific. I’m so stoked on how it’s worked out. I absolutely love Tahoe – and living here year round is just amazing.

Your first film was Perception, then Creative Differences, then Frozen Assets, and now Hello my name is…is filming getting easier or more difficult as you become a veteran? ie: riders, travel budgets, sponsors?

That’s an interesting question…A lot of things are easier – we have a better handle on our camera equipment, snowmobiles, locations we want to shoot, etc. but at the same time it can be hard keeping things fresh. It’s easy to go back to a jump spot that you’ve shot before and know will be good – but we try to keep that to a minimum and look for new spots to shoot. The riders we work with are amazing – not only are they solid riders and have great eyes for creative shoots, but most of them aren’t getting paid anything to snowboard – they’re doing this just because they love to get out there and ride and it’s pretty cool to see people who are motivated purely from the joy of riding with their friends. And regarding sponsors, well, that’s always a bit of a pain in the ass. It’s not what we want to spend our time focused on – sponsor solicitation that is – we’d rather just be out there riding, shooting and producing. But that said, we’ve been fortunate to come across some really sincere people in the “industry”, people that are down to support us and that stokes us out and makes us want to do all we can for them. We can always use more support – a bigger budget will only allow us to do bigger and better things – we have a ton of great ideas that will hopefully come to fruition someday as we continue growing.

What kind of camera do you use for filming?

Our primary cameras are the Panasonic HVX200 – we have 3 of them. They shoot in HD and in 24p (with multiple framerate options). We’ve been really stoked on them and just the cameras alone have increased our production value dramatically. Our new project, “HELLO my name is” will be the first movie that we’ve shot with these cameras. We also use a variety of other 3-chip cameras for 2nd angles and some of the riders we work with shoot on their own and submit footage for our projects.

Do you do it all by yourself or does your dog really do all the work?

Well, we have used Otis for tow-ins, but he gets distracted easily…Really, we have a lot of people who help keep things going – and without them, there’s no way we’d be able to put out movies year after year. Here’s a short list of people that have been key to our filming, editing, promoting, etc. Karen Johnson, Dan Moses, Mike Abeliuk, Ryan Johannesen, Lane Power and Wojtek Targosz.

What has been the toughest part of making and selling Snowboard movies?

It’s been somewhat difficult selling movies with riders that don’t have a lot of name recognition. Most of the riders we work with are friends that kill it – not big name pros. So, it can be challenging to compete with movies that have the bigger name riders in them – but we’re stoked that we can work with friends and do what we can to help get exposure for riders that we know deserve it. I think this year we finally have a good mix as we have a few bigger name riders like Scotty Lago, Anti Autti, Per Loken and Jukka Erratuli – but we’re still sticking with our roots and working with local up-and-comers from a few different areas. Additionally, just having a smaller budget than the big companies definitely makes it hard to compete with them on some level – but at the same time, it’s forced us to get creative – with features we shoot, editing, everything really.

What’s been the best part of making Snowboard videos?

So many good things – mainly, that I’m not working a desk job during the winter and I get to ride every pow day. But in addition to that, I’ve met and get to work with some great people and great riders. We get the chance to make a movie every year that hopefully get people stoked to get out and snowboard – that’s a pretty cool thing.

Why is NossaTV sooooo Bad Ass? Is it the fact you can create a fan base or just cause were super super cool people?

All that and then some…Really, it’s just such a simple/smart idea. It’s one of those things that just make sense. People are going to be soooo stoked to be able to see so many top-notch action-sports videos for free. And for the producers, it’s another way to build an audience for sure, get more exposure for your riders, stoke your sponsors out, and get some revenue sharing too – it’s been a no brainer for us. As soon as we heard about it, we wanted to get involved.

Do you see the future of video going online or will we see both stay strong over the years?

I think it’s going to be like brick and mortar shops vs. online sales. Online is going to have a big impact on brick and mortar, but there will always been shops. So, I think we’ll always have DVDs or some form of hard copies that people will want to buy – but online video is only going to keep growing – especially for companies like Nossa TV that are doing it right.


Any shouts out to riders, friends, familia?

Definitely –my wife and business partner Karen, my parents, my sister, my 2 brother-in-laws, my mother-in-law, and really, everyone that’s been supportive of First Tracks on any level – and there are a ton of people from peeps that bought DVDs, came to a premiere, lent a hand with a camera, helped us out at resort, sponsors, etc.


What’s in your ipod right now?

I’m still waiting for an i-Phone – anyone from Apple out there reading this??? I’m listening to a bunch of different stuff right now – mostly indie artists that we’re considering working with on our new projects – you’ll see some of their stuff in the new movie.

Any suggestions for young aspiring filmmakers getting into the business?

Yeah, get out there and shoot – shoot all the time – then go back and watch the footage with you friends – talk about what you liked, what you didn’t like, figure out what you can do to get better shots and then do it all over again. That’s the best way to get good at shooting and end up with shots you really dig. Beyond the camerawork, be persistent – but also be realistic. You’re not going to get rich from doing this – at least not anytime soon – so that shouldn’t be your motivation for getting in to it. But, if you’re passionate about it, and can’t see yourself doing anything else, then get out there and do it – and keep at it – even if you have to work side jobs for a while or whatever…

Last and final question….Where can we buy the new DVD?

Hopefully your local shop will have copies of “HELLO my name is”, but if not, you can always order our DVDs with no tax and free worldwide shipping from our website: http://www.firsttracksproductions.com