Waveriders: The Irish roots of surfing

The documentary is shot using high-speed 35 mm film rather than digital, a choice Conroy attributes to two particular advantages. “One was that I could shoot the surfers in slow motion. The idea was to bring the viewer inside the waves with the guys in Ireland, which is very different from anything I think you’ve ever seen in America, to use high-speed film and then slow it down so the naked eye can see what’s going on a bit clearer. … The second reason was the light in Ireland, that it changes so much. When you get overcast days in Ireland, the overcast sky reflects off the ocean and it just kind of bleaches everything out and raises the definition. With the film it just gave it more of an atmosphere; you could see the green colors, the blues in the ocean and the surfing itself. It all added to the dramatic nature of the footage. For me it just got that bit of extra over the digital camera, the [heightened] hues and colors and the clarity [achieved with] the high-speed slow motion footage.”

The soundtrack to the film is yet another highlight, including Irish influenced and contemporary artists as well as specially composed pieces. “We wanted to veer away from a score, particularly as we were going on a journey going through various [times and places],” said Conroy. “We did get some of the music scored by one or two Irish composers. We got in touch with U2 and they very kindly had a look at a rough cut of the film and loved it and gave me permission to use one of their tracks. We used rock and roll from the ‘60s, generally all Irish influenced right up to some modern day stuff. Just generally there was a huge influence of Irish and Irish-American music in the film.”

Conroy is working on another documentary, which he hopes will be released in 3D, as well as his first feature film.

  Click here to purchase Waveriders at Amazon.com.

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Nster.com