Film Boards – The Art of Rolling Capture

Jim Cielencki

Age, current occupation & position?
37 years old and one of my jobs is team manager for Sunday Bikes which involves a lot of filming.

What is you current film board setup?
I currently skate an 8.25 inch wide Toy Machine Johnny Layton with Indy trucks, Bones 56mm film wheels and Powell bearings. Not sure how I got all this Powell stuff on my board, but whatever.

Is there any particular reason for your choices? Was board and wheel size a factor?
A wider board will allow you to be more stable when skating, I like the Toy Machines because they are usually flatter without too much concave. The Indy’s turn well, but the bushings that come stock are terrible so I replace them with Bones bushings which have a better truck rebound. I don’t really get too crazy with giant filmer wheels, I want the board to be more skateable so I can actually turn and carve when following the rider. The wheels I use are probably smaller filming wheels, but it’s the 80A durometer that makes the difference. This board is good to film on and just plain fun to skate when you are not filming.

Jim filming Gary Young on Megatour 10.

Are there any moments you can remember off hand that your board has been invaluable to your filming?
All the time. To be honest, I really like pushing around, so I use it whenever I can. If the ground is good I’d rather follow on a board than on a bike because your hands are totally free. I’ve always done a lot of zooming and changing exposures in my filming and that’s hard to do when your hands aren’t free. So anytime you are going in and out of alternating light, the board helps you because your hands are free. Also, if you want to get low to the ground then that’s only really possible on a board.

Ever have you board broken or stolen while out filming?
No, nothing like that has every happened, but mine did get pretty beat up on the last trip because the team would skate it whenever we were at a park or wherever.

Jim’s current board setup.

For your next film board setup what do you think you might considering changing up?
I’m pretty good with my set up now, I just need to freshen it up a bit. My only thing is that I need to skate more, so I’m more comfortable on the board. I’d also like to learn to push switch. My joke is a clip doesn’t count if the filmer pushes mongo, so I want to make sure I don’t violate that rule. Haha!

Related Posts

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3. Setup Teaser – Tom Dugan
4. Query? – Oton Bačar & DK’s ‘Secret Video Project’