21. A Monochrome Skateboard Journey by Claudia Lederer

Claudia and Jeanne take us on a poetic journey through a curated list of spots in Paris, Nantes and around Biarritz. Each spot was selected for its architectural and graphic aesthetics — lines, curves, shadows and light — which complimented their shared vision of a purely black and white film.

In the words of Claudia, “This project is not about performance, but rather an attempt to transcribe Jeanne’s personal universe, endowed with a discreet personality whose sensitivity is mainly expressed through her skateboarding.”

To celebrate the release of the film, we spoke to Claudia about the inspiration and creative process behind it.

First of all, congrats on the new film! What was the inspiration behind it?

Well, I think my main inspiration was my encounter with Jeanne.

I was longing to make a project involving skateboarding, but I knew it wouldn’t be with the traditional codes of the skate video, rather my own vision. That is to say, not strictly focused on performance but rather influenced by the style of the skater and the graphic aesthetic of skateboarding’s urban environment. Meeting Jeanne, I quickly realized we both shared this vision and that collaborating would be totally fluid.

We shared the same creative ambition for this project: a video portrait, as close as possible to Jeanne’s personality. All the choices that I made were with the intention to reflect who she is.

Why did you choose to do it all in black and white?

We both love black & white so much! From the beginning, we both agreed that color wouldn’t be an option! Haha. But seriously, it has something timeless that we wanted to portray. It carries a certain mood that defines us both.

Monochrome is also the most efficient way to support the graphic aesthetic of shadows and light that you can find in skateboarding. It also reduces the color range of the image to extreme simplicity. And we both like simple, I guess.

How did you meet Jeanne? And what made you decide to create this film with her?

I think I first saw her skate on Instagram and appreciated her world and influences. First time we met was at a Girls Skate Camp by Vans event in CosaNostra skatepark, Paris. As soon as we met we had a sort of inspiration crush. We had the same references, whether visually or musically. Minimal, graphic scenes, an obsession about details, full black Slip-Ons, old books, a lot of 80s vinyls. And other timeless stuff.

Apart from this, she seemed to me like a good and generous human being who deserved a carefully filmed project that would express her style and skateboarding. So, without hesitating, I decided to put all my efforts into doing so.

What camera did you use for this project?

I used my Sony A7s II, a couple of lenses, and a stabilizer. Simple and lightweight. Oh wait no, also, a lot of batteries.

Talk us through the process of creating this film. How long did it take?

We started to shoot pretty soon after deciding to collaborate. I tried to travel to Nantes or Paris anytime I was off (commissioned) work. I think we shot from late March to June, probably. We knew that in July it would be too warm for her to wear her signature black beanie so we would need to have finished by then! Haha.

What was the biggest challenge while creating the film?

The fact that we both had very strict ideas of what we wanted. Meaning we were both totally okay to shoot tricks 42 times. I said it before, in common we have this OCD obsession thing with little details. Applying this, at the end of the day we would be totally exhausted.

Also, we really researched and picked spots with certain aesthetics. Sometimes that didn’t make things easy. If the spot was great, but not as graphic, or not lit as I had in mind, I’d tell her that we wouldn’t be able to use that footage. But I’m thankful for her patience and glad we both agreed to make no concessions with what we mutually wanted.

The soundtrack was amazing! Can you tell me about that?

Oh yeah, other big challenge was finding the right soundtrack. Music has a significant importance in both of our lives, so this was a very, very delicate matter.

The film is 8 minutes so it was tricky to find an existing song — and Shine on You crazy Diamond was a bit out of our budget. I searched for a composer and we found friend of a friend to collaborate with: Amante Amato. Matthieu composed this track just for us. I really sincerely think he did an amazing job. He is really talented. Take a minute to listen to what he has published so far.

You also co-founded the surf and skate magazine Panic. Is that still running?

I did, but for external reasons it didn’t work out with our team. I’d love to re-iterate though because I love writing. There are so many stories to tell in surfing, skateboarding and related culture.

What are you working on now? Any more skate films in the pipelines?

I am writing these lines just after COVID-19 confinement, all my commissioned work has stopped but I could finally take time to think about potential projects. These 2 months hardly could have been more prolific in term of ideas! I have several long-format documentary projects in the pipelines, of which one is involving skateboarding. We’ll see how it goes and if we can find financing!

Always open for collaborations — if anyone has ideas to produce, I’m down! PS: if you have sound arguments I can eventually agree to leave black & white behind and put colors in the edit. Sound arguments, though.

Interview: Sarah Huston
Photos: Claudia Lederer