LOCALS B(EE)R

Locals is a small series started a few months ago on the online mag. The idea is simple: give a film camera to a local crew or a personality, so that they document their life, their environment, their circles of friends and their spots through photos, then discuss about it. For this new episode – taken from our paper magazine – I contacted Bastien Regeste. Alongside his undeniable qualities as a skateboarder, Bastien has also developed his talents as a videographer. With his B(ee)R video series and his crew, Bastien, in a few years, has managed to once again highlight Montpellier and its region.

Can you tell me about B(ee)R? How was the project born ?

It’s a little play on words. I had the word BR in my Instagram bio. If you pronounce the two initials together with an English accent, it gives Beer, like beer. Initially, it was a personal project. I was in “Who likes me follows me” mode! » Then, little by little, friends were added throughout the videos.

I officially launched B(ee)R in 2019. I started filming the first video during the summer of 2018. Then, I went to New York for four months at the end of 2018, for a semester of study. For me, it was one of the best periods in terms of skate videos. You had the Polar, the GX1000, the Supreme and the Bronze 56k which released almost at the same time. On site, large AVPs were organized. Seeing videos with such enthusiasm had a big impact on me. I wondered why things didn’t happen the same way in Montpellier. At home, the AVP attracts three dudes, while in New York, it’s full. You had people massing outside, standing on top of cars to watch a piece of the video. It was crazy.

At the same time, Montpellier is the Province! – Laughs – (I should point out that I come from Nîmes.)

In fact, AVPs in Montpellier are most of the time organized by shops. They manage the communications with what the brands give them, then broadcast the video without anything around. It made me think. I told myself that we had to create something more ambitious. You have to create hype around skateboarding, around a video. I quickly integrated this parameter for B(ee)R 1. I took advantage of my events project at the end of my Bachelor 3 to make this idea a reality.

Plus, I was noted on it. So as soon as I heard that we had to organize an event as part of my studies, I jumped at the chance and proposed my idea. I ended up with three guys who had nothing to do with skateboarding. They were like “Well okey, we’re going to follow you even if we don’t know anything about it. » I got very involved, because I had the contacts. I took in charge of almost everything and my classmates felt a little left out.

How did you organize your AVP?

I wondered what would be needed in addition to a classic AVP. We needed a nice room, so I targeted the Rockstore. For the atmosphere, I thought about rappers, DJs, goodies, free drinks and free food. We managed to get almost everything we thought of.

For food, we managed to have a partnership with a pizzeria. For the atmosphere, we managed to bring in the rapper Faktiss, a former member of the group Set & Match, and a DJ, Tiño, who mixes a lot in Montpellier now. For a first video under the name B(ee)R, I managed to bring together nearly 300 people. Seeing the success, I said to myself: “Okay, this is the way to do it. » You really have to get off your ass and follow all these steps. In addition, after the event, the video did well on social networks. It motivated me to move on to another project. This one took longer because of COVID, but we pushed it the same way using the same formula.

Who are the permanent members of the crew? Can you introduce them?

There is Aymeric SamPol. Just before going to the Polar We Blew It At Some Point AVP in Montpellier, we did a first session and we said to ourselves that we wanted to film something together. We had a very productive two-three hour session before the AVP and we had some good clips. Then, in the evening, we went to watch the Polar video; she gave me a big slap. The video was the first trigger that made me want to make a video. Aymeric continued to come to the sessions. There is also Théo Moga, who came with us, and my brother, Mathis. They were at the heart of the first project. As a guest, I had Lionel Cabos, Bastien Marlin and many other Montpellier residents.

For B(ee)R 2, the heart of the team was made up of Clément Om, who returned from his studies in Madrid, Lionel Cabos and Pierre Bonnafé. Unfortunately, COVID delayed the release of the video quite a bit. Filming took us almost two years. But it allowed me to add lots of people to the project, like Maxime Garlenc. And then the old ones like Theo Moga came back. We ended up with nine complete shares. There are about nine to ten recurring people in the crew. Let’s say that it was from B(ee)R 2 that the definitive crew was formed. In (ee), my third video, I included younger people, like Clément Rouquette and Louis Bars. Louis arrived a little by chance in the crew. Bastien Marlin had caught COVID just before we left for Lyon, so we had a seat that had become available. And, at the last moment, we took Louis. We already knew him, but now he is really our dude. He skated really well and his integration happened naturally.

Are there any special conditions for joining the B(ee)R crew?

Since it’s a crew that was formed around the video project, it’s mainly linked to everyone’s involvement. Those who come are most likely to have footage. If you don’t want to come, you don’t come. Sometimes, some come just to support their friends. That’s cool too.

I try as much as possible to film in Montpellier and its surroundings to highlight my city and document all the spots. We try to find new ones or go to old ones that haven’t been skated for a long time. We are really trying to exploit, to squeeze as much of the juice from the street of Montpellier as possible. Sometimes, we go and explore spots identified in villages using Google Maps. It’s often the unknown. Sometimes you can come across some really cool stuff; sometimes it’s broken.

You talk about Google Maps being a very good way to locate spots. Do you have any other tips?

Actually, I use Google Maps quite a bit. The 3D mode is awesome. This gives you a perspective that allows you to better realize the height of steps, curbs, etc. I have a little tip. In fact, I look in random villages for town halls or schools. Often you can come across plazas that have never been skated before. Sometimes it can happen that we go to a spot that turns out to be impassable. Then, by exploring around, you can find spots. It’s a matter of luck sometimes.

Is there a spot you discovered that you loved skating?

In B(ee)R 2, there is a fairly ordinary spot that we found. It was in the village of Murviel-lès-Montpellier, typically a small village. There we found, in the middle of a street, a sort of mini downhill with a bump at the end.

And, right next to it, we found a plastic barrier that we placed after the bump. So it was a little descent that wasn’t very steep and, at the end, we had a little bump. Clément Om did a very stylish flip back over it in his part in B(ee)R 2.

It’s really lost spots like this that we love to explore. We cultivate this local approach on B(ee)R videos so that it speaks to people in Montpellier. If you’re from Montpellier, you can recognize the spots and if it makes you want to film or skate, exploring is even better. Sometimes, it’s funny, there are spots that are in the center but that the locals don’t even recognize. They ask me where they are, even though the guys skate every day.

It’s true that sometimes you’re so used to skating at your spot that you might not necessarily want to go elsewhere.

Yeah, the guys skate either at the grid or at Albert I and they don’t go exploring the spots that are a little far. We have a team of guys who are motivated enough to skate rusty spots. We walk around with iron plates and “Rub Bricks” to sand down certain spots that are not at all skateable. Thanks to this accessory, you can remove all the concrete or all the plaster on a curb. It can save you spots.

Have you ever been to spots spotted on Google Maps that seemed skateable but ultimately turned out to be impossible to ride?

Last time, we did a village mission between Montpellier and Nîmes. We went to Calvisson; we had spotted a rail with blocks. On Maps, you couldn’t get close to the spot, you saw it from far away, from the road. It really looked sick. And in fact, once we arrived at the front, the ground was sanded like on the pétanque courts. It was a smooth sand imperceptible in the photos.

On the other hand, we had a nice surprise at Valras Plage. We found an incredible plaza. Pierre Bonnafé makes a back tail there, fakie manny, fakie tré in his part. There are manny pads with curbs on top. It was a plaza that no one had skated. I spotted it on Maps. We went to Agde to skate with Bastien Marlin. He returned afterwards and then we continued a little further to discover this plaza. The curbs were new, everything ran so well. We even went back with the whole crew to film more images.

This is what makes exploration so charming.

Yes, it’s funny. This is our recipe. Either we skate spots in Montpellier that have already been done and we try to do original things there, or we go looking for spots in distant lands. – Laughs – By the sea too, we find cool things.

Like the banks of the Grande Motte.

Yes. Besides, that was my first street spot. With my brother, we saw it under construction. We skated it before it was even completely finished. We did our first street sessions at La Grande Motte.

The street wasn’t crazy there. I remember there was a metal skatepark so ghetto that you could consider it a street spot… – Laughs –

Laughs – It was so good. And the round flat bar and kicker were perfect. Besides, we learned all the gap tricks on this kicker. The spine was also great. Something you don’t see too much in parks anymore, except in bowls.

At La Mosson, there was a small spine; the park was all wood.

I see, but I haven’t experienced this version of the park. I knew the old Grammont. Since it was closer to La Grande Motte.

Coming back to the street, why are there so few projects emerging from Montpellier? However, it is a fairly large, student city, there are quite a few skateboarders…

There was a generation, a big generation even, which saw good photographers and videographers emerge, at the time of MO’FO’, with Boris Proust and Luc Angles. Then, nothing more on the video and photo side, apart from Boris’s brother, Elliot, who had photos published in Sugar. But there was no photographer who documented the scene in a lasting manner. In addition, the shops here are not very supportive, they are more the type to go to war with each other. The one who moves the most and who, from my point of view, is the most legitimate is Popular. He has fewer resources, but he is really determined and he remains close to the locals.

I also think that brands think that Montpellier is not a very dynamic market, that it is a city that sleeps a little. So they don’t necessarily invest here.

On the video side, I’m busy filming, sending my edits to magazines, organizing events with people. There are other videographers who make edits, but they stay in their corner.

I actually watched some videos filmed in Montpellier that I won’t mention, well filmed, well edited, but without any communication around them.

It’s clearly a shame to work on a video for months and then publish it in a hurry and it barely gets two hundred views. I want my videos to be shared and seen. And it’s not egocentric to think that way. It’s above all the idea of highlighting Montpellier, the locals, and then that it makes other skaters, or even generations after, want to start making videos. If no one does it, Montpellier skateboarding will die. – Laughs –

You can be the best skater, do all the tricks you want, if they’re not filmed or photographed by someone, it’s not much use.

That’s it. Right now, there are young people like Tylo and his crew doing their thing. I try to push them, I tell them each time to come to me if they need advice or anything else. As soon as there are new people who have project ideas, I try to encourage them, because I want to share my experience with them. Sometimes, some people refuse my advice and I have the impression that they take it as a competition.

There’s a lack of mutual help, I think. I also think there is a bit of talk shit. Once, I asked a guy to come skate with us, film a trick for the Friends video. He replied: “Oh no, but I don’t like it when it’s filmed in 4K. »I was bent. I never film in 4k.

Can you give your set up?

I have the Panasonic GH5 with a Meike 3.5mm fisheye. It’s a very small, very round fisheye that I resize to 4/3 HD. It’s like having VX HD. To come back to the guy from Pop Trading, he really took this HD VX madness seriously by making long lens VX and HD for fisheye. I like this kind of experimentation. Romain Batard is doing some good experiments, I think. He gave a tutorial for HD VX where he explained how to stick his MK1 fisheye on an HD camera. Lots of people started making HD VX thanks to him. I am for filmers who are experimenting and who want to move away from this almost obsolete camera. We are saying: “VX is dead. » I would like the same thing to be said about the HPX in a while.

In fact, what is mainly lacking is an affordable fisheye that would adapt to the new cameras. When I say that people don’t move around enough, I wonder why there isn’t someone with a bit of engineering who could create the perfect fisheye. It would take a skateboarder/filmer who works in optics who could invent the perfect fisheye that doesn’t cost five thousand bucks. He would make money, that’s for sure. Anyway, that’s my overall view of skate video at the moment.

We continue to talk about video. I saw you were in Italy with the guys. Will the next project take place there?

We are working on B(ee)R 3. It will be longer and we will put more time into it (ee). I think this is going to be the last big video in the series. Then I will make more short videos in the spirit of the (ee). Maybe we’ll do like Hockey and go straight to the B(ee)R 10. – Laughs –

What we filmed in Italy will perhaps occupy a special little Turin section in the middle of the video. We will also put all the crap in the apartment there. I am considering other trips, this time to France, to Lyon, Marseille, and why not Paris. Barcelona would be cool too. The spots are very desirable. Everything will depend on the budget. Afterwards, we do all this with our own means…

We also try to offer B(ee)R boards in small quantities. It’s not super profitable, but it allows us to have our own boards, with our identity and a shape that we have chosen. At least our efforts are 100% our thing.

What are your plans ?

At the moment, we are already on the B(ee)R 3. The goal would be to release it for next summer. For the moment, we’re going to put ourselves in filming mode. While working in parallel. What’s also funny is that quite a few members of the crew have started doing indoor climbing. So we have sessions regularly. At parties, sometimes we hear half talk about skateboarding and climbing. In short, the project will continue.