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 Fatsand's second release, AC, features 14 chapters of footage filmed in South Africa, Europe, the Red Sea, and the Carribean.
As a second release, we would have expected this DVD to be even better than their first release - Kiteboarding Progression. Sadly, the video dissapointed, and none of the people on our review panel had anything outstanding to say about the DVD.
iKiteboarding.com sent the DVD to three people, here's what they had to say :
Goose, Cape DR : "To be honest, I thought the video was very amateur. With all the modern day equipment that's available I would have expected a much more professional video. I could have created something better on my home video camera. On the contrary, it was good to see some local faces like Reinier Olivier and some local scenery. The interviews with Mark Shinn and Reinier Olivier was quite cool to watch, but that's only extras and doesn't make up for what is missing in the video. This is not something I would rush out and buy, although it was nice to watch."
Glen Hignett : "There's simply too many handle passes. I own Kiteboarding Progression and that was an excellent video, but this video is a dissapointment. There's too many of the same thing and I thought the video was too short at only 48 minutes."
Peter Petersen : "I thought the video was pretty cool especially with the Aaron hadlow scenes, but the video felt too long to watch in one go. There was too much of the same thing all the time."
Everyone agreed that there was too much repetition. Whilst watching the video, it immediately becomes apparant that there is a clear lack of direction on this production. Individual chapters don't have highlights, it starts of mediocre and then drags out to the point where you feel you need to skip to the next chapter, as most of the footage are shot from the same angle, and
the same moves are continously flashed in front of you while you listen to an irritating soundtrack. When you look at all the chapters as a whole you can see that none of the chapters fit together.
The Aaron Hadlow episode was split into two episodes. There's hundreds of handle passes and kiteloops. Very repetitious.Whilst the first Aaron Hadlow chapter was the highlight of the DVD, both chapters could have been shrunk into 3 minutes of exciting footage rather than 2 long and repetitious chapters.
Chapter 5 features Mark Shinn, but all the manouvres are old and boring to watch. Chapters 2 and 4 feature flat water kiteboarding with mostly surface handle passes, and none of them have any highlights. They were so boring to watch that I haven't actually managed to finish either chapter without skipping to the next chapter.
Chapter 8 was another highlight. A downwind session in Cape Town with beautiful scenery, good swell and aerial views.
Ufortunately this chapter is spoilt by a severe lack of wave riding, and the little bit there was is not spectacular at all.
Chapters 9 and 12 looked like the off cuts from chapter 8
Chapter 14 featured Mark Doyle doing insane kiteloops in Egypt. Unfortunately this was the most repetitious chapter on the disc with the most irritating soundrack.
To sum it up - this video can be nice to watch (but not all at once). There is a severe lack of kiteboarding lifestyle and scenery. The video lacks funk, excitement and variety, there is nothing that nails you to your seat or that calls you back to watch the DVD for a second time. You can't help but get the feeling that this is a holiday video that was put together poorly and quickly on someone's home pc. This video has no story line, it's just thousands of short repetitious clips that is put together and flashed in front of your eyes - all this to a soundtrack that ranges from very chilled to too irritating.
We feel that there are better options out there for the same price, or less. |