Case in point, the Cinema ‘Mix Tape,’ which just like the classic mix tape is a compiling of your favorite artist’s favorite artists. This compiling, hours of picking just the right clip, is all done by Will Stroud once again to weave together a story of a crazy group of friends all working in their own likings but coming together in one finished piece.  

I first heard of this project in Pittsburgh on a four-day trip with Nathan, Corey, Will and Harley. This trip started off with us getting kicked out of Doyle’s house (for good reason, Doyle’s still the man!) and led to drinking and wakeboarding on Kris Bennett’s boat and some of the craziest days I've seen behind a camera. As we were all bullshitting one night, I was looking through the photos and realized just how much shit went down in three days. I asked what the plan was for an edit, photos, etc, as it didn’t seem smart to let such hefty clips go to a quick edit. It was then that Will just kind of said ‘I really don't have a plan but man we got a lot of cool shit, maybe we should just do a mix tape. That way it’s less stress on all the riders and can be more of a fun project involving some of their local filmers.’ 

‘Shit, it seems like a good idea to me’ I thought, as frankly I don't mind sitting on photos at all ‘til just the right time (in fact, I have one now that’s four years old). Not to mention it seemed like a natural progression. While still freshly off their first trip in years to D.C and now a short one in Pittsburgh, the crew seemed to still have that energy flowing for Cinema; seeing the brand step things up and revamping every aspect of it. This left the team wanting to do more and film more. Why not keep that flowing instead of interrupting it?

After the short trip to Pittsburgh and Will’s idea of a mix tape ahead, the plan to do another trip involving Dak, CK, and Garrett came up since they weren’t in Pittsburgh. That eventually grew to the idea of doing some sort of Cinema X Fiend trip where the footage of Cinema riders would go toward the mix tape and the Fiend riders would keep their footage for their respective projects. This slowly became the ‘Cinema Is Fiending' trip that included jams during the weekdays at a few local skateparks along the way. Unfortunately, Dak ended up being busy with prior obligations that week, as did Ty Morrow. So we ended up getting stuck with Nathan’s lazy ass, and Antonio’s candy habit along with Johnny Raekes and Tony Ennis. Luckily Dakota is always filming and had no issues getting some clips together for this one.

Overall, it seems Will’s loose ways and plans for a mix tape towards the end of the year worked out just perfect. Every rider on the team got to go on some sort of trip to film for it and was able to film more with whoever and wherever it worked. For me, when watching the mix tape, it had an overall fun and stress free feeling. Something a little lighter hearted but yet still delivering the level of riding and clips that have come to be expected from the entire Cinema team. Here’s to more good times in the future and amazing riding from this crew.