Pacific Palisades:Tape8
- Text by Shelley Jones
- Photography by Connor Widdows, Zak Mayell, Sophia Doe
Pacific Palisades is a London-based production company that produces hazy, psychedelic film and photography rooted in skate culture.
Headed up by filmer Josh Church, their latest edit Tape 8 documents a crew of friends and skaters from London and LA cruising through the city of angels.
A visual diary of the trip, which happened after the crew met at Stoner skatepark in LA the year before, Tape 8 is the first in a series of shorts that will culminate in a main film, due for release later this year. We caught up with Josh to find out more.
What’s Tape 8 all about?
Tape 8 is the intro of a series of films I’m working on at the moment. It starts in the middle of our trip to LA at the beginning of this year.
Who’s involved in it altogether and when did you start shooting it?
Myself, Darius Trabalza, Dan Kreitem, Zak Mayell, Connor Widdows and Curtis Pearl left for the states in mid-February, the main incentive being to miss the British winter. We had done the same thing two years previous, which is how the Yardsale team came about when we met Jhian Namei, David Bowens and Adrian Adrid at Stoner [skatepark in LA]. Before I left I didn’t really know what I wanted to make. From the previous trip I had noticed a lot of homeless, which I found quite interesting – a lot of war veterans. But I had no premeditated plans.
Were any other videos an inspiration?
I’ve been watching a lot of X-Files while editing so that’s probably influenced me in some way. But mainly the music I heard out there has been a big one.
Where is it shot and what are your favourite spots in it?
It was shot all around LA, Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood. Favourite spot has to be the painted curbs, which are everywhere.
What’s your overall favourite part in the video?
For Tape 8, the dogue bit. Such wow. I like the stuff you can’t plan or couldn’t think of.
Were there any challenges in bringing it to life?
Not really. I like the idea of gonzo journalism and think it’s good to experience what you’re documenting, so in a way I just let it happen.
Any other projects in the pipeline? What’s next?
So after Tape 8, four more individual tapes will be released leading up to the main film, which will consist of Tapes 1-7. I shot some of the main film on 16mm but haven’t had it developed yet, so I’m interested to see how it’ll turn out, if at all.
You might like
A stark, confronting window into the global cocaine trade
Sangre Blanca — Mads Nissen’s new book is a close-up look at various stages of the drug’s journey, from production to consumption, and the violence that follows wherever it goes.
Written by: Isaac Muk
“Like skating an amphitheatre”: 50 years of the South Bank skatepark, in photos
Skate 50 — A new exhibition celebrates half a century of British skateboarding’s spiritual centre. Noah Petersons traces the Undercroft’s history and enduring presence as one of the world’s most iconic spots.
Written by: Noah Petersons
On Marrakech’s outskirts, a skatepark reimagines possibility for local youth
Tameslouht — Built on the grounds of the Fiers et Forts orphanage, a new spot is providing space for connection and purpose, while incubating top-class talent. Ellie Howard reports from its banks.
Written by: Ellie Howard
“I didn’t care if I got sacked”: Sleazenation’s Scott King in conversation with Radge’s Meg McWilliams
Radgenation — For our 20th Anniversary Issue, Huck’s editor Josh Jones sits down with the legendary art director and the founder of a new magazine from England’s northeast to talk about taking risks, crafting singular covers and disrupting the middle class dominance of the creative industries.
Written by: Josh Jones
Free-spirited, otherworldly portraits of Mexico City’s queer youth
Birds — Pieter Henket’s new collaborative photobook creates a stage for CDMX’s LGBTQ+ community to express themselves without limitations, styling themselves with wild outfits that subvert gender and tradition.
Written by: Isaac Muk
The suave style and subtle codes of gay San Francisco in the ’70s
Seminal Works — Hal Fischer’s new photobook explores the photographer’s archive, in which he documented the street fashion and culture of the city post-Gay Liberation, and pre-AIDS pandemic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
