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The VICE Q&A

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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
"FREE chronicles Freeskiing's ascension to sports biggest stage, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. VICE followed four of the sports most promising young athletes as they fight to make the US Olympic Freestlye Ski team for the sports first ever inclusion in the Winter Games."



Here's how this Q&A works:

1) You post your question(s) in here
2) The VICE staff behind FREE will answer them directly in this thread.
3) Once there's a decent amount of Q&A's, I'll create a recap news article.

As always, try to keep it on-topic, and don't hesitate to ask the hard hitting questions. Do us proud NS!
Feb 5 2014 1:25PM
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FreeskiThe603
Posts: 861 - Karma: 1,409
As a company that typically does highly controversial and political documentaries, what drove you guys to do a documentary on freeskiing?
Feb 5 2014 10:43PM
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Dr.Gonzo
Posts: 2552 - Karma: 87
I agree with this. Especially at the end, when they show T Hall bouncing on the trampoline right after Blunck won. Almost as if it was like a fuck you you're just bouncing on a trampoline while this guy is having the time of his life. Felt like they dissed or at the very least downplayed the movie side

Woulda loved to see a piece with Steve Stepp talking about how shitty the team is also
Feb 6 2014 1:27AM
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LibertyBdub
Posts: 146 - Karma: 728
When has vice ever been in the business of making anything remotely related to fluff? You're usually so controversial and INTENDED, where as the controversy that you've created with this piece of hack work seems truly lazy. Which devil did Rocco sell his soul to and why? Vice doesn't need the cash. American apparel is paying the masthead singlehandedly, why dilute your reputation for two plank portaging?
Feb 6 2014 2:06AM
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LibertyBdub
Posts: 146 - Karma: 728
Just saw mcleods reply. Still wondering why it wouldn't just be an NBC documentary. What's with the vice involvement at all?
Feb 6 2014 2:09AM
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Schmaelzle
Posts: 272 - Karma: 546
Who came to who first? Did NBC contact you (VICE) to do this, was it The North Face? Or did you contact them first?

Did you guys have to spend much money to make this or was it all funded by NBC?
Feb 6 2014 2:15AM
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STwoops
Posts: 2941 - Karma: 5,126
is dlo actually a girl? what did clo do to her growing up to make her so manly in skill and style?
Feb 6 2014 6:48AM
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STwoops
Posts: 2941 - Karma: 5,126
PS why wasnt clo interviewed?
Feb 6 2014 6:53AM
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TetonGravity
Posts: 104 - Karma: 5,344
Were you disappointed to find no cannibals, vast corruption, or other bits of salacious scandal in the ski world?
Feb 6 2014 11:52AM
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crawley
Posts: 605 - Karma: 729
p = people (humans)
g = glue (horses)
h = heads
l = legs

p+g=h
2p+4g=l
p=h-g
2(h-g)+4g=l
2h-2g+4g=l
2h+2g=l
148+2g=196
2g=48
g=24
p=50

but more importantly, this documentary was kind of sick if for nothing else the DL TH exchange, it's just too bad it wasn't broader. They obviously had an outside influence on who to focus on and I respect that. I'd love to see an epicly later'd with pat o'dell on tanner and candide taking a sport 10 years behind snowboarding and putting it 5 years ahead, tom setting the bar, and then henrik inevitably getting totally jobbed at these olymipics even though he's on a different level than everybody else.
Feb 6 2014 2:28PM
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ski0
Posts: 2321 - Karma: 5,370
Would you consider doing a PART 2 with the filmmaking (way more interesting) aspect of FREEskiing?
Feb 6 2014 2:36PM
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ZachAndCheese
Posts: 816 - Karma: 5,116
How many lbs of weed does Tanner Hall smoke per week???
Feb 6 2014 4:58PM
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powerbong2000
Posts: 737 - Karma: 1,802
Will you guys be doing any independently produced stuff on skiing? Would love to see a series like Epicly Later'd.

Also, can you include Hamilton just doing tons of drugs all the time if you do?
Feb 6 2014 5:02PM
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MNS
Posts: 5386 - Karma: 3,241
They should've asked about NSers vs TGers.
Feb 6 2014 5:12PM
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SoToasty
Posts: 68 - Karma: 31
I think you Vice needs to do its own video without the bias's of TNF and NBC. They took what could have been a great video, and made it into a giant fluff piece about American athletes.

I agree that it is a step in the right direction to get people to notice freeskiing more, but it wasnt even close to the potential/impact it could have had. Overall maybe 4/10.


Feb 6 2014 5:18PM
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MaxBerkowitz
Posts: 440 - Karma: 2,611
This was straight up the worst Vice documentary I've ever seen.

How the hell did you not put Henrik Harlaut (swedish, I know), Nick Goepper, Bobby Brown, David Wise or Torin Yater Wallace in the film? All five of those are headed for the olympics, and all have huge potential to win medals, and other than Henrik, they're all American.

There could've been a great storyline with Tanner talking about competition skiing and FIS making things different, alongside Wallisch and Torin getting injured.

Also, Devin Logan and Aaron Blunck came off sounding like spoilt rich skier kids. Should've had more Wallisch, more Simon, more anyone really. If you want women, why not Kaya Turski or Angeli van Laanen.

This documentary made us look like Shaun White wannabes, it could have been so good.
Feb 6 2014 6:46PM
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KyleMeyr
Posts: 201 - Karma: 2,478
Was objectivity ever an issue in filming considering your partnership with NBC and their partnership with the Olympics?
Feb 6 2014 8:54PM
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willysworld
Posts: 2116 - Karma: 5,482
1) Why the fuck did you have to interview Devun Logan? she has to be the most annoying ugly, out spoken spastic on planet earth.. her switch 5's look like her face...
and she talks shit on T-hall like really you are over weight... you never grab... and you have won like 3 comps.. Why did you have to let her talk for like 1/5 of the whole film? You should have talked to Torrin more, Henrick, Grete, Kari , anyone else other than Devun fucking logan...


2) Why the fuck does that silly women call that kid airbear? Like these little jock kids with their really lame ass coaches and parents that's not freeskiing.. that is gymnastics with grabs.. I like where vice is coming from but you only got like 30% of the vibe of freeskiing at best.. but good effort even though I know North Face paid you guys big bucks to make this im stoked that Freeskiing is getting the spot light..

Feb 7 2014 9:00AM
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-benedetto
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 1,359
Did Vice have to sell out to North Face?


Fuckin' horse hockey out here, mate!!
Feb 7 2014 9:35AM
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.Asain-Skiier
Posts: 3708 - Karma: 977
If you could have chosen another person to interview, who would it have been?
Feb 7 2014 2:28PM
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BobYohan
Posts: 3001 - Karma: 375
David Wise and Nick Goepper are America's most likely gold medal contenders. Why profile 4 American athletes and not choose either of them?
Feb 7 2014 3:18PM
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simmers
Posts: 1004 - Karma: 397
How many years ago did this pipe run happen?


How many years ago did this halfpipe run happen?



Feb 7 2014 3:49PM
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VICE
Posts: 2 - Karma: 14
We actually shot a fair amount with David Wise and his family but at the end of the day it ended up on the cutting room floor. We wish we could have kept a lot of scenes with some of our ancillary characters such as Jossi Wells and Simon Dumont, but too many voices diluted the piece and with a 45 minute time slot it would have made the narrative too confusing. The sport has so many dynamic characters and voices that we would have had to make a 24 hour-long movie to even begin to do it justice. Our female athletes are arguably the best the sport has to offer, you can not argue that. Madde Bowman is a 2 times X-Games gold medalist in halfpipe and Logan is dominating in slopestyle. I’m not pleased with all of the hate I’m seeing for Devin Logan on these boards – she is one of the talented skiers the sport has to offer and is doing great things for it by taking her talents to South Beach, I mean Sochi. As for our male athletes we picked Aaron because he's new on the scene and offered a great Cinderella story to counter Tom Wallisch. We picked Tom Wallisch because, well, he's Tom Wallisch.
Feb 7 2014 5:12PM
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VICE
Posts: 2 - Karma: 14
The Wells Brothers should have their own documentary, Tanner V. Simon should have it's own documentary, Peter Olenick and his crew should have their own documentary... honestly there are too many great athletes, story-lines, and personalities in the sport to choose from. If I had to pick a few more interviews I would add Bobby Brown, Jossi Wells, and Henrik Harlaut.
Feb 7 2014 5:14PM
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powerbong2000
Posts: 737 - Karma: 1,802
Lemme echo what I said before. Do some shit like epicly later'd!
Feb 7 2014 5:15PM
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666slayer
Posts: 53 - Karma: 11
They all took the bate. VICE did a shitty piece and everyone involved looked like a kook for the most part. Elana whoever is completely an unstable person my god. Did you really listen to anything she said? Please show her the exit door from this sport. And Aaron Blunk you sound like a fucking robot. Where did the balls go in skiing?

Feb 7 2014 6:24PM
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gbrunch
Posts: 115 - Karma: -7
Isn't Vice's thing to have creative freedom and do whatever they want, or was that NBC money an invisible hand in the project?


The story line chosen over all the other possible directions is not one that we the ski community enjoyed or support.
Feb 7 2014 6:44PM
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gbrunch
Posts: 115 - Karma: -7
Do the vice guys that produced this actually ski or have skiers that helped create the direction of the project?
Feb 7 2014 6:47PM
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blindside
Posts: 5619 - Karma: 1,199
Well first of all if they are 'arguably' the best then yes, I can argue that. But these are the semantics I expect from Vice. Regardless, they are not the best the sport has to offer, nor are they the most influential.

Good day.
Feb 7 2014 9:08PM
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Schmaelzle
Posts: 272 - Karma: 546
Lols. Acting like you've got more weight than VICE, cute.
Feb 7 2014 10:02PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22671 - Karma: 75,830
I would like to know why you as a media company would produce an obviously corporate-sponsored piece about skiing....

and then release this - https://www.newschoolers.com/readnews/44406.0/Sochi-2014--Mountains-of-Money---VICE

That is some solid journalism. Calling out the truth behind a corrupt organization.

I mean yes, you told a very nice story about a couple of athletes. Those athletes are rad... and I back that idea. But you made this documentary about the sport's journey to the Olympics... and that journey is both dark and light.

Why didn't you cover the dark as much as you covered the light?
Feb 7 2014 10:50PM
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Schmaelzle
Posts: 272 - Karma: 546
NBC.
Feb 7 2014 11:20PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,298
Bishop aint dumb. he just wants to hear you say it.
Feb 8 2014 10:53AM
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GrandThings
Posts: 2940 - Karma: 28,855
PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION ABOUT MUTINY AND MARTINI????????
Feb 8 2014 11:00AM
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LC.
Posts: 5952 - Karma: 2,423
I think you did a fine job. Do you care what the Newschoolers population writes about your work online.
Feb 8 2014 11:06AM
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corona
Posts: 12752 - Karma: 32,266
Yes, they should care.

If you made a documentary about Germany and all Germans hated it and said it sucked, would you not care?
Feb 8 2014 12:01PM
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Schmaelzle
Posts: 272 - Karma: 546
NS isn't even close to representing all park skiers, much less all freeride skiers.
Feb 8 2014 12:51PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,298
its not a bad read on where they are as a whole. While I know a ton of park skiers not on NS, they usually have pretty similar thoughts and opinions as those that are.
Feb 8 2014 1:08PM
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blindside
Posts: 5619 - Karma: 1,199
Well considering this is Vice's first investigative piece on freeskiing (that in my opinion they botched), and that I've been a part of this community offline and on for over ten years now, yes; I do act like I've got more weight than Vice on the topic.


Feb 8 2014 2:03PM
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BobYohan
Posts: 3001 - Karma: 375
Thanks for the reply. I'm a big fan of VICE docs and am stoked you guys took an interest in skiing. really hope to see something in the future in the grittier, more underground style that VICE is known for. check this out if you haven't seen it already: http://vimeo.com/31936239
Feb 8 2014 3:27PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,298
I think this really bummed me out because im so used to vice being the unbiased, hard hitting news source for things I wouldn't normally see. The trips into Liberia and Gaza really changed the way I look at those regions.

And while skiing may not be the same as genocide and political oppression, it would have been really awesome to see an unbiased outsiders look at where we are now, and that is what I expected. It didn't suck, I didn't hate it, and I feel like I learned more about some of the competitors, but you could tell the direction it went in was almost forced. If this just would have been an NBC or TNF documentary, it would have fit my expectations right on the head. But since VICE was involved, I was expecting a more pure and immersive look at what we do and love.
Feb 8 2014 3:31PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,298
*hit
Feb 8 2014 3:32PM
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howlongcanausern
Posts: 4982 - Karma: 1,737
i'd bone shane smith, no homo
Feb 8 2014 4:33PM
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-benedetto
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 1,359
Vice has plenty of great documentaries from places around the world. Some of the most dangerous and remote areas too. Shane Smith may drink a little much on Rogans podcast but I believed in the unbiased journalism..money talked here big time!

When it comes to vice, I'll stick with Eddie Huang..
Feb 9 2014 8:40AM
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UncleGerry
Posts: 1291 - Karma: 1,377
Clearly just said "Henrik Harlaut" to please all of the NS children. Adding him to any sort of film that involves speaking and portraying our sport to the masses would be a nightmare.


I agree aout Devin Logan on both sides though…The amount of hate is unnecessary but at the same time, she (along with the other athletes that were mainly interviewed) probably wasn't the best choice.


What I'm trying to say is, that documentary fucking blew.
Feb 9 2014 10:29AM
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UncleGerry
Posts: 1291 - Karma: 1,377
I feel like they did…Contrasting Tanner's situation with the rest of the athlete's opportunities in competition was kind of depressing.
Feb 9 2014 10:32AM
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J-Neal
Posts: 1545 - Karma: 172
whoever runs this account is honestly the worst.
Feb 10 2014 1:02PM
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raull
Posts: 384 - Karma: 2,232
Why didnt you recruit more attractive females for this video? Did you realize that everyone skips over the female stuff anyway?
Feb 10 2014 2:30PM
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MLB
Posts: 4462 - Karma: 298
Not even close....they didn't even scratch the surface. Hell I am sure that Tanner had so much more to say, and they only talked to him. There are so many more athletes that are anti-olympics, including ones who compete and aren't going to Sochi.

Its a HUGE puff piece, and its kinda sad to see Vice's name on it compared to some many docs that they have produced before. I just think that it was this huge opportunity to showcase all sides of competitive skiing, and they just went all "GO USA!!! THE NORTH FACE RULES!! " When they could of went with what Tom said in saying that skiing is going to be divided into sections, and how those sections get be really dirty under it all.

You could compare grassroots skiers to kids who buy their way to the games. Such a huge opportunity just squandered.
Feb 10 2014 5:56PM
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Superduploman
Posts: 227 - Karma: 505
Thank you VICE for bringing freeskiing further into the spotlight. I think bringing too many skiers, storylines and styles into a shortfilm would confuse the public audience (everybody except nsers). I think it was a good decision to stick to one topic.
But do you think you will do anything else in the future about freeskiing? Urban skiing documentary would be dope, or a "grassroot" movie like mention earlier in this thread?
Feb 10 2014 6:45PM
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cyberginger
Posts: 574 - Karma: 7,082
81 X 7
Feb 10 2014 9:06PM
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