THE AGE

CREATING WAVES

Digital technology has allowed the surf movie to enter a new realm, writes Murray Walding.

In 1964, The Endless Summer, by Californian movie maker Bruce Brown, surfed its way into our collective consciousness, breaking surf-movie, boxoffice records wherever it showed.

In Melbourne it premiered at the Brighton Dendy, and ran for six weeks. It was full of giant green curls, bikinis, bonejarring wipeouts, Hawaiian sunsets, and dodgy humour. And against all this stunning imagery, Brown set a magical soundtrack by surf band the Sandals. Brown's film also included a segment that defined the term "the perfect wave".

In South Africa, Brown and the two surfers who accompanied him, Mike Hynson and Robert August, stumbled on an unknown surf spot in the lee of Cape St Francis on the south-east coast. Here Brown discovered a flawless one-metre tubing wave that he claimed broke with perfect shape for 360 days of the year. (It took surfers years to work out that Brown had used more than just a little poetic licence.) in fact, good surf is rare at Cape St Francis. Nevertheless, because of the film, the area became synonymous with perfection and remained so until boards shrank to their present size, and the idea of wave perfection became hollow, rugged and unpredictable.

For the next three decades surf cinematographers tried to emulate Brown's vision and bigbucks success, but by and large, his impact has never been matched.

But now that we have reached a new millennium, digital technology has revolutionised surf movies, and northern New South Wales surf cinematographer Monty Webber has come up with one of surfing's most unusual films.

Liquid Time captures the most perfect waves ever seen on screen, better than Brown's Cape St Francis beauties, but there's a catch. These waves are impossible to surf, and not because of the threat of sharks, or impossibly shallow coral reefs, but because Webber's waves are miniature, less than 30 centimetres in height.

They are, you see, boat wakes. These tiny waves peeling down the shallow sandbars of the Clarence River on NSW's north coast, are created by the wake of a chugging fishing boat. The footage, which took two years to compile, also features views from inside the breaking tube.

So, how does Webber get his camera inside the tube of a wave that reaches just above his ankle? He simply walks along the sandbar, holding the boom-mounted lipstick camera in the throat of the mini tubes.

Using digital technology, Webber has slowed his footage, creating a mesmerising vision of waves that appear to be molded from luminous Aeroplane Jelly, and Liquid Time's sense of the surreal is heightened by its soundtrack.

Eschewing the current vogue for punk thrash or retro surf music that characterises modern surf features, Webber has chosen to use cuts from Tim "Love" Lee, a London DJ who gained fame as keyboardist with Katrina and the Waves, and his trancy soundtrack enhances the dreamy cool of these tiny waves, and helps Liquid Time take surf movies into a more cerebral realm.

DREAM ON

In his staggering, mesmerizing new film, Australian Monty Webber reveals that the world's most perfect waves are only five inches high.

Monty Webber: It goes right back to when me and my brothers were young and we saw Endless Summer and its search for the perfect wave.

We used to make these little sandbanks down in this back bay and watch little wind swells run down them.

Paul Witzig says:

"It's hypnotically fascinating. The slow movements of the lip coming down are just mesmerizing."

Monty Webber: Filming them, well ... it was like they were just little jewels we'd dug out of some un-mapped mountain and now we had to work out what the hell to do with them. Rather than inter-edit them with actual waves, we decided to go mad and photograph them from every conceivable angle and find a really great piece of music and try and make an artwork of it.

Alby Falzon says:

"Mind-boggling! I must say I don't think I've seen a film that is so beautiful. If there were Academy Awards given out for photography, editing, concept and music in the surfing arena, Liquid Time would take the lot."

Monty Webber: About this time I showed George Greenough and he just said, "Look you've gotta get a little camera inside the tube." We had already talked about this, but once George had told us we had to do it, it really meant we had to do it. I thought, wow, that's easier said than done, we'll need a little mini George Greenough knee-boarder with a camera strapped to his back. We ended up making our own perfect little waves and getting the camera inside the tube.

George Greenough:

"Fascinating! Those microwaves break new ground in surf film. The music, the complete camera techniques. A superb job."

Monty Webber: There's a combination of things that have to come together to make it work. Not the least of which is that you've gotta have a really still day. You've gotta have the current running the right way in the river. It's gotta be the perfect tide for the sandbank you're working on, for it to tube, I mean right down to the very viscosity of the water. Like if it's been raining and it's really thick water-like you know, when sometimes you go out for a surf and it's been raining and the water's really heavy, there's too much fresh water and it doesn't tube properly-there's things like that.

Jack McCoy:

"Damn it, man. You've made something so beautiful."

Monty Webber: My passion now is to try and make these waves big enough to be ridden. Really perfect, really long waves that break around this islet of sand. I mean, can you imagine it? Designing waves. Not just boring waves, but tubes that bend and warp and have fast and slow sections-the only limit is your imagination.

AUSTRALIA'S SURFING LIFE

MIDGET BARRELLY

Monty Webber's Liquid Time ain't no novelty. It's perhaps the most in-depth look at the breaking wave ever captured by a human being, and on top of that, it's absolutely be-yood-aful. It's caused a magazine such as this, which normally distances itself from the excesses of hippy babble, to be floored with words like "mesmerising" and "hypnotic".

"What's been the inspiration for this? It goes right back to when me and my brothers were young and we saw Endless Summer and it was like the search for the perfect wave. We used to make these little sandbanks down in Rose Bay, in the harbour back from Bondi, and watch little wind swells run down them. Fast forward to two years ago, I was driving into Yamba and Greg was flashing his high beams at me from behind and he was in a mild frenzy and he said (lowers voice). "Do you want to come and film the most perfect little waves in the world?" And I looked at him and was like, "Oh no ... he's finally gone totally insane." But in typical Greg fashion we went out and came back with some of the most incredible shots we had ever seen, some of which are actually in the final edit of Liquid Time. But at that stage it was like they were just little jewels we'd dug out of some unmapped mountain and now we had to work out what the hell to do with them. Rather than inter-edit them with actual waves we decided to go mad and photograph them from every conceivable angle and find a really great piece of music and just try and make an artwork of it. About this time I showed George Greenough and he just said: "Look, you've gotta get a little camera inside the tube." We had already talked about this, but once George had told us we had to do it, it really meant we had to do it. I thought, wow, that's easier said than done, we'll need a little mini George Greenough kneeboarder with a camera strapped to his back to do it. Atually (sounding upbeat) I got a friend up from Sydney with a lipstick camera in a housing, and without giving too much away, we ended up making these perfect little waves and getting the camera inside the tube and tracking alongside the tube.

Is it tricky?

Yeah. there's a combination of things that have to come together to make it work. Not least is you've gotta have a really still day. You've gotta have the current running the right way in the river. It's gotta be the perfect tide for the sandbank you're working on for it to break and tube. I mean right down to the very viscosity of the water. Like if it's been raining and it's a really thick water - like you know yourself when sometimes you go out for a surf and it's been raining and the water's really heavy, there's too much fresh water and it doesn't tube properly - There's things like that.

That knowledge must be ...

Yes, we've studied all of these causes and effects, my passion now is to try and make these waves big enough to be ridden, in a controlled environment. For the first project at around two-three foot. Really perfect, really long waves that break around this island, I mean can you imagine it?... designing waves! Not just boring waves, tubes that bend and warp and have fast and slow sections. The only limit is your imagination. In the designs so far we are drawing on all of our surfing experience, but for the moment the Desert Point into Speedies section is my favorite. It's just a matter of physics to make the waves bigger and money, the great unmentioned.

Reactions so far to the film?

So far it's been amazing. You know I only did a couple of copies and being up here I've got a great PR man like Nat Young who I gave a copy to. So he raved about it, he was really excited you know. He said it was the most beautiful thing he'd seen for a long time. So he showed a few people, Rod Dahlberg ended up with it, then he gives it to Gordon Merchant and Gordon just loved it. He was like. (almost laughing) "You've made something really really special. You know it's hard to come up with unique images nowadays and you've obviously done that." And Jack McCoy and Greenough?

Jack loved it. I could've retired the day I got the call from Jack. First thing Monday morning he's rung up and gone (loud American voice): "I love it!" And I was tempted to say "Jack, can I get that in writing! I need it framed on my wall. I'm retiring!" And I mean it's pretty hard to blow Jack away. Especially with no money and a handy cam. And Greenough ... he was a classic, "Hey Monty, those Microwaves are cool!" (laughs) He was stoked. He finds it fascinating I think in the same way we do. It's a cross between Gulliver's Travels and Endless Summer.

Your goals with the film?

I'm really happy for people just to see it. With something like the 20-minute film on the mini waves it's obviously more of an artistic endeavour than a conscious surf-film effort for the market place. I'd really love to see it on the big screen, but what's happened is I've edited it to this amazing piece of music by a Pommy guy named Tim Lee, and then after the mini-wave movie there is four songs of actual surfing footage which I've shot over the last year-and-a-half or so, some nice fish-eye water stuff and a bit of your typical surf vid state-of-the-art ripping. Mick, Taj, Kelly, etc. So there's the 40-minute VHS and then the 60 minute DVD with the Bonus section which is the best of Rise, my last movie, which is Mick Fanning and Joel and Rasta and Trent and even MP winning the '77 Stubbies, all rock solid, really strong Australian surfing. So they're the products I'm actually selling. But ideally I'd like to see the mini-wave film in an art-gallery context where it's not even necessarily a surf related film. It's a film about the bizarre movements of water on this classic planet we live on. That place where the water meets the land, that dynamic, that ultimate place where a surfer either wants to go to, or at least watch. Another landscape of perfect waves that has gone undocumented for all this time. You know it's just a total mind fuck and I really like that.

Your filming background?

Well, my brothers (John and Greg) and I started shooting Super 8 in the early '70s. I mean we were classic kids who just got blown away by Endless Summer, and then my uncles got involved in a project called the Yellow House in Kings Cross, which was where George Greenough showed some of his early stuff and we saw Innermost Limits of Pure Fun when we were kids, all this weird camera placement stuff, and it just blew us away. Then we saw Morning of the Earth just after it came out ... you know that changed everyone's lives for ever. It laid down a road map of how we were meant to live, you know. Paul Witzig's film (Evolution) obviously had a huge impact as well. I just loved the way those guys work with colour and light and reflections and water movement.

What do you think the outermost limits of pure fun could be?

The maddest thing me and my brother John - an award-winning landscape architect - have come up with is to design a future city of perfect waves. A place where you surf your way down to the shops or off to friends' places. Perfect waves breaking everywhere and everybody really well tubed and happy. I honestly don't think you can overstate how good it is for people to get barrelled. It will be the new opiate of the masses! (laughs).

This is one of the coolest movies I've ever seen. I don't want to give away the surprise in store for anyone who will be lucky enough to see this, but it's amazing. I hope you just trust me and get this movie. I showed this thing to Benji and Jay Larson. They sat there in awe for the whole thing. They were so tripped out by this movie, they couldn't control themselves. Benji walked out of the office with a weird glaze in his eyes, and Jay just crawled under the table and pondered life. Please do this now and your life will be better.

-C.C.

Rating: Trippingly awesome!

"It's a cross between Gulliver's Travels and Endless Summer."

Monty Webber's new movie Liquid Time features perfect, backlit, tubing waves peeling endlessly down perfect points and sandbars, with plenty of in-the-barrel shots in the style of George Greenough. But no surfer will ever ride them - these are mini waves, created in still water by boat wake.

The effect - slowed down, so it looks, in scale like real time and set to the music of Tim Love Lee, Rosie Westbrook, The Hunchbacks and Bourbon St is mesmerising. Webber has used his vivid imagination to take you somewhere else and this is probably destined for cult status among surfers and non-surfers alike. It's just long enough to appeal and is followed by 20 minutes of great surfing filmed in similar style at Angourie, with the DVD bonus featuring the best of his movie Rise.