Surfing

Jason Baffa - a surfer’s filmmaker

Any serious surfer can appreciate the beauty of Jason Baffa’s films, Single Fin: Yellow and One California Day. The scenery is stunning, the surfing is fantastic (and yet calming at the same time), and the story told is as important as The Endless Summer. In the case of One California Day, a film he shot with Mark Jeremias, it is perhaps even more important, as Baffa and Jeremias are the first modern-day filmmakers to take a fresh look at real surfers and real surfing in California.

That grainy look that you see in One California Day and Single Fin: Yellow stems from the fact that Baffa and his team shot the films in 16 mm film, as opposed to digital video. Why did he do that? “Masochism,” Baffa says with a laugh. “I went to film school and wanted to make movies long before that. The interest in storytelling started for me when my grandmother gave me an 8mm camera.”

The making of each of his films were long projects for Baffa, representing four years of his life, each. That’s not to say he has any regrets – on the contrary, he hopes his movies will be inspirational to aspiring surfing filmmakers: “I guess the point is that with Single Fin: Yellow and One California Day, if you’ve got a camera, a backpack and a story to tell, you can shoot a surfing movie or any movie,” says Baffa. “My crew was basically me and one other guy. At one point my girlfriend brought me tacos and a beer and I thought ‘Wow, this is great.’” Baffa had a partner in Mark Jeremias, with each of them shooting different parts of One California Day.

A surfer and a filmmaker, I asked Baffa about his favorite surfing movies. Without any hesitation, he listed Big Wednesday and The Endless Summer. “I actually like the Hollywood aspect of Big Wednesday,” Baffa explains. (I didn’t ask his view of Surfer, Dude, the movie.)

Interestingly, Baffa is an artist, whose work has been showcased on DailyStoke.com previously. (Indeed, - he tells us the interview got him doodling the work pictured here - South Side peak…). Art is clearly another creative outlet for Baffa. In that same spirit of creativity, I asked Baffa about Alex Knost’s Beach Blanket Burnout, the first film written and produced by the Newport Beach logger and artist. Says Baffa: “Obviously, Al Knost is a very creative guy.” “Whether it’s his art, music or his surfing, it’ll be interesting to see what he come up with in the future,” Baffa observes. Knost featured prominently in One California Day.

When it comes to new projects up his sleeve, Baffa tells DailyStoke.com he is working with Mike Parsons and Brad Gerlach on a documentary television show. The show will have travelogue aspects to it. Says Baffa: “For example, we’ll profile a breath-hold spearfisherman who fishes the Cortez Bank - when it’s flat. Compare that to Mike and Brad, who only go to Cortez when it’s epic. In each case, we’ll be exploring man’s connection with the sea.” This yet named television show promises to be very cool. We’re stoked. Stay tuned for more on what Jason Baffa has in his cinematographical quiver.

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