JACK O’NEILL – DOCUMENTARY – FILM
Kudos to O’Neill for this brilliant masterpiece!
Beachgrit
THE IDEA
Chris Nelson and Demi Taylor were commissioned to write a film and tribute to the life of icon, entrepreneur, surfer, trailblazer Jack O’Neill.
Directed by: Peter Hamblin
Produced by: Hamblin Imagery
Commissioned by: O’Neill
THE RESULT
‘I Knew Jack O’Neill’ was premiered during the memorial paddle out in Santa Cruz and a number of events across the globe.
The film was also showcased world-wide via surf and adventure media including: Surfer Magazine, Outside Magazine, Stab, Tracks, Carve, What Youth, Grind TV, Men’s Journal, Beach Grit, Surf Girl as well as a number of film festivals.
THE APPROACH
Jack O’Neill – trail blazer, inventor of the wetsuit, is a cultural figure who manages to transcend boundaries, beyond the notion of brand to the heady realm of surfing pioneer. When Jack O’Neill passed away aged 94, surfing lost one of its most iconic figures.
We had one week to produce a script that honoured a man who was both a surfing icon to the world and a friend and father to those who knew him best. In telling the story of Jack O’Neill, we knew it was important to share both the big steps and innovations as well as those more intimate moments of his life. We went deep into the brand and talked story with some of those who knew Jack well in order to write an emotive piece that captured Jack’s spirit, ethos, and philosophy, sharing not only leaps of innovation and imagination, but those elements of his life that helped shape the man.
We created a script and guided the voice-over artist on tone, pace and pauses ensuring the film carried the right energy, reverence and momentum.
I knew a man that changed the world. Well, the world that I know…That world? It’s that plane that we as surfers occupy; that line between sea and sky. And we’re held there by these invisible forces, fluid mechanics, surface tension, and that need for just one more… It’s in those wild margins, between high and low – that we exist.