Primitive followed up their AM video, DAYDREAM, by dropping one more video before 2024 came to a close, this one is titled WILDFIRE.

This video had a slightly different feel than most other Primitive videos; the 4×3 HD look included. WILDFIRE follows a format that seems to continue to increase in popularity, a few riders from a brand film full parts, and the rest of the team is included in a montage or two. Personally, as a viewer, I’m a fan of this format. If you compare it to a brand taking years working on a full length, it gives us more videos to watch, and they’re at more digestible lengths.

Along with the video premiere came the pro surprise for Kyonosuke, which was more than deserved. As Skatefol.io proved, Kyo’s been incredibly productive and has already left his mark on skating with his talent and creativity. Congrats on the pro nod, Kyo!

I decided to pick my favorite clip from each full part in this video and then chatted with Trent McClung and Eric Iwakura to get some behind-the-scenes stories on what went into these clips. Watch below for some commentary over raw footage, and then read the interview in its entirety below that. Enjoy…

Trent McClung

🌀: I was hyped on your Back Tail to Noseslide on the ledge over dirt in your part, and I know you’ve skated that spot in the past. What other clips have you had come out on that ledge?

I skated it in my most recent Venture part, I did Kickflip Front Nose 270. I did a Back Tail Varial Heel in DEFINE. I think it’s just those two parts as of recently, but I feel like I go there quite often, cause it’s by my house and it’s a good ledge over gap. It’s actually pretty chunky, so it doesn’t really grind, but it’s round enough to where with my Venture’s the baseplate doesn’t catch, so it’s a good sliding ledge over gap, pretty OG. I also skated it in the iPhone Thrasher edit, and then there’s a couple tricks that I’ve tried but haven’t done, so I guess that’s why I feel like I’ve been there a lot.

🌀: That’s dope, I like it when a spot appears in multiple parts. So this specific trick, the Back Tail to Noseslide, how did it come about?

You know what it was, I did the Back Tail to Noseslide for the first time at The Pike in Long Beach, for the iPhone edit. That ledge was curved and slid really good, and I felt like the curve almost helped me wind up. I guess I was just trying to think of tricks to film for this part and I thought about going back to the ledge over dirt for a trick that I’ve already tried, but then I was like “You know what? That ledge is round, slides really good, and curves a little bit, so that’s gonna help.” I guess what made it a little bit more difficult was having to get into Noseslide at a certain point, since the ledge comes to an end. I kind of did the Noseslide pretty short at the end of the ledge, but the tries before that were even less. That was the most difficult part.

🌀: Yeah, the timing of that seems really hard, almost like you have to spin to the Noseslide before you’re comfortable enough to do that.

That’s the thing, trying to figure out the speed where I wasn’t going too slow, but have enough time to Back Tail, wind up, but then still hit the end of the ledge. I think that was the second time I’ve ever done that trick, the first time was that phone edit that one day, and that was almost 6 months earlier, so I was kind of refiguring out that trick on the spot.

🌀: Did you do a handful of them that day on the ledge over gap until you did it the way you wanted to?

I think I did it 2 times before, and I’d get on the Noseslide and just fall out. I wasn’t fully on top of the Noseslide, I was kind of on the side, so I’d just tap the Noseslide and put back wheels down first. Regardless, I thought it turned out good cause I like the way Eric filmed it, rolling fisheye from the outside. It’s kind of a different perspective, cause I think everytime I’ve skated that spot it’s just always been long lens. But yeah, I did it two times before, and then I’d lock into a good Noseslide and just stick or slip out, and then that one kind of happened out of nowhere, I was just like “Whoa, okay, this is how I wanted to do it” You know what I mean?

🌀: That’s dope, it turned out really sick. The way you’re explaining it is exactly what I’d expect with a trick like that. You do a couple that you’re not hyped on, but it eventually works out.

I’m hyped, it ended up working out pretty well. I was kind of stressed because there’s a camera there, so security can see you and will come to kick you out. But, for whatever reason, it was chill that day. We skated the spot, got the trick, and left on our own. It actually didn’t take too long, it was just figuring it out and getting the right one.

🌀: You mentioned the way it was filmed, and I wanted to dive into that a bit more. Was it Eric’s idea to film it fisheye like that or did you have that in mind?

That was Eric’s idea. It’s always cool cause Eric will ask “When you thought of the trick, how did you picture it’d be filmed?”

I always thought it’d look cool have something rolling fisheye on the outside like that. I actually tried to do it once, I was filming Trevor when we first got our camera, he did a Kickflip Noseslide to Fakie and I was trying to roll on the outside but the camera is so heavy that I couldn’t lift the fisheye high enough hahaha. It didn’t look as sick as I thought it would, but I’m obviously not a filmer. But, Eric had that idea, he was like “Dude, I think that trick would look really sick if I’m rolling fisheye, you see the Back Tail and you spin to the Noseslide” and I was like “I’m down, I’d love to film a trick here rolling fisheye like that”

🌀: Haha that’s amazing. It looked great, Eric’s so good with the fisheye.

I’m hyped on that. If you’re going to film it fisheye with anybody, Eric’s the guy.

🌀: 100%. Thanks for story behind this one!

Thanks!

Eric Iwakura

🌀: Let’s start with an Aimu clip, since he has first part in the video. The schoolyard line where he Pop Shuv’s the bump over bar was an instant stand out to me. Did you guys go there with that line in mind, or was it more spontaneous?

It was spontaneous. I remember he was like “Yo, is it possible for us to go to that school one day?” And we were like so busy, Kyo and Miyu were here too. We were kind of lagging on going to that school, and towards the end of filming for the video he pitched it to me again like “Yo, I want to try and skate this” and I was like “Oh yeah, that’s true, let’s go there” It was like one week before the video came out.

🌀: Oh wow, last minute clip.

Yeah, super last minute, super close to the deadline.

🌀: I feel like most people just skate the bench and the stairs at that spot, but I know some people have started their line with the bump to bar. Were you surprised when he said he wanted to start with the bump over bar?

Not really because I know he has pop. At the very beginning, he was scared to try it, even Ollie. But I was telling him “Bro, for sure you can do it, your pop is crazy good” He started trying and did the Ollie super easy, but he was a little scared because right after you land, there’s a metal piece on the ground, but it was chilling for him to ollie.

He was like “I want to do this line” But he didn’t mention the Pop Shuvit, he was like “I don’t know, maybe I can try to do a FS 180, a Fakie trick to turn back to regular, and then something down the stairs” So then I was talking to Alan too, because FS 180 is cool, but to have a stronger impact it has to be a different trick. So I was like “What about a Kickflip?” and he was like “Man, I think Kickflip is going to take me forever to do, and I already have some Kickflips for the part” so he started thinking a bit more and was like “Maybe I can do a Pop Shuvit” and I was like “Bro, if you do a Pop Shuvit that’s going to be insane” And he kept trying and was like “I think I can do it, let’s try to do this line”

He picked the Nollie Heel Front Nosegrind, which was actually easy for him, he did it first t warming up, and he was like “Maybe I can do Nollie Bigspin down the stairs” and I was like “That’s a sick line!” He battled that line for almost 2 hours, crazy dog.

🌀: Was the Pop Shuv giving him a hard time?

All 3 tricks were giving him a hard time. I was nervous too, because I gotta be on point, you never know when he’s going to land the whole line. The first Pop Shuvit he landed he did the Nollie Heel Nosegrind perfect too, I was like “Okay! He’s gonna do it…” But he missed the Nollie Bigspin. He kept trying, some of them he’d land such a good Pop Shuvit, but the Nollie Heel Nosegrind wasn’t there. Kept trying, kept trying, Pop Shuvit, Nollie Heel Nosegrind, but the Nollie Bigspin wouldn’t work. He was like “I don’t know, I don’t think I can do the Nollie Bigspin” And was saying that right after the crack the ground is uneven, so he had to pop before the crack. Right after he noticed that issue, he landed the line. Insane.

🌀: No way, wow!

Yeah, the very first Pop Shuvit he landed after noticing that issue, he landed the line. Insane G.

🌀: That’s crazy. His skating is so precise, every trick looks so perfectly done and calculated.

Man, so good. I was really really impressed by this line actually, it’s insane. The super small Powerslide in the middle of the line before the Nollie Heel Nosegrind was dope too hahaha!

🌀: Yeah, that looked so sick!

The little Powerslide always brings something else to the line, you know? Super dope.

🌀: Yeah, sometimes it’s the little things. I know you mentioned trying to stay on point while filming the line, was it hard timing the swerve in on the Pop Shuvit? On the make, it looks perfectly timed.

The very first Pop Shuvit he landed was super cool, but it wasn’t the perfect timing for me. After almost every try I’d check my timing, like “What can I do to improve? Do I stay a little behind? More sideways? More parallel?” I adjust myself, you know? I decided to be a little bit ahead of him, and I wanted to focus on the catch of the Shuvit, that was the main reason.

🌀: It’s cool to hear that process. It seemed to work perfectly, the catch looks crazy right into the fisheye.

Yeah, I was adjusting my speed with him too. I remember giving a little push right after the Nollie Heel Nosegrind, after that it was just adjusting my speed with his speed, just breaking.

🌀: Well, it worked out great, that’s a clip that had to of stand out to almost everyone. Thanks for taking us behind the scenes on that. Let’s jump to Kyonosuke, I’m hyped on his Kickflip Backlip on the bump to bike rack. What was that session like?

I talked to him and he said he was going to do a Back Lip first, and we filmed it on the phone.

I was talking to him and he said his intention was to do Flick Back Lip, but when he watched the footy it seemed like a Flick Front Board. We kept talking and I told him “Whatever, it doesn’t matter, you did it perfect”

In the very beginning, he was going fast and was like clearing the bar, so he had to adjust his speed. On the try that he did it, his speed was on point, and he just touched the bar and it shot him up.

🌀: Such a sick trick to do on that thing. I know there’s a few clips on that spot in the video, was anyone skating it with him?

Yeah, Trent wanted to go to that spot, and Kyo and Gio ended up coming on the session, so they all skated it together.

🌀: Sick! It’s always nice to have a crew sessioning a spot, especially when they all get their tricks.

Yeah, I tried to film them each a little bit different, but not much I could do. One I was standing, and the other one I was lower. I thought about filming fisheye, but they were all skating it together so it would’ve been kind of tricky to do that.

🌀: Long lens looked good! So you said that spot was Trent’s idea, but once you were there did Kyo have the idea of trying Kickflip Back Lip, or did you throw that out there?

He did a Nose Bonk, 5-0, and then he was a little scared to try Backlip but he tried it and was like, “Maybe I can do this one” – so it was his idea.

But, we always talk a little bit. I was like, “This is sick! Super creative trick for this spot” With the spot itself, you gotta be creative.

🌀: It definitely seems like a tough spot to skate. Did he work pretty hard for the Kickflip Back Lip?

Not really, it wasn’t super easy, but it wasn’t a battle for him. He did it pretty chill.

🌀: He’s so impressive to watch skate because it seems like he can skate any type of spot.

Yes! He can go anywhere and have fun. Whether he films a trick or not, he’s going to skate.

🌀: That’s so sick, it must be fun to skate whatever spot you pull up to haha. To touch on the video in general, what led to you filming an entire video in 4×3 HD?

I’m a big fan of the VX1000, which is naturally 4×3. Sometimes in the past, I’ve filmed some 4×3 HD for Instagram, and it always looks sick. Like when everyone would be warming up I’d film 4×3.

One day we started talking about video projects, and we started doing the REC Episodes, and they were all in 4×3. The last one we did was with Giovanni. I kept going with this format, and I was filming all the riders. Then we were like “Whoa, we have a good amount of footage, maybe we can do something with this” I talked to Alan about it, and the video kept getting bigger and bigger, it wasn’t just a REC episode, it turned into the next Primitive video.

🌀: Sounds like it happened very organically, that’s amazing. I’m a huge fan of 4×3 HD footage, I think it’s just more exciting to watch. It definitely makes sense that with you loving the VX, that this would be your ideal format.

Yes, totally. You can try to film the same way you would on the VX, it’s a little bit different, but that was the fun part of it.

🌀: Definitely! I love the way it turned out, you killed it behind the lens, your filming is so good. Thank you for taking the time to chat and congrats!

My G! Thank you so much dog.