Mason Rose: “Don’t let this culture be devalued by vultures.”

While Mason Rose is not known as a b-boy, because of him all the breaking community should say a big “Thank you” to him. Why? Mason Rose is the videomaker behind some of the greatest breaking and hip hop motion footage. He partnered with Pro Breaking Tour, UDEF, Silverback to create some quality videos that definitely worth checking. Before you start – there are some great tips about your next breaking video. 

Hello, Mason! You are known mainly as a videomaker on through many festivals all over the world. But, please, tell us more how did you begin back in the days and how did you get into the hip-hop culture?

What is essential about the answer to this question is where I am now in life, I can look back and see a vague paper trail it tells many solutions, the age of wisdom.

High school 7th grade from an indigenous influence in my small town of Port Macquarie, Australia. Hip-Hop at its definite time in the early 90’s, I kicked it with a few groups of people from different schools in my town that were into new jack swing and hip-hop fashion, basketball and music.

The kids were from Samoa, New Zealand and aboriginal background and this dance was a way to even out the bullshit we had to deal with at home, it made us confident and competitive. I was influenced by being that they were my friends I played ball with every day at lunch break in the schoolyard.  

Long story short gangsta rap came into play and all my friends went from dancing and being hella fresh to smoking & dealing and doing stupid shit like armed robbery & harder drugs and then to jail some even as far as overdose and death from that road they took.

Somewhere along that line I had just to get the fuck out of there before I fucked up my life and, so I started training surfing and also got into skateboarding and took a different route.  Years later Capoeira and yoga fell at my feet, and I did it on the beach daily before I paddled out and surfed nearly every day for three years. I somehow got back in touch with hip-hop, I saw wrecking yard on ABC and a breaking special on BOTY and I tripped out and just wanted to do that from here on!!! I had the energy to burn & if I wasn’t surfing I was breaking on the beach or in my living room fuc***g up my mother’s carpet.

What I learned from skateboarding and that industry was filming, so I started a breaking video magazine called SEVEN SHADOWS  – it was a video focused on lifestyle and breaking not just the breaking but the characters within.

Filmed around the world and locally, it lead to producing movie premieres\parties around Australia for the video magazine (SEVEN SHADOWS) which years later evolved into a Jam/Event called “Shadow Wars”.

We (myself and b-boy Rush from MZK/FreshSox crew) did seven events, one big jam every year for seven years with a premiere and parties involving local and international b-boys/artists and musicians etc. It was to celebrate this Dance. It was dope! It was big for us all the way down under (OZ) for sure! That takes me to the age of 30 – I am now almost 40 – these last ten years have been just a blessing to my soul. Twenty something years and still I love this culture, the art of film, the music and the dance, all of it is just second nature now, it’s a lifestyle.

Let’s take the video production deeper. Explain to us, please, the system of making a good one video. From what to start and how to finish the production? How many steps did we get for it?

There are different levels of the work:

1. Quick bangers (shoot edit day of the event), “I fucking hate this”,  haha
2. Creative vision –  planned and executed strategically, “love this.”

Before I continue, I believe none of this formula matters what matters most is you go out there and shoot, get in there and create and see how deep the rabbit hole can go for you! In the end, put it out there and just keep doing it over and over… Tell that story to the people around you!!!

Simple formula:

1. Music/sound
2. Do all your logo work, animations, light effects, grain 8mm 16mm 35mm, find your font, your logo, your brand.
3. Select the best clips out of the video you have shot (place on a separate timeline
4. Get into your music and mark in your counts in bars of the music (put a mark on the timeline where you have conducted the feeling). Find what fits that sound either tops, drops, freezes, power everything needs to flow, stylish movement over moves.
5. After the first cut goes away and watch it in 2 days (if that’s possible) then do an all-day session editing and do your final cut.
6. The next day place your grain and lighting effects, the effects should go whenver you blink while watching the video.
7. Watch it and make sure it has a feeling, try to stay true to the culture but mainly keep a balance, be an artist, show the world how amazing breaking is!

Nowadays there are a lot of video makers all around the world. We see how everyone now buy the camera and next day start selling his service. What is needed to become a really good one and should we talk only about the stuff or you need to have some feeling for that?

I encourage people from this culture to create art, not just a video “art”. I know it’s hard to be creative we all strive to be known for something whatever that may be, but these things take time, it only gets harder to be known but what is it in your heart? Money? I hope not or is it just to say you are a director, a filmmaker to get girls? Whatever the fuck it is, if it is not art and it’s not from the heart, then get the fuck out of this culture! I created a blueprint for highlight reels, it’s up to you to take a different approach.

Standing out from other films or other photographers is just from being interested in everything, art, music, dance and fashion there are elements on elements here that I just am interested in.

I like to paint, I DJ with a group of musicians called The Lucky Kidz, I love to use all types of cameras, I shot my latest video on a fucking iPhone to see if it could look ok, experimentation! I just like all types of creative, I also have a cafe called @a_r_v_o just because there was no proper coffee here in Hawaii where I live, so I said fuck it I’m opening up a cafe, that’s the type of shit I like to do. A challenge but from being passionate. I was never a dope b-boy, but I know what it’s like to be sore and injured after training and have dreams in your sleep of moves you create in your head only to wake up and you’ve forgotten it all! I love funk styles, locking etc. – I’ll stop here but just know I’ll still be filming this culture till I’m dead because y’all inspire me. Don’t let this culture be de-valued by vultures.

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What should a young video maker learn about to become a well respected one? And can you name some good upcoming video makers that should be noticed more from the promoters?

One thing I can mention here is to do it because you love it, be different; you don’t need the best camera, get a one-chip Panasonic with a fisheye lens and mix it up with an iPhone angle and just create with what you have and squeeze the most out of it! You’ll be surprised and then after your first video does 50 more just like it and then do that for five years – by then you’ll be celebrated, by then you’ll be paid and by then you’ll be getting a hug from me!

The importance of the technical aspect of video production grows day by day. Do you search for new stuff to increase the level of filming or you are ok with what you got? Tell us the best new camera you saw and think that it’s a really good one nowadays?

Cameras are getting smaller, and everything is phone-based. I’m always looking and searching for more tech that makes your stuff stand out, but I’m starting to realize I’ve had it all along, I don’t need to make it slower, or 6k significant. I’m happy and to be honest the more defects my camera lens has the better it looks in my opinion so bring on the glitches and the bokeh all the lens flares and grain, I love all that stuff…

I’ve been smashing lens filters lately and screwing them onto my lens to create an organic effect – enjoy what you have and just get obsessed with your next film. Tell the story!

If we talk about “perfect jam” how should it look like? You have been on many jams all over the world and it’s obvious that the most active element of hip-hop culture is “breaking”. Should a hip-hop festival consists of all elements and what we need to do to have them all in the building? Name a few that have that hip-hop essence during the festival?

So many jams, so many great memories. I firmly believe in the pre and after-party experience. I love IBE as this event has food, art, all types of dance, it is the best event that I have been to, I even brought my family last year, and they loved it. IBE has more social layers, more bubbles of people/dance styles. This is a good start of what this culture should hold high regarding a staple in this dance culture as it creates VALUE for all of us.

Yalta summer jam looks dope too. If you are to create an event with all the elements, you MUST curate your guests so that your game has chemistry in a valuable and positive way. Activities should be an experience not yet experienced. You can be original here too guys not only as a dancer! There are more but these are the events I see have a balance of mainstream and underground. BOTY is also progressive, they have a rad pre-party. 

The last question is the same for everyone. Can you please name us a few artists that deserve to be known worldwide and have the opportunity to represent their skills? It might be any artists involved in hip-hop culture.

Man, there are so many people that pass under the radar from everywhere. Like there are so many DJ’s just in my city that is very talented and aren’t even known here in the city. I think there is good potential in Miniboi, lllflow aka Malice, Torb The Roach, Lamine and Niek from The Ruggeds. Nabil Elderkin and Amos Leblanc inspire me there is a lot of great filmmakers.

You can follow Mason Rose on Instagram here.

Core Team wants to thank Mason for this interview and support to our idea of spreading valuable knowledge. 

*Used images and videos are taken from the web or given by the interviewed person and belongs to their respected owners. Image credits: Facebook, personal collections.