Kites 2002 Feature
Review
Video

Following the success of Kites 2001 the folks at Qunit Media (or Aeolian for those in the know) have come up with a second video for the past year, and the production quality is one step higher.

There is

some great footage here of the whole range of kite flying, starting with some kite making for children, but soon shifting up a gear with some great action photography of buggying and power kiting.

There are a lot of faces that you will recognize from the scene, like the Robertshaws, who seem to pop up every 20 seconds - including Carl's Matrix 'Short' from the Aeolian web site.

The camera work is good, with some great steady shots of some of the more interesting single line kites, and the flavor of the different UK festivals is communicated well. We've all seen Stafford Wallace catch balloons with his fighter kites, but now we can watch him again and again and again!

On the freestyle side there is not a huge amount, apart from the regular clips of the Robertshaws, and some nice work by Paul Mattison with his Phantom. The footage of the Decorators at Bristol is also definitely worth a rewind or two.

The Music is still not quite what I'd hoped for, but this is a licensing minefield - as I discovered when I couldn't guarantee that the loops I used were all royalty free - however it does match the mood, with a good dance tune for the buggying at Middle Wallop.

However the highlight of the video for me has to be Peter Lynn asking "What have I got up?" ... also be sure to catch some well known faces giving their highlights of the season at the end of the 53 minutes - ahem - no names mentioned (blush).

If you were there on the UK circuit this season then this video is worth getting just to see if you can spot yourself or your mates. The video certainly brought back a lot of happy memories for me - and showed me some things that for some reason I can't remember. Toasted.

Kites 2002 is available from Aeolian now on VHS and soon DVD - click the link at the top of the page.