BRYSON SAPIO

In this interview I talk to Seth Zwick about his filming journey, his scene, and pick his brain about the technical side of filming.

This is the first interview of a series where I’ll talk to skateboard videographers throughout the east cost about their scenes, videos, and most importantly the technical aspects of filming.

Interviewed and edited by: Bryson Sapio

Photography by: Adam Gibson, Corey Gibson, Taylor Kubrick

Videography by: Seth Zwick

Let’s get it going, so for the people that aren’t familiar, just tell me your name and where you’re from.  

My name is Seth Zwick and I am from Cincinnati, Ohio.  

So, you’re born and raised, huh?  

Born and raised.  

How’d you get into skating and filming?  

Well, I got into skateboarding because one of my friends in the eighth grade. He skated, his name was Aaron. Guy was super cool. I liked his shoes that he wore. And this might date me a little bit, but he was wearing duffs. Those shoes are so sick. And then he told me I should get into it and I was like, oh, I’m super down. I just didn’t have a board So he fortunately gathered some of his old stuff and he was the first person that gave me my first board. It was an old flip board and it was like that standard red background with the black lettering and Grind King trucks and Spitfire wheels. 

How did you go from just skating to, you know, eventually picking a camera up.  

So Aaron also introduced me to some other people that skated in our school. There was like six of us that skated. So he introduced me to my friends Braedyn, Bryce, Andrew, Shayne, all these guys. And then my friend Bryce had a camera and he wasfilming everybody at the time. And he ended up making a skate video. And I watched it and I really wanted to get into that. I ended up buying a camera. And it was this shitty, don’t quote me on this, it was like a Panasonic GS320. It was some little point and shoot camera that took the mini DV tapes. It still had the 3ccd sensor in it. But it wasn’t as complex as a VX, at that time you’re balling if you had a VX1000, right?  

So that’s basically how I got into filming. We ended up skating around Finneytown. So we would just make little YouTube edits and ended up making a full-length video. This is really corny, but the video was called Dawn-till-Dusk. And that was my first actual, I guess you could say skate film project 

So as of right now, December 2025, to my knowledge you have two classic Cincinnati full lengths out which are the 26-minute Skyline and the 21-minute Frogs Mountain that came out a little while ago. Tell me a little bit about the filming of these videos and getting all the homies to get on board with a full length. 

Well, Skyline was kind of like a weird time because there really wasn’t anybody going out and filming. And at the time Gary had gave up on Instrument so we didn’t really have any projects to film for. After Instrument went under I didn’t see anything that was coming out of Cincinnati like for example the Streets is Talking video. That video to me stands out as the best Cincinnati skateboarding video ever. And I didn’t see anything like that from that point on. That video came out probably like 2010 I would say. So from 2010 to, 2017 or so, there wasn’t any videos coming out of Cincinnati. I just started focusing on filming . I wanted to make something that I could be proud of and say, yeah this represents Cincinnati. And pretty much ever since then I’m predominantly behind the lens. I just want Cincinnati to be put on the map. 

There’s a lot of cool shit to skate here. The people that skate here are really good, like Scott Zellner, Logan Ham, Zach Kincaid, and Damien Langstaff. I was thinking there’s all this talent, and I feel like it’s kind of just going to waste and so that’s when I started filming. I wanted to start making videos and showcasing the people here in Cincinnati. 

And I also want to give a shout out to Ian Bulling, too. He’s a filmer here in Cincinnati. He put out some good shit too. 

After Frogs Mountain came out, you guys had the Skate Jawn interview in the 83 issue. You want to talk about that and what that means to you and to the community? 

Oh, yeah. That actually came out a little bit before the video. I love seeing Cincinnati getting its shine. It meant a lot to me, first and foremost, because I’ve never had an actual interview in a printed magazine, a legit printed magazine. This magazine goes all over the world and it’s just very humbling. I want to thank the homie Veg for doing that. He’s the guy that got me in contact with the guys at Skate Jawn. And then my friend Corey, He was the guy who conducted the interview. It’s just cool because you get to see the homies in a printed physical thing that you can look down at 20 years from now and be like, Yeah, I do remember this day. 

Yeah. So that leads me into the next question. Talk a little bit about what you think the filmer’s role in the skate Scene is. 

I feel like the skateboard videographer and a photographer are necessary because who else would be there? You know, you got your iPhones and like that’s cool, you go to your local spot, film a couple iPhone clips and that’s cool, but I think a sceneneeds a filmer, needs a photographer. In my eyes, there’s more to skateboarding than filming phone clips. It’s good to go over to your homie’s house and have footage parties and see what you guys have gathered over the past year and a half. And you know that to me is very important. I think it’s important because it creates a stronger bond within your local skate scene.  

With just the iPhone stuff, that to me can feel very distant because I can just like scroll on the Internet and see what the homie did at the spot. If you’re out in the streets actually filming for something your able to be like, oh my God, I remember that one time so and so did this trick into that bank, I think it’s important to have that kind of stuff. 

So how long in your filming journey did it take for you to start liking how your footage was looking?  

That’s a good question. I mean, after I put out Skyline I watched it back once and I’ll go back to it time to time just to get ideas of spots to go to, and when watching those clips back I’m like, okay, I could have filmed this trick way better if I was a little bit closer, or angled it down a little bit. And I feel like I got to dial it in a little bit better for Frogs Mountain. In Frogs Mountain when the homies were trying a clip id be like, I want to play it back. And I’ll just watch the clip back on the viewfinder, and I’llbe like, I can get a little bit closer when he’s going around this corner. Or, I think it’d be kind of cool if I got a little bit farther away while he’s trying at this point in the line. So I do that more now, Just constantly watching the clip back so that I can be happy with it.  

So have you been developing Your filming style intentionally?  

I mean, I’ll take inspiration from other filmers. I’m a huge fan of the homie Kevin. He does all the grains videos, I’m a huge fan of his filming style. Aaron Christopher, out in Indy. I love the way his footage looks. So, I would say I’m inspired by the way other people film, and I would want to twist it into my own way. I try to keep the third eye open. I’ve Definitely gotten more particular about the way I’m filming for sure. 

You got any tips for new homies picking up a camera, trying to get out there filming their friends? You got any tips for the new filmers out there? 

 Always set your white balance even in between tries, always reset your white balance. If you’re filming at night, take the auto focus off. Put that bitch in manual. Manual focus for Nighttime clips. The only time your autofocus should be on is when you’re filming long lens. And don’t forget, after you’re done filming long lens, take the steady shot off. It won’t completely fuck up your clip, but there’s ganna be that one little thing thats gonna irk me. 

So y’ all have any future projects in the works right now? Y’ all still getting out? 

Yeah, after Frogs Mountain, we kind of took a little hiatus just for like a month or so but we’ve been getting back to it. We got a trip planned for next year. I think we’re gonna be either going to Baltimore or D.C. We have multiple ideas on where we want to go, but I would really like to go to Baltimore. I’ve been seeing a lot of footage come out from there, and it looks so crusty, I love the way that looks especially on a VX. 

Yeah, It’s that golden east coast crust baby.  

Yeah. Yeah. We’re on to the next one. On to the next video.  

All right, so favorite skater.  

I like John Shanahan. I also like Brian Panebianco too. I mean he’s amazing, in front of and behind the lens. Yeah, he’s probably one of my favorites because he is a great skateboarder and he’s a great filmer too. So I’ll chalk it up to Brian. 

That’s a good answer. Favorite local skater to film?  

I would say Logan Hamm because he’s got some off the wall ideas. He definitely has a third eye. And Scott Zellner, I would say him. I would also say Damian Langstaff too. Those are my top three local skateboarders. Because Damian’s off the wall, Logan is fried, and Scotty is like, dude, he does everything so well. He could just do a Nollie backside 180 and it looks perfect.  

Dude re-watching your videos last night, doing my homework for this and watching Skyline, Logan and Scott have that shared part and they go crazy.  

Yes. Those two and Damien are my top three favorite local skateboarders. Yeah.  

Favorite skate video.  

“Streets is Talking”, that’s a Cincinnati relic. And any of Doug Korfhagen videos. And actually, I would add Doug Korfhagen to my favorite skaters, I would say he’s probably one of my favorite skateboarders. I love watching Doug. 

There you go. Favorite camera.  

VX1000.  

Of course, no doubt it’s a no brainer, Import nerd? 

Oh, doing it the day of for sure.  I have the tapeless set up, so I just do it after we’re done skating. I just import it that night. So then if we go out the next day, we start off fresh. Those little Compact CF cards have like 149 minutes. So you’re getting like two tapes out of that. So you can film random B roll while you’re out. Especially with the tapeless setup. Just do it that night. And you’re gonna save yourself so much grief, I’m telling you. 

I didn’t know you had a tapeless set up. What setup are you running?  

I got that Sony MRC-1. It’s that big brick one. 

And last thing, bro. You got any homies you want to shout out? Anything you want to shout out before we get off here?  

I mean, I want to shout out the whole Cincinnati skate scene, honestly. I’m very proud of the homies here. They put a lot of time and effort Into making this scene cool. And I want to shout out everyone in the last Frogs Mountain video. Logan, Fargle,Spacy, Donnie, Clay, Damian, Scott, Corey, Veg, Grant, Nick, Rick. Shout out Bass for taking photos. Shout out to Beef Trucks and shout out to Blacklist Skate Shop. And shout out to my mom and dad.  

Yeah, dude, checked all the boxes on that one.  

I mean I wouldn’t be here without any of these guys, you know? I mean, I gotta give my flowers.  

Yeah. Keeping the love real. Thanks for coming on here, much love to you and to the Cinci scene holding it down.  

Much love bro thanks for having me. 

Listen to full interview here