The Eyes of Snapper

Photo by Shannon Hayes.

If you’ve heard of Snapper, you’ve heard of Dan Scott.

The surf filmer perched regularly at Rainbow, Dan’s speciality lies in making what would be an overcast, average day look like a tropical wonderland with no one out. Team that up with the fact he regularly films the best surfers on earth (who are put on this planet to trick you into thinking surfing with that much style is as easy as they make it look) then you’ve got a winning combination of the best ten seconds you’ll ever watch on 9:16. In the scheme of things Dan is still very young to be in the full time surf film gig (and killing it) despite it feeling like he’s been around forever. That’s not to say he hasn’t wanting to do it forever and chipping away at it for the same amount. I think that’s what a lot of creatives starting out forget, and why I wanted to pick his brains on how he landed his dream job.

How was Fiji?

It was good actually. I didn’t think it was going to be that good. I went over with Jack Robo. I’ve never been there before so we thought let’s just go. We got wind that the comp was going to be back on. It ended up being really good and not too many people.

How good. And you were obviously filming there the whole time?

Yeah I was shooting the whole week.

Did you get to surf?

I surfed a knee high white wash at the front of the resort.

The life of a surf filmer right?

Nah it’s alright. It’s fine.

It’s fine, everything is fine (laughs). Well I guess I wanted to chat to you because you’re the guy everyone knows on the Goldy for clips, you’re always at Snapper and you can tell it’s a Dan Scott clip in an instant which I think is pretty unique given everything is so oversaturated.

Yeah I only shoot Snapper or Dbar. Nowhere else I’m cemented into Snapper.

Don’t even go home to sleep (laughs). When you film Snapper, are you up on the hill at Greeny, on the beach or is that the secret?

Nah I’ve got my zone for sure. It’s kinda behind Little Mali a little bit. There’s the local guys who have their spots which are a bit higher. I’ve lived on the Goldy for like ten years and saw that’s where they were filming from and I didn’t want to film there because I didn’t want to intrude on their zone not being from here so my spots works for me.

How many regular filmers are out there every day?

There’s so many. Lots of international filmers and Youtubers. I don’t even know who they are. If it’s good there’s about eight to ten people shooting, probably more.

The GOAT Stephanie Gilmore

No way, on the same beach?

Easily.

Yeah wow. You don’t really think about that when you’re in the water.

There is so many. It’s amazing if you are a surfer. If you’re out there you’re going to get something filmed.

I suppose that’s why all the surfers when they’re trying to make it (whatever that means) move up to the Goldy?

It almost seems like this day and age if you wanna be a pro surfer it’s the place to be.

For sure.

Everything is here. The facilities, trainers, board manufacturers, and filmers. It’s good for a filmmaker as well. You get all the pros and the calibre of talent. There’s always someone good surfing to film.

How many years of you sitting out in the sun all day everyday until you started to get some traction with surf filming?

I’ve always wanted to shoot surfing. I grew up surfing. I wanted to be doing what I am doing now since I was like fourteen. I’m thirty now but I didn’t really start until I was 26 or 27.

Yeah wow really?

Yeah I dabbled with it a little bit. I was always told it’s not a career.

Yeah I mean that’s what any creative gets told right?

It’s super weird. So I guess I just listened to that for a while and just casually filmed, but always wanted to do it. But then it just snowballed. I don’t know how it really happened.

Judd Brown

That’s cool.

I don’t know if there is a recipe or a formula to doing it. I get asked all the time. People message me saying they want to do what I do.

Yeah that’s kind of why I wanted to talk to you in the first place because so many people would just want to know how you got to where you are.

It’s super weird. One second I was working a sales job selling Foxtel in Ipswich and then six months later it was a thing.

So would you plan it around the swell or if you knew someone was in town?

It is weird to look back on it because it feels like it happened really quickly but it was a slow, slow evolution of meeting the right people. I knew Benny Howard because I grew up with him in Port Macquarie. He was coming up so I started taking photos of him and then he knew Matt Banting so I started shooting him. Then they know someone, then they know someone and it just happened like that. Maybe people liked working with me?

I’m sure that has a lot to do with it.

I guess I’m just rambling not structurally explaining how it happened am I (laughs). I guess it was just about connections. Working with different talent. But sometimes I didn’t work with some people again like maybe we didn’t gel or something but for the most part it’s just been through those connections that have gone on to help line up the next thing.

You have a really nice colour grade on all your clips, instantly recognisable – how long did it take to hone in on that particular edit?

I spent a lot of time on that. I love Joe G’s stuff from Globe. I love the vibrant saturated stuff that makes it look better than real life. At a young age I got to know Morgan Maassen and always loved his looks with the crushed blacks and the contrast so then I just morphed my own look through different software. To be honest, from the time I started shooting I have just lived and breathed surf. Surf video work all day everyday. This is what I want to do and I spend seven days a week doing it. If I’m not shooting I’m on the computer editing, going through footage, working on my socials, looking at swells. I definitely love it. Even now I am still not completely satisfied with it but it comes down to the hours put into it.

From my experience talking with those at the top end of the game, that whole dissatisfaction with what they're doing is a common thing.

Yeah even now I still feel liken I’ve just started. I look at people like Beren Hall and Kai Neville and I’m like ten years away from getting anywhere near where they are. That’s how I feel. I am still so far away and so young in this industry.

That’s exciting though. An obvious question but what is your favourite surf film?

Psychic Migrations by Brian Thomas.

Very nice. Why?

Pretty sure it’s shot on 16mm film, the music and the editing. It has a structural theme to it. Everything about it.  

And a favourite surfer to film?

I would say Asher [Pacey]. I have a really solid relationship with him. He’s got a lot of depth to him as a human being. He’s an interesting person.

Fan favourite Asher Pacey

Speaking about Instagram, for you I feel as though the short form reels have worked in your favour but what is your take on Instagram and surf films? Some people hate Instagram because they say it’s taken away from people’s ability to focus on a full length film now but then some people are all for it.  

A surf film trumps any sort of socials. A full length film you put time and effort into the whole experience of watching it. The feeling you get from watching it will never be mirrored on Insta but I just love the little intricate moments the surfer does. Instagram is a way to break down those moments and post it. You’re not going to post a five second clip on Youtube. And in those little moments, people miss the hands or the stance.  

Yeah like the fragments of style slowed down.

Yeah and in a full length film the shot is about the whole environment and scene being played before you. I know a lot of surfers who hate reels and Instagram and I get it, it can be cringy but at least try not to do that.

Solid take. Are you interested in other projects outside of surfing or that’s the thing you want to focus on?

For sure I’m open to anything. I love doco style stuff. I’m really interested in human experiences but I feel like I haven’t reached the surface yet in the surf industry and I’m still really motivated to keep at this for a while.

Are you working on a surf film we don’t know about?

I would love to do one but it’s so project based at the moment. I would love to just travel around with a group of surfers and shoot a film.

Wouldn’t we all.

I just don’t even think that exists anymore though.

Yeah who knows all the money is gone, tied up with the big dogs. It’s scary.

Yeah I mean it’s pretty terrifying for a surfer. Or just anyone that is in the surf world. It’s super weird that surfing is bigger than ever but then…

But then where’s the money? It’s a strange time.

You just look at the WSL and they’re confused and then that confuses the whole surf world. Whether you like it or not they dictate a lot of what happens and they have no idea what’s going on.

And then it trickles down.

Yeah it does some weird shit to the industry.

Finally, how many collisions do you film a day at Snapper?

Oh man (laughs). There’s some sort of tassel every other wave. That’s not an exaggeration. It is so chaotic out there. In the time that I’ve lived up here, which is coming on ten years, it feels like the crowd have quadrupled.

Yeah every time I go home now I am shocked at the crowds.

It’s tapped. It’s actually kind of admirable how many people surf now though. I’m at Dbar right now and it’s two foot and there’s probably fifty people out.

Gross (laughs). A great place to be a filmer though.

Yeah a bit of a black hole if you want to be creative but I can’t complain.

I’m just not about the fact you go to Palmy now and you can’t even get some sun because of the fucking highrises. But we love the Gold Coast.

We love the Gold Coast.