Skimboarding hits the big screen

Suzie Harrison

He did what a lot of people only dream about and he did it by

himself, at age 15, Elliot Micha made a movie about skimboarding,

which will premiere at Laguna Beach South Coast Cinema today.

“Today was Yesterday” was a project Elliot worked diligently to

make happen, first starting his own production company called Solid

Skim, Inc.

“I started it myself just for fun,” Elliot said. “I had been

skimming for three and a half years and it’s basically a fun family

project.”

He said he read a lot of law books about public relations,

marketing and advertising. His dad owns the company technically since

Elliot is only 15, but Elliot said his dad gives him a lot of

support.

“I always make fun home movies with a huge Panasonic camcorder for

fun,” Elliot said. “So I thought it would be fun to make my own

company and keep me occupied during high school.”

Elliot studied many skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding and

similar genres and incorporated his skills into making his original

movie.

“I did the editing, I made my own film with my own style different

from everyone else,” Elliot said.

It required him to turn in his old Mac for a newer one.

“Basically, as soon as I got a whole new system I made it on an

iMovie4,” Elliot said. “For this movie I had to max out iMovie, it

was barely able to hold it -- it’s pretty complex for a basic movie

file.”

The score is comprised of some alternative music, local bands and

punk.

“The reason I was able to finish the whole movie in a year and a

half is that I stayed up pretty late, until 1 a.m. a lot of the

time,” Elliot said. “I got to make the calls by myself instead of

having 20 guys involved screaming, do this, do that to make it look

cool.”

The hardest part was just getting everything perfectly in sync,

hitting the music, making sure it all flowed together in an

appropriate fashion.

“Today was yesterday” was shot mostly in South Laguna at West

Street and Thalia Street beaches. The film has a lot of pros,

including 10-time world champion Bill Bryan, as well as Beaker,

Kotas, Mo Just, Grady, Paulo, and Sammy Stinnett, to mention a few.

He is still in disbelief that his film will be shown at the local

theater, but never had a doubt that he could do it.

“I’m not just a person who will just talk about stuff, I made a

commitment, a goal to get it done” Elliot said.

“Today was yesterday” will show at 9:15 and 10 p.m. at South Coast

Cinema, 162 Coast Highway. For tickets call (949) 497-1711.

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at (949) 494-4321.