Take Flight

Most Parkour enthusiasts have only seen David Belle fall once. That of course was his famous slip at the UCLA Campus. However there is another fall from David that was captured on film many years ago and we at MisterParkour.com are happy to be the first major Parkour website to ever feature the footage.

This video is not solely of David Belle, but is instead an interesting compilation of film. In the seven minute edit the video has six distinct parts. The first part is a mix-tape edit of Kazuma, then second is the Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat) – Behind the Scenes video from the Nike Presto shoot, the third part transitions into an old Nike commercial featuring Kazuma, the fourth features rare footage of David (including his fall), the fifth includes a complete version of On r’met ça with alternate music, and finally the compilation ends with some more clips of David.

Although the footage throughout is rare and is well worth watching and studying in its entirety, the main draw to this video and the portion we want to emphasis is the footage from and fall of David. Not only is this film of David extremely rare to say the least, the fact that he falls in it makes it even more unbelievable that this video has never been prominently posted on a Parkour site! Ultimately the fall, although violent in many regards, is neither incredibly moving nor ultimately consequential. Nevertheless, it is always good to be reminded that even the best Tracers make mistakes.

“I fall all the time—I fall like the monkeys—but it never shows up on film, because they just want the spectacular stuff.”

-David Belle

http://www.dailymotion.com/speedairman/video/x54r18

With only the top two commercials left in our Top 10 Parkour Commercial Countdown we have decided to take a short break and post some exclusive behind the scenes footage from the Nike Presto ads.

As we mentioned yesterday in the featuring of Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat), the commercial that came in at #3 or our Top 10 Parkour Commercial Countdown, in spite of the commercial’s unsurpassed creativity and humor, the one drawback to the ad was the brevity of the finished product. With only a 30 second final commercial it was difficult, if not impossible, for any viewer to fully appreciate the true athleticism that was required of David Belle, Sébastien Foucan, Stephane Vigroux and the other Tracers involved in the production.*

Luckily we were able to locate some exclusive behind the scenes footage from the Nike Presto shoot which we have embedded below. This edit, with a wider variety of footage, wide angle shots, and movements such as those at :53, 1:00, and 1:05, reveals an incredible level of athleticism that was not developed in the shortened Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat) commercial.

*Example: The jump performed by David at :05 in Le Effravant Chat (Scary Cat) is the same jump featured at 1:00 in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9inly-ZfcY

The #3 commercial in our countdown of the Top 10 Parkour Commercials ever made is the second of three ingeniously designed Nike Presto commercials created by the advertising giant Wieden+Kennedy.

Featuring both David Belle and Sébastien Foucan as well as a slew of other famous Tracers, this commercial titled Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat) is the action packed result of nothing short of pure creative genius. Incredible from its high flying beginning to its laughter educing finale, one of the only drawback to the commercial is its brevity.* At 30 seconds in length this advertisement leaves the viewer wanting much more, and the short edit also undermines the incredible athleticism that was required for a majority of these shots. Nevertheless, the presence of David and Sébastien, and the utilization of some of the most famous training locations in Lisses, France overshadows any downside to the commercial and makes this production extremely enjoyable for the everyday consumer and especially entertaining for the knowledgeable Tracer.

As the most talent packed, the funniest, and one of the most historical Parkour-featuring advertisements ever made, the Nike Presto Le Chat Effravant (Scary Cat) commercial is well deserving of a high position in our countdown and comes in at the #3 spot.

*Another ‘drawback’ to this production was the inadvertent injury that Stephane Vigroux sustained during the commercial’s filming. You can hear Stephane speak first hand about this incidence in Urban Freeflow Vol. 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj8Cw9WuHMQ&hl=en

This is a great Parkour video of the Vigroux brothers hard at play. Featuring Stephane and Johann Vigroux this is a collection of footage shot from 2001 to 2003.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASu88gc31wc