Chris Daniels

Jun 20, 2022

5 Most Important Fingerboarding Videos

Spanning over 20 years, these fingerboard videos helped to shape what fingerboarding is today.

Opus 0

Producer: Alexis Milant
Riders: Alexis Milant

Alexis' masterpiece, released in 2006, was one of the first viral fingerboard videos. This film, as its more artful than just a video, introduced fingerboarding to tens of thousands of fingerboarders, many of whom still ride today. For those that already were fingerboarding, this video completely changed the landscape on filming and video editing. Alexis changed how I created my own video, and my videos Dynamic Symmetry and Dayout are homages to this film.

Fingers of Fury

Producer: 411vm
Riders: Damien Bernadet, Tony Pauthex & Darin Langhorst

Fingers of Fury was a video produced by defunct skate video magazine 411vm back in 1999. This video was sold in a pack that included a Tech Deck. There was another video Flying Fingers, featuring Matt Johnson, that was also in a separate package. I would include Flying Fingers in this post, however, the only online version of it online is a reaction video of a person filming their analog tv!

Fingers of Fury enlightened millions on the possibilities that existed in fingerboarding. I can confidently state that if I never saw Fingers of Fury I would not be fingerboarding today. It made me realize that 1) fingerboarding could be more than a toy and 2) fingerboarding is not just for kids!

Fingertips

Producer: Disney Motion
Rider: Taylor Rosenbauer

Taylor Rosenbauer is a fingerboard legend. He is considered one of the best fingerboard pros in history, released the epic Grand Illusion video series that raised the bar in both fingerboarding and fingerboard video production quality, and was even featured in a music video by Atmosphere.

Now this is about the most important fingerboard video, and I debated between putting Grand Illusion here, but I decided to put the trick tip series "Fingertips" here. Why? It introduced millions of kids to the hobby. It was a partnership with one of the largest brands in the world. And without it fingerboarding would not be what it is today!

Even though Taylor is has been inactive, he left a monumental legacy!

Post Radical | Rick McCrank Exploers the Fingerboarding Scene

Producer: Vice TV
Riders: Martin Ehrenberger, Martin Winkler, Manu Oberle + Many Others

Skateboarding pioneer and legend Rick McCrank explores the world of fingerboarding scene. The footage highlights the history and philosophy behind fingerboarding and shows it as an approachable hobby.

The best message is when Martin Winkler shows how silly it is for skateboarders to hate on fingerboarding, and mentions that tennis players don't hate on table tennis, golfers don't hate on mini golf, and soccer players don't hate on foosball. What a great example of showing how silly it is for skateboarders to hate on fingerboarding! Fingerboarding is a natural extension for skateboarders to continue their passion for the hobby.

How This Guy Mastered Fingerboarding 

Producer: Wired
Rider: Mike Schneider

Mike Schneider has made so many important videos it was difficult for me to choose from. His video with Great Big Story has had over 7.5 million views on YouTube alone. He was featured in Red Bull's April Fools video. His early Rendezvous videos inspired thousands to make the trek to Andover or to host their own event. In the end, I picked the mini-documentary Wired produced.

First, it highlights today's fingerboard scene. Mike goes through it all, he shares his fingerboarding history, talks about his philosophy, teaches the basics of fingerboarding and shares about his process for making a Flatface fingerboard and the Rendezvous!