Welcome back to our Place Presents series where today you will get to meet Pierre Masek (skater) and Bennet Rahm. Actually, you might know them from their work with Pocket Magazine or on IG but for us, this is the first time we see them both shine so brightly. So, instead of just posting the part and heading off into the weekend, we decided to send them some questions, so we can all get to know them both a bit better. Enjoy the interview and press play on JIRI.

Intro & Interview by Roland Hoogwater.

Film & Edit by Bennet Rahm.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Bennet: Hey, I’m Bennet. I am 20 years old and I’m a skateboarder and skateboard videographer from Wiesbaden, Germany. 

Pierre: Hey, I am Pierre, 25 years old, from Mainz, Germany. When I don’t skate I study Media & Design Management in Wiesbaden.

When did you start skating?

Bennet: I started skating with classmates in school around 4th grade. That was about 10 years ago.

Pierre: I can’t pinpoint the exact age when I started. My oldest brother used to skate so there was always a board at the house. I have vague memories of rolling on a board when I was four, but it took some more years until I actually tried to learn tricks. 

When did you start filming?

Bennet: Shortly after starting to skate I got interested in making videos of me and my homies skating. I bought myself a little action cam when I was 11 and it all started from there.

Tell me a bit about the scene in Mainz and Wiesbaden.

Bennet: The skate scene in Wiesbaden isn’t really the biggest. We don’t have a local skate shop in town other than Titus so the area which is called Schlachthof around our indoor park is basically basecamp for all the skaters. Pierre also filmed a line there for his video part. The Bs Smith Heelflip one.

But Pierre and I don’t only stay in Wiesbaden to skate. The whole Rheinmain area is really connected. We have lots of friends in Gießen, Koblenz, Frankfurt, and Mainz (the city where Pierre lives).

Pretty much every weekend possible, we try to connect with our homies from the other cities.

Pierre: With all the cities in our area come multiple skate scenes. I am mainly involved in the scene in Mainz but as Bennet mentioned, we also skate in Wiesbaden, Koblenz, Frankfurt, and Gießen. The scene in Mainz got bigger in the last few years. It became really welcoming and all the people know each other well. The main spot is called Götheplatz where people skate on the roller skating rink. I feel like the spot really helped the scene bond. The city also allowed us to have obstacles at the spot and lock them there. 

How was your last video (if you made one)? can you tell me what you wanted to do differently this time around?

Bennet: The last project I worked on with Pierre was his “Every Sunday” part. I basically just helped out filming a few tricks, that was when we first started skating together. The edit and almost all the filming of that part were by our good friend Flo Deger.

My latest personal project was a video for the Mosaic Skate Shop in Gießen. The video was called “FRAMED” and I experimented with working my analog pictures in the edit. Continuing with the analog aesthetic I was super excited to try out Super 8 for the first time and use that in Pierre’s JIRI part. Although using super 8 is pretty expensive I feel like it was worth it after all the work we put into this part over the last 3 years.

Pierre: I just want to add that I am always really excited about anything Bennet puts out because his videos always capture a feeling. That’s what I feel is the most important thing in a skate video, that it makes you feel something.

I need to know about the soundtrack, tell me how you came to use them, and tell me your general process of picking songs and how important that is.

Bennet: In contrast to many other projects in which I’m often the one picking music and making suggestions Pierre was very involved in picking songs for his part.

Pierre has great taste in music and knows a lot of interesting smaller bands, so I knew picking music with him would become a fun process. We were going back and forth about the style of music and bands we wanted to use for a long time. In the end, Pierre made a playlist with possible songs and we selected the two most fitting ones.

Pierre: Yes, as mentioned it is a collaborative process, so I picked out a bunch of songs I liked and sent them to Bennet. Then we agreed on the two songs that we ended up using. Often my general approach is to look at bands I like and then check out the record labels that signed them. From there, I look at other bands that are signed by that label and check out their music. That is how I found one of the songs for the part. Also, even if you don’t find something for the video when going through that process, you still end up discovering a lot of great bands and songs.

While picking out songs I actually realized a strange thing: At first, I was considering some personal favorite songs that mean a lot to me for the part, but then I quickly realized that I don’t want to use them due to the personal emotional attachment I have to them. It might sound strange, but I don’t want the personal meaning of those songs to change by using them for my skating if that makes any sense. Anyways, picking out songs is always tricky but it’s also a fun process to go through!