3SCAPE Full Movie + Interview

Last spring we started seeing photos from the Escape crew and knew right away that their movie was going to be packed full of hammers. Watch it here and then read on for a little interview with filmer / editor / babysitter, Lou Staub.
Hey Lou, I just finished watching 3scape 3x and I’ve gotta say that this is my favorite one of yours yet. How’re you feeling about it?
Thanks! I’m also really happy with the finished product. Definitely the best movie yet, but also I know that there would be so much more potential to make something even better, if nothing holds us back.

Yeah, it was a pretty complicated season. How were you guys effected by the lockdown?
I’m glad that we had a really productive trip in the end of February, so we were able to still do a full movie. But we were planning on doing another trip in end of March/April which got cancelled.
When the Ski Resorts closed first we were like, oh thats nice, now we can focus on filming street spots for the rest of the season. But then every day more borders closed and rules got more strict. We filmed one trick on the first day of lockdown. After that we stopped filming entirely, just so nobody got hurt and had to go to an overcrowded hospital.

Gian Sutter battling for his Fs Board.
That seems like the right call…
Luckily you guys were able to stack a lot of footage in Finland. What is it about traveling that makes you guys so much more productive?
It’s just a whole different vibe when you are with a crew somewhere else than home. Everybody is there with the same goal and mindset and are pushing each other. It’s also good to not worry about every day stuff during a trip. No school, no work, no contests, no girlfriends, no parties and no hangovers.

Are you nervous about not being able to travel as easily this season?
Yes and no. It’s way more important to have snow in general. Traveling makes filming a movie just way easier since you can chase the snow. But if there is a good winter in Switzerland we can easily film a movie here. There are so many spots in Switzerland with a lot of potential. It also forces you to find new stuff. Our first movie was also 100% filmed in Switzerland. But even then we thought it wasn’t possible to film a movie without leaving Switzerland.
So yes… let’s pray for a lot of snow.

Elio Fumagalli, board slide to beer.
Who has your favorite shot in the movie? 
Hard to say just one… there were for sure a lot a shots which I was really relieved after we got it because it was a long battle, a big build or something else.
I really like the opener shot of the movie. We found this pole jam on the last day in Finland. After one or two tries, we figured out we should turn it into a line. It took me a few tries to figure out how to film out of the car. Then, right before the last try, a really angry woman came to us and started giving us shit. We just started the car and got the shot right then. After that, a lot of angry people came outside. We packed our stuff in the van and drove away trying to ESCAPE ;) We managed to drive like 50m before a cop car pulled us over… haha.

Damn, it’s can be a real struggle out there! Who had the the worst bail?
Dario, of course. The bail was on the second to last shot, his BS board on the double kink. This was the first time that Dario was back in the real streets for years. The day before, he already tried a trick which he didn’t get and also bailed super hard. Then he came to the Doublekink and after a few tries he caught his edge in the flat part and sent a maaaasive front flip around 2m down to his back on to the Metal Stairs. I thought he had broken back for sure, but he just got up, was very pissed and stomped the trick a few tries later. The metal stairs were totally bend from his fall.

Dario Burch, double kink battle.
What an animal! Haha…
Escape 1 was 26 minutes, Escape 2 was 17 minutes and now Escape 3 is 11 minutes. How do you feel about the overall trend of shorter snowboard movies?
It’s sad, but I’m also part of the problem. When I see an old school style movie that’s longer than 30 min, I don’t really watch it.
I think we can’t only blame it on shorter attention spans, but also recognize that the tricks which are legit enough to go into a snowboard movie always get harder and harder. Back in the day you could film 3 spots in one day, and each spot gots ridden by 3 riders, and they all got 2 tricks each on it. Today most movies just use 1 spot, 1 rider and 1 trick, since it’s more enjoyable to watch. But it’s also because you don’t really want to hit those spots too many times because of their risk.
As long as the movies don’t get even shorter than this, everything is good.

It’s great that you guys are starting to get some more international attention. How did you link up with the Torment guys?
We are all just fans of Torment and what they do for snowboarding. Jon Stark did the best movies in the past with Rendered Useless, Half Off and Pepper. So it was an honor to hear that he’s stoked on our movie and wants to support us.

Florian Fischer, Bs Blunt.
What do your plans for this season look like?
Still in progress. Lot of things to figure out, especially now with this Corona shit. But we will be doing something for sure.

Any Swiss guys that you’re hoping to film with more, or do you prefer to run a small crew?
I’m looking forward for the comeback of Elias Rupp. He’s definitely the most underrated rider in Switzerland. Unfortunately, he was hurt for the last 2 seasons.

Yes please! We’d love to see another part from Elias…
Anything else you’d like to add before we wrap this up?
Thanks to everyone involved in the movie! And a big thanks to our sponsors: Dooah, Laax, Nitro, Burton and Ride <3.