Ruckus is the latest movie from Agressive Instincts Productions. They have already produced two other videos. And the man behind the movie is Mike Chricton. An excellent and avid skier himself, Mike has started to focus more on the documentaion of skiing, then actually skiing. Here he is, interviewed by his brother Dave:

Dave: Give me a brief summary where you stand now with your own skiing.

Mike: This season will be my third with the Ontario Freestyle Ski Team. My main goal is to make the National Development Team this year, but I also want to improve my new school skills.

Dave: RUCKUS is the third major ski video that you've made. How does it compare to your other ski and sports videos?

Mike: RUCKUS is my favorite video yet for a number of reasons: the varying footage, the music, and the flow. It wasn't perfect by any means, but I feel that some of the smaller details make it my best video yet.

Dave: How do you go about getting footage to make your videos?

Mike: Because my siblings and I all compete in moguls, we get to travel a lot and ski with a lot of the up-and-comers in new school skiing, who, for the most part, are mogul skiers. After training or after an event, we all head to the halfpipe or the terrain park. I just turn on the camera and everyone else does the rest.

Dave: A consistent element found in all videos is that of punk music. Any reason for this?

Mike: I think that there are two types of sports videos out there: the Warren Miller type which is more like a movie, and the John DeCesare or Taylor Steele type which is more a motivational video. Punk music is what a lot of skiers listen to, and when combined with good footage it is the ultimate "pump-up" or motivating force to ski. I like punk a lot, and I can't see using and other type of music.

Dave: What do you think makes a ski video (or any other sports video) good?

Mike: Any video where when you watch it you're giving it your full attention: something where every second in the video is exciting and you never want to take your eyes off of it. It's what I'm trying to eventually get in my videos, but I've got a ways to go.

Dave: From what you've seen in the evolution of new school skiing, where do you think the sport is heading in the years to come?

Mike: I think the sport is approaching a threshold: people won't be throwing spins much bigger than 1440, or doing inverts with greater than two flips on a regular basis. New school will become more technical - more switch spins, flips and grabs - and a greater emphasis will be placed on style.