Friday night saw the annual industry pilgrimage to Tamworth for the Premiere of the new Lockdown movie Terminal Ferocity. The red carpet was laid out and the Red Bull girls were on hand with bucket loads of champagne for what it now seems will be the final installment of Tim Warwood/Adam Gendle snowboard films.

Having grown up riding together in the midlands Tim and Gend have continued to snowboard and film together over a decade of seasons in the Alps, and their movies – Proper, Bad Ass Big Airs, Show Offs and now Terminal Ferocity
– have helped shaped the UK scene’s reputation for having a laugh and taking the piss out of themselves. There’s something of the Morcambe and Wise about the way the pair stand at the front of the cinema and crack jokes for the expectant crowd before the movie. Well, Tim cracks jokes – Gendle, less comfortable with a mic, mutters comments in the background.

This year’s film began with a genius birthday montage for Gend’s dad, who turned 60 on the night of the premiere. Photos of Mr Gendle from the 70s merge seamlessly into a retro music video starring Tim, Gend and Gary Greenshields in woolly jumpers and rollerskates. It’s a hilarious start.

The main movie itself has been done as a mockumentary – think Spinal Tap meets snowboarding. So instead of linking section after section, we follow the supposed trials and tribulations of the crew as they attempt to put together this year’s film. The editing is better than ever and the skits are frequently brilliant. This is Tim and Gend at the peak of their comedy powers, and judging by the extra long thank you’s at the end – and the presentation of 4-disc box sets to everyone in the audience – it looks like being their swan song. Standout riding was provided by Nate Kern, Jenny Jones and Dom Harington, though without doubt the best shot of the film was Scott McMorris’s heli-cam sequence over a monster of a kicker in New Zealand.

I won’t bore you with a description of how everyone got suitably hammered afterwards (although thank you Mrs Gendle for letting us steal a bottle of gin back at your place); suffice to say it was a wicked night and every British snowboarder should go get their hands on this movie when it’s released for free at the TSA. Whether or not you’ve been a fan of Lockdown’s unique brand of snowboarding over the past few years, it’s always been the place to see the cream of UK riding talent. This year is no different.
ED

We collared Tim Warwood, one half of Lockdown Projects, and got him to answer a few questions for us.

So it was the premiere on Friday , how did it go ?
It went good! We had maybe the biggest crowd we’ve had, i think we counted 8 free seats, so we we’re pretty stoked! We we’re nervous about the movie because it’s not a snowboard film at all! The film we showed was very different, but everyone seemed to enjoy it!!!

Do you have any drunken stories to tell?
I can’t remember i was too wasted! I do a very good thing where i nervously power drink my way through the whole night. I try to not get too drunk but i can’t help it!!!

Was the reception as good as you hoped?
Yer. Red Bull put on the party for us, and they killed it! It was beautiful, and we got 300 box sets made up for everyone as a gift, so that went down pretty well too!!!! A massive thanks to Kat and Christie and Robbie at Red Bull and Jasmin Wilson, for the party, and thanks to Jono Wood for designeing our box set too!!!

Who is the stand out this year?
i think Dom Harington, and Ben Kilner! They both had really nice shots. Dom hasn’t ever really had a stand out part in ours films, and he is a very talented rider for sure! Ben had some jump shots which he had never really had before in our films, and then of course Nate kern had pretty much every trick in there too!

2006/07 season had poor snow conditions, how did you get round this?
Well, you’ll have to watch the film to see how we got around it! Luckily, snowboard parks are made of man made snow!!!!

Snowboard movies have improved infinitely in recent years did you make a conscious effort to keep up ? (the use of wire cams ,HD etc)
Yes, but it’s hard when you don’t have a budget to use!!! Every other snowboard film, has a whoppertron budget to pay for filmers , camera’s cable cam’s, me and Gend pay for all our own camera’s, tapes, travel, passes, acoomodation. We do get sponsorship, for which we are very very grateful. But that only covers the cost of the 12,000 copies we print as a free giveaway!

Rumour has it this is your last movie, is this true? Where to next ?
Well, it’s the classic ‘never say never.’ We sat down, and thought to ourselves, where can we go, what can we do! And to be honest if you look back at our 4 films, they are all completely different. So we have decided to just step aside. Not give it up, i mean we still own camera’s computers, everything like that, and i am sure we’ll still make something as it would be impossible not too, but when we look back at it, we’ve made 4 films that we are really proud of, and now we want to do some snowboarding! We are snowboarders at heart. Not film makers. Well i guess we are, but we want to go snowboarding again! We miss it!!!!! As for what next, not sure, music video’s, maybe a film film, maybe something that the whole of the world can see!

Will you miss working with Adam?
Why? We’re not splitting up! I’ll be working with him all the time! I think people think that it’s the end of LOCKDOWN projects, but that couldn’t be any further from the truth! We’ve not even started yet! We want an office each!!! and also a neon light outside of building too!!!!

Who will take your mantel as princes of the UK snow filming scene?
Not sure. The hungerpain crew are established now, and i am sure people will look to them! Josh Knox seems to have a very sneaky way of appearing with all the latest equipement, and a very good eye for filming and editing, so i am expecting big things from him! But, All i am saying is don’t call me for help Josh!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha Only Kidding!!! anyway It’s easy now! Camera’s are getting cheaper, everyone owns one! imovie has never been more powerful! I think that people might realise just how easy it is to do!