Surf movies fall into three distinct genres:

The sporting documentary was pioneered by Bud Browne (e.g. "Hawaiian Holiday") in the 1940s and early 1950s, and later popularized by Bruce Brown (e.g. "The Endless Summer") in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then later perfected by Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman (e.g. "Five Summer Stories") in the 1970s and beyond (MacGillivray and Freeman later went on to film IMAX movies such as To Fly! and Speed). The genre in itself has been defined by surfers, traveling with their friends and documenting the experience on film. In the 'heyday' of Bruce Brown, Greg Noll, Bud Brown, John Severson, films were projected for rambunctious fans in music halls, civic centers and high school auditoriums.

During the 1980s, the market for surf films surged with the release of more affordable video cameras. By the 1990s, the surfing market became saturated with low and medium budget surf films, many with sound tracks that reflected the mass media driven music culture. VHS and eventually DVDs made the surf film viewing experience an "at home" affair and the 'heyday' of joing your friends or taking a girl to "surf movie night" at the local high school soon quickly vanished. Furthermore, large surf brands began making surf films under their marketing budgets to promote clothing and product sales. Titles like Sonny Miller's, "The Search" for Rip Curl redefined the genre with exotic locales, big budgets and name surfers, such as Tom Curren.

Surf is the wave activity in the area between the shoreline and outer limit of breakers. It may refer to a breaking wave in shallow water, upon the shore, or in the area in which waves break

Surf may also refer to:

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry.

Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating – or indoctrinating – citizens. The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue into the language of the viewer.

Films are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.

Dane Reynolds (born September 7, 1985 in Long Beach, California) is a professional surfer from Ventura, California. He is known for his "go for broke" style of surfing that includes many experimental and aerial maneuvers.

Reynolds started surfing at the age of 10 after he moved from Bakersfield, California to Ventura. It was here on the point breaks around Santa Barbara and Ventura that he honed his progressive style of surfing. Reynolds first started competing at age 13 and at 16 had dropped out of school to surf.

Reynolds competed in the 2003 and 2004 X-Games and received the highest single wave score both years. The 2008 ASP World Tour marked his rookie year on the esteemed tour after finishing 2nd on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) behind Jordy Smith. His ranking on the WCT in 2008 was 19th with 4066 points, then he moved up to the coveted "Top Ten" (10th) in 2009 with 5219 points. In 2010 Reynolds had a breakout year, ending up tied for fourth in the 2010 ASP World Tour with Taj Burrow. His 2011 tour started disappointly missing the first three events due to a knee injury.

Davie Allan is a guitarist best known for his work on soundtracks to various teen and biker movies in the 1960s. Allan's backing band is almost always the Arrows (i.e., Davie Allan & the Arrows), although the Arrows have never been a stable lineup.

Allan grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, and learned to play guitar as a teenager. His career as a musician began when he teamed up with Mike Curb, a friend he met in the choir at Grant High School in Van Nuys, California, to form an instrumental surf combo. In 1963, Curb founded Cude Records, the first of many labels he would run, and released the first Davie Allan single, “War Path.” Allan participated in recording a number of other singles for Curb's label, released under group names like the Sudells, the Heyburners, and the Zanies.

In 1964, Curb founded Sidewalk Records (which was distributed by Capitol subsidiary Tower Records), brought Allan with him as a session musician, and secured a recording contract for the newly-formed Arrows. Curb had also made a deal to supply Roger Corman's schlock factory American International Pictures with soundtracks. Allan had come to Corman's attention from his playing on the soundtrack of Skaterdater.