Post CV: Filming Process for GlobalSpin 2026: A New Era

I previously tried to make a video talking about my experiences with GlobalSpinFest, and my process of creating my video submission. But the motivation to do that faded. For me, I'm thinking it's better to ride the wave of interest and get it done then wait until later. And so, I'm writing this directly after I finished filming for the CV, fresh in my brain!

 

My submission to the first pen spinning collaboration video of the year in GlobalSpin Inc.! Full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox9jreQj5r8

Goals of the Combo

In GlobalSpinFest I focused more on refinement, for this submission I wanted to have more highlight moments to be able to keep up with others.

Plus, I wanted to push myself slightly with unfamiliar tricks, and have a combo based on rhythm. 

Goals:

• Rhythm-based combo, focused on pacing.
• Use unfamiliar tricks (ringaround, east sonic rev?, new Japanese motion-esque trick, new finger positioning for ext ta bust)

Concept of Rhythm and Beats

For a long time, I've thought of pen spinning through this concept of beats. Just like in dance or music, every motion follows a certain beat or tempo. When I watch pen spinning videos, I would make noises in my head. 

For example, a Powerpass would make a "da-da-da" noise as each finger bends down. As a music analogy, it would be a triplet — three beats that fit inside one beat.

For this combo, I wanted to repeat a build-up to pay-off rhythm. I start with a Japanese motion to a direction change into some Fingerpass Reverses. After a smooth Fingerpass motion, I end up with a clear direction change for the Midbak, and so on and so forth.

Hopefully I was able to execute on my ideas! It was nice to hear that Padrace enjoyed the pacing, as he is a master of combo structure pacing! (Tension and Release, a concept that he developed)

Planning the Combo

I started planning this combo on October 19th, on a Discord voice call with Temuyín. I knew I had some tricks I wanted to try to pull of in a combo, and I roughly planned it while hanging out with a 2P1H (two pens in one hand) World Tournament participant. 

Why do I point this out? It's because it's nice to be in a comfortable environment with someone else that's very skilled with pen spinning, and have that be a motivator to get some pen spinning homework done!

When I plan a combo, I use a timer to get a rough idea of the length. I tried to aim for more than 11 seconds this time. I use this to estimate how long my combo is.

If I'm not able to completely execute the combo, I'll just try my best to continue until the end so I have an estimate. I also will account for slightly faster spinning speed when the execution gets better, so I take off 1-2 seconds for a more accurate estimate. 

 

After or during the rough planning, I edit and change a few tricks to fine tune the combo. The trick choices are very dependent on the goals I'm trying to accomplish.

Practicing the Combo

Grinding a pen spinning combo is pretty straightforward. As I got more consistent, I filmed a draft video on my phone to get a quick idea of what it would look like with the angle I'm interested in.

A tip for handcam: Lean your elbow on something to keep your camera stable!

Later, when I do film the combo, I have a better mental image of what visual I'm aiming for.

Filming the Combo

Criswea, Pen Spinning World Tournament 2025 Champion, talks about his abusive relationship with filming a pen spinning video.

Ahhh yes, the dreaded filming stage. Plagued by doubt, self-deprecation, and frustration. I've been trying for years to find a healthy and stable way to manage expectation with the final result. I think I'm slowly getting better at it. i.suk often talks about filming strategies on social media, and other pen spinners will discuss it too. I've tried to slowly absorb this information more in recent years.

If I am to keep myself active and interested in pen spinning while I'm older, I have to find ways to make pen spinning less frustrating and more healthy and fun. It gets harder to justify spending time in pen spinning, if that brings more annoyance than enjoyment.

This time I filmed, it was a bit tricky because of outside life factors. I was sick for a week close to the deadline, and several things happened that drained me mentally. I feel like I held onto practicing the combo for too long, because I could land the combo and I just didn't film it until I was right against the deadline.

When I tried to film the combo a few days before the deadline, it wasn't exactly how I pictured it. But, I did have one more trick up my sleeve.

Additive Pen Spinning

 I comment on RPD's pen spinning theory recommendation on the SPSC Discord Server.

Read the full article: https://note.com/getter_airi/n/n7cf99e9a74ca?sub_rt=share_pw

The idea of letting human errors and individuality happen, by reducing stability and absolute refinement in execution. You get this human-ness, this expressive, and natural feel when the execution isn't robotically perfect.

This doesn't mean letting the execution be bad, it's more about reducing stability by letting your fingers, wrist, and arm move more naturally.

And so, when I'm out of practice for a week or more, I decided to just let my experience speak for itself, even if it's not perfect. Have those unintentional "mistakes" to be not mistakes, but happy accidents.

"And when you get over that fear of making a mistake, then it becomes fun. Then it really becomes fun. That's when you experience the joy."

 

- Bob Ross