SRAM
High end bicycle equipment maker SRAM asked me to help them make some images and videos to support an upcoming product launch. Their new drivetrain is designed to easily handle all-day rides in a really wide range of terrain, from super steep dirt to paved windblown flats and everything in between.
While SRAM’s headquarters are in Chicago, they manufacture most of their product in Taiwan — a country with a long, rich culture of making really nice bicycles for people all over the world. And the road riding in Taiwan is insanely good, which is why we went there for our week-long shoot. They wanted to highlight the world-class riding, as well as the people and the culture that make their company culture so rich. SRAM asked me to help them to create a look that would move them away from the current visual trends in road cycling that lean heavily on hammering, suffering, and technical precision.
For this wide-ranging project, I worked with SRAM’s marketing department to define the right look and feel, which eventually took the form of a treatment. My visual and technical approach was largely inspired by some of my favorite surf and ski films — playfully shot art projects that create a dreamlike atmosphere, that are fun to watch, and that make you want to be there.
For this project, I provided creative direction, shot and retouched all still images, directed and shot video (with much help from a second cameraman and DIT), oversaw the edit, conducted audio interviews, designed graphic crops and type treatments, colored the video, and even wrote a travel piece for the story section of SRAM’s site. Production was in-house and provided by SRAM, and I worked with Jon Natchez (of The War on Drugs) to create all original music based on our loose, surfy vibe.
Deliverables included 50+ high res still images, 4 long form videos, bumpers, header loops, and a comprehensive assortment of social executions, with each in 6 languages. It was a sprawling, rewarding project that called on a wide variety of specialized skills that I have slowly acquired over a lifetime of riding bikes, looking at art, skiing, taking pictures, surfing, and solving creative problems.
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