Chapter 1 of the Book of Cross took place on a very hot field in Las Vegas, NV. Motofish had just partnered with Jeremy Powers who was at the pinnacle of men’s cyclocross in the US and in the world. As part of our partnership we were going to write, shoot and produce a series chronicling Jeremy’s campaign to the top of the sport. This was our first experience working with longer form video, but the wonderful thing about working with Jeremy was that he was so natural, honest, funny and charismatic on camera which made the beginning process extremely easy.
The Book of Cross evolved into four 18-20 minute episodes that took us from Las Vegas, to Massachusetes, to Arkansas and finally to the World Championships in Belgium. Throughout the series we watched Jeremy grow through the highs and lows. There were three of us in Belgium for that episode and Jeremy was the first ever US male to line up on the front row for a CX World Championship. We were ready, and then … he slipped his pedal at the start and went to 50th place. On the start line there were visions of a triumphant race with Jeremy maybe cracking the top 10. Not to be. What we got instead was a really honest and vulnerable interview with Jeremy at the end of the race saying that his performance wasn’t good enough, that what he was doing wasn’t working and that he wasn’t sure what the future held. He was relatable, real and unafraid to speak from the heart to his fans. A spectacular performance would’ve been one thing but what we got was more real and probably more lasting in some ways.
Jeremy brought a level of credibility to the Book of Cross while Motofish brought it’s own credibility to the knowledge of the sport - we were fans and knew what fans of the sport wanted to see. We were also used to shooting sport so all of the little details were there: measuring saddle height, checking tire pressures, how to ride a rut. Not only were we embedded in the project but we were embedded in the nuance.
The Book of Cross has garnered over a million impressions and each episode on Youtube continues to be played and all have over 30,000 views.
After this event, Motofish was approached by Schwinn to produce and shoot 3 videos for their ‘I Am a Cyclist’ campaign. These stories would follow three cyclists that didn’t necessarily fit the mold of a traditional cyclist yet were using the power of cycling to empower and elevate their communities.
The story of Mikah Meyer took place on a bike ride from Oregon to California over the span of a week. It was not feasible for us to be there for the entire ride. We had to be strategic about what we shot and when we shot it. We needed to introduce Mikah to the audience and outline some of the challenges he would face. It was also important that the people watching the final film felt like they were along for the ride. So in addition to what we shot above and some spectacular scenery along the coast we used a few different media types to break up the ride and make the final piece feel a little more personal.
To introduce Mikah and convey a sense of his charisma and passion, we shot him doing a presentation via Zoom. We also used filmed Facetime footage of him checking in from the road to make it feel like the viewer was on the other end of the call. This mixed footage also helped make the beautiful drone work and traditional footage feel even more hero. At the end of the project when Mikah, who had never done a ride like this, and his riding buddy, Cole crossed into California it felt like a real achievement and the applause was real.
The most recent project Motofish shot where being ‘embeded’ was key was for the University of Washington Men’s Crew Team. The movie adaptation of the Boys in the Boat was about to come out and with its release there was a sense that more eyes than ever were going to be turned to the Husky Crew. We were asked to produce a film that drew a line from the 1936 Husky Olympic Gold Medal winning team to today’s program - what elements of Husky Crew that were prevalent in 1936 still exist today.
Rowing is such a beautiful sport and when you take rowing and add it to the historically significant and beautiful background of the Montlake Cut and Seattle we knew that we needed a lot of on water footage. We were going to be shooting student athletes with set practice schedules and demanding, scripted workouts so we needed to be ready and available. It didn’t take us long to realize that we were getting a lot of great footage but we also knew that the footage was not going to be worth much without a strong narrative behind it.
After essentially a full season of practices and important regattas we knew we had a lot of picture to support the story. To make sure that our story and footage were aligned, we waited until the end of shooting to conduct our interviews. There were certain questions we knew we needed to to deliver on but by ‘reverse engineering’ the interview we could capture VO to support imagery that was really strong and felt significant to us.
The result of this approach was a 5 minute long-form video that told the story of the current Boys In The Boat and a number of cutdowns that covered ideas like, Rowtown, USA, The Cut, and the athletes. This piece of content has now reached 25,000 likes today.
Being able to dive into a topic or sport that is close to our hearts has been one of the most rewarding aspects of Motofish. We shine through challenges that allow us to push the boundaries creatively and love when we are able to surround ourselves with people who share the same passions as us like cycling, rowing, and being outdoors to name a few. Helping individuals, brands, and companies to tell their stories in an authentic way is incredibly rewarding.
