SHOWTIME

We shot this out in Milwaukee a couple months ago.

On our way back from the east coast, Matt and I stopped in Wisconsin for a couple days and met up with the homie John Pangilinan and Stan from Toyo Tires. We rented a bunch of lighting equipment and went out to Roufusport, Anthony's home gym where he does most of his training.

We shot it all in one night - mostly captured in super slow motion on this new camera we picked up recently, the Sony FS700. Anthony was cool to work with as always.

Sidenote for die-hard UFC fans - we actually filmed this as a promo for UFC 163, a fight that was scheduled, at the time, between Pettis and Jose Aldo. But the day after we filmed, Pettis flew to Brazil to do some pre-fight press and while he was there he ended up hurting himself in training and that forced him off of that Fight Card entirely. So for awhile we had this footage and there was no fight scheduled at all (Matt was sad). But then Anthony ended up getting on the UFC 164 card, which was also a title fight, AND it happened to be Milwaukee, Pettis' hometown, so it all worked out for the best.

Anyway, check out the fight this weekend. Matt and I will be there in Wisconsin - you'll probably recognize us on TV, we'll be the 2 guys eating hot dogs and not wearing Affliction or Tapout shirts.

MORE HYPE

Episodes 2 and 3 from the 5-part series we made for Cycle World and Ducati.

A few random production notes:

Episode 2: Target Practice

We scouted locations with views of downtown LA for almost a week. Regular building rooftops would not work because they have too much junk on the top - A/C vents, satellite dishes, etc - and not enough space to ride. So we rented the top floor of this parking garage.

The 'targets' we used here were light bulbs filled with a mix of corn starch and dry tempura paint. Made for a decently cool effect when they shattered - especially when we captured it up close in slow motion.

We hallowed out the light bulbs and funneled the powder mixture into them in the car on our drive to DTLA the morning of the shoot. We prepped about 50 bulbs to account for re-takes and multiple angles. The backseat of Matt's 4Runner was about as messy as you can imagine it might be.

Episode 3: Container Yard Chaos

This Container Yard is our go-to location in Long Beach - courtesy of our boy Tim Cadiente. It's the same spot where we shot Pacquiao and a music video and a bunch of other behind-the-scenes stuff for Tim.

The container that the riders do the long stoppie through had a hardwood floor. In order for the riders to get enough grip, we bought rolls of skateboard grip tape and laid it in strips across the length of the container.

Anyway, enjoy the vids - comments and feedback have been really positive and the series has already logged a couple hundred thousand views. I'll post 4 and 5 soon - an Egg Drop vid which made a huge mess and then the finale which we filmed at Oakley.

ADIDAS NATIONS 2013

Matt and I went out and took some photos at Adidas Nations last week.

Adidas Nations is one of the premier Summer camps for the nation's best high school players plus they bring in prospects from all over the globe - Asia, Africa, Russia, etc.

During the week the camp counselors consist of top college players and then a bunch of NBA guys drop in to help as well.

The guys trained and played all week at the Next Level gym in Garden Grove. Then on Monday, we went out to go check out the 3rd Place and Championship games which were held at Long Beach City College.

Overall it was a cool environment. We enjoyed hanging out at both the practice sessions and the games. It was interesting to see the coaches and scouts interact with the players on and off the court. The global aspect of it was intriguing too - spent a lot of time watching the teams from Africa and Russia and just appreciating how universal the game really is.

Rookie of the Year phenom Damian Lillard was in the building.

As was John Wall rocking some new Pro Model's and fresh off signing his $80M extension.

Damian asked to take a picture with me on my way out.

Matt and I left halfway through the last game as we had to get back to the office and finish a few projects on deadlines. A couple days later I read that Derrick Rose dropped in later, after we had left. Missing hanging out with him is probably the lowest moment of my basketball player stalking career. Oh well, next time. I will find you Derrick :)

Thanks to Nima and, of course, SLAM magazine.

GAME OF HYPE: EPISODE 1

Shot this in June on a stretch of abandoned highway at an undisclosed location.

We had 2 pro stunt riders, a van full of props, a few hours to film and 1 super slo-mo camera. There are 4 more where this came from. If you don't like this one, don't worry, they get cooler as the series goes on. Episode 2, shot on the rooftop of a parking garage in Downtown LA, coming next week.

KDVI PREVIEW

It's been hectic recently.

Past couple months have probably been the hardest that we've ever worked. But, for all the late nights spent working at the office (every night) and the weekends we work straight through (every weekend), there've been also some not so bad things too. Like chilling with Kevin Durant in Santa Monica last Saturday, courtesy of The Swoosh.

Anyway, more KD pics on the way shortly because I'm definitely planning on catching up on blogging soon. And sleep. And laundry. Until then, enjoy this new Drake song 'All me' because you know no one bootlegs music at 2 in the morning like we do.

DOWNLOAD NOW.