Here’s a little preview from the Ziptied All Star Bash. This shot was one of my favorites from my footage from this past weekend’s Zip Tied/Just Drift/BH’s All Star Bash V. Stay up for more.

Shooting at the Formula Drift Pro AM was limited this year because of some lengthy media meetings and lines for media credentials. Bummer because the Pro AM event was just as action packed as the World Drifting Championships. There was tons of carnage as drivers pushed their cars to the limits on a wickedly fast course. An over due congratulations to the drivers who earned their Formula Drift Pro Licenses. I look forward to seeing the Pro AM series aligned with the Formula Drift Pro schedule next year and new faces to be joining the ranks at the events! Song by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Snapped/Chopped/Colored by me for Wrecked Magazine. Send it!

One of the coolest things about art is how differently people interpret the same scene. Josh Herron and I were shooting from the same locations for most of the event. If you watch my teaser compared to Josh’s you will notice some similarities, but the greatest thing is seeing how Josh cuts together the moments he captured differently. It really reminds me of being in art classes in high school and drawing still life. Same group of objects, slightly different angle, completely different outcome. So dig on Josh’s edit for a minute – you’ll be glad you tried out his perspective.

YoutTube finally has updated their player to fit 16×9 widescreen aspect content natively. The YouTube page is now 960 pixels wide. Read all about it in this very brief You Tube blog post. And check out Dax’s report on YouTube versus the competition for some cool insight into YouTube’s usage compared to other video sites. 

I’ve been busy. Thanks to Joey and Jason @ Wrecked Magazine for giving me the opportunity to shoot/edit thie piece for them at the Red Bull World Drifting Championships. Music is by Alkaline Trio “Burn”. I think its appropriate considering the weekend was under the smoke filled skies of the Los Angeles area fires. This is the only time you’ll catch me using gradiants in my color work. I think it adds to the mood, no?

This past week, I got to shoot/edit some videos for the 2008 LA Auto Show. The content is for the crew over at Streetfire.net. Here are the first three videos(of the six I did) – Sexiest Cars of the LA Auto Show.

 
Greenest Cars @ at the LA Auto Show

Convertible Mania @ the 2008 LA Auto Show

Back in October, I made a trip back to Ohio to visit. My friend Chris Stein and I made a visit to our old stomping ground – the North Olmsted Recreation Center. We both worked their through high school and had a blast doing it. For this video to make any sense at all you need to follow me for a second. I played Ice Hockey since the second grade, so working at an Ice Rink when I was old enough was a dream. When I finally started to grow in high school I was way too small to be competitive at JV or varsity level hockey – nor did I really want to dedicate the time to practicing and playing. Instead, I became a skate guard. Skate guards make sure that public skate sessions run smoothly, do basic first aid, and get to be on the rink for the whole open session. Awesome. While working as a skate guard, my skating skills grew from being on the ice so often. Without the bulk of pads, helmet, and stick, I realized that you could adapt aggressive rollerblading tricks to the ice. Soon I was jumping cones vertically and for distance on their sides. Similar to barrel jumping in the early part of the 20th century. Personal best was 17 cones on their side. Chris and I became the best “freestyle” skaters around.  We even started to imitate the figure skaters and try maneuvers that were impossible without a toe pick equipped figure skate. 

Fast forward to 2008. I still have my skates. Chris and I are still boys and the recreation center has seen bigger crowds and better days (public recreation budgets aren’t what they used to be). We expect there to at least be a guard on duty- no one. We were the only ones. The entire ice to ourselves. Jackpot. Here is what happens when you get the opportunity to try to skate like crazy. 

To end cap 2008, I’m going on a massive and random road trip. Flying to Atlanta (Yo ATL people, I’ll be there December 2nd & 3rd *driftMechaniks) then driving across the country back to Los Angeles. The exciting part is that we are going to be covering the car in cameras and recording the entire trip. Live updates along the way. Think we should stop and see you? Let me know ASAP.

For New Years 2008, Red Bull had planned a massive stunt as part of the Red Bull Experiment. Professional driver and stunt man Rhys Millen was going to back flip a trophy truck. During testing and practice before December 31st Rhys over shot the landing pit and fractured 5 vertebrae. Since recovering Rhys has gone on to win the Red Bull World Drifting Championships, win the Tires.com Triple Crown, and finish 3rd overall in the 2008 Formula Drift season. Impressive for coming off a serious injury. 

Best of luck to Rhys and his team as they prepare to be the first to backflip a truck. Tune in on New Years eve 8pm pacific/11pm eastern time on ESPN to watch the event live from Las Vegas. I think its awesome to see people dust themselves off, get up, and try again. Without this spirit, how would we progress? Cheers Rhys. 

Santa Monica Airport was the set of the 2010 Ford Mustang television and press debut. 2008 Irwindale Formula Drift champion and D1 World Champion driver Vaughn Gittin Jr drifted the new 2010 Ford Mustang in front of a live television audience and members of the press. Vaughn gave media rides in his backup Mustang GT outside of the airport hangar. Keep your eyes open for a Jarod DeAnda sighting and some Falken tires being melted into the pavement.

Norwegian electronic duo, Royksopp, released their full-length debut album Melody AM in 2001. Melody AM, is one of those incredible albums that can be listened to straight through. Every track is solid. There is no pressing next or skipping ahead. Their downtempo electronic songs are beautiful and have been utilized by many television commercials. The video for Remind Me, won the 2002 MTV European Music Award for Best Video. No small feat, the video is a motion graphic nerd’s dream. Its use of animated infographics is captivating and exciting to watch. It also reminds me of Stephan Biesty cross section books I used to read in elementary school. So Remind Me reminds me of cross section infographics and is set to one of my favorite songs – sounds like a well deserved Video Of the Week. 

Congratulations to Rhys Millen on winning the Red Bull World Drifting Championship. For the RBWDC I was shooting for Wrecked Magazine. After the finals, Daijiro Yoshihara battling Rhys Millen, we caught up with Rhys at the podium and snagged this great interview.

I was able to insert some of Rhys’ best runs from the day into the edit. Check back to Wrecked Magazine and my blog for the final Red Bull World Drifting Championship videos and some Pro Am coverage. 

This past weekend was the Red Bull Word Drifting Championships. I had the opportunity to do some work for Wrecked Magazine and was stoked to be able to shoot his historic event. Motor sports events held in Southern California bring out the media. Local news, the print magazines, websites, blogs, and of course the teams themselves all want to record and capture the event. This makes it challenging to shoot at places like Irwindale Speedway or specialty events like the RBWDC. There are TONS of outlets who are trying to cram their lenses in the designated “photo holes” in the catch fences or media areas. Regardless of the crowds, I am always determined to do something different. Why get the same images as everyone else? Never. Until I get a few days to cut the full length edits for the World Championships here is a teaser that is currently up on Wrecked. Let me know what you think.

Ports of Long Beach. Terminal Island. Cranes unload packed cargo ships. No, you aren’t trying to enter the US in a shipping container. You are feet from cars entering drift at 103 miles per hour. Its the inaugural Red Bull Word Drifting Championships.

Frederic Aasabo’s Supra representing Norway.

Jacob representing everything drift

Josh tries to keep ash from falling in his eyes. LA county is burning and ashing all over. 

This Dead Pirate is throwing up some “veeees” for video or victory or maybe SA drift.

Gangster. Functional airborne particulate protection. 

Glad I got this media pass, or else there would be no way for me to get this close & snap iphone drift photos. I kid, but seriously, there were more than a few “media” guys with the old point n shoot and camera phone out there…

Super fun event to watch and shoot video during. Hopefully Red Bull is psyched and ponies up to do another World Championship event next year. Until the 2009 drift season, stay sideways. And be on the lookout for the Vanilla Kangaroo.

With Sensors ranging from 3k all the way to the massive panoramic 28k sensor. The RED Epic & Scarlet cameras utilize variable frame rates and can record onto compact flash cards just like the RED One.

I’m most excited about having a camera that can do 120fps with affordable Canon or Nikon optics mounted in front of a 3k sensor. Plus the ability to record in RED’s REDCODE Raw format will allow for similar tweaking of video that one gets from a RAW still image. The ability to adjust white balance, gamma, and exposure data in post.

I’m excited. Thanks to Stu Maschwitz for being quick to post the announcement.

Wow. We profiled Ken Block @ Riceboytv.com and his Subaru WRX STi. This video done by Mad Media and apparently 0-60 Magazine, features some incredible driving and car control. Mr.Block whips his WRX through 360′s, tight quarters 180′s, all wheel drive drifts around buildings, and a moving axis doughnut around a Segway.

I love Gymkhana, hopefully someone can put together a gymkhana event and grow the sport in the United States.

My friends at Wrecked Magazine, let me run wild at SEMA to produce “my” kind of drifting coverage. After watching everyone else tackle the unveiling of Samuel’s Challenger and Chris Forsberg’s new Nismo body kit on his 350z, I wanted to focus on the details that get over looked.

Because collaborations are so fresh right now: WRECKED MAGAZINE X WILL ROEGGE’s SEMA ABSTRACT VIDEO

Look for: Tanner Foust’s handwritten 2008 Champion door tag, Takatori’s multiple Pedo bear stickers, Vaughn Gittin’s ITB’s & HRE wheels, and a few dings even the biggest teams couldn’t polish out by the big show. Hope you enjoy. Thanks again to Wrecked for letting me front flip from the jacuzzi into the pool at the “Wrecked Hostel”. Canonball.

Get your coke mirrors and home video cameras ready…here comes the Drama. OMG.

Drift Mechaniks

Andy Sapp

This past week has been a blur. Sunday I finished editing Patrick Mordaunt’s 2008 Season DVD for SEMA 2008. With the fall of riceboytv, I went to SEMA with hopes of securing freelance work and to catch up with friends. Las Vegas and I don’t really click. I would rather drop my green on: camera lenses, orange juice, and the occasional El Tarasco burrito.

The most interesting part of the week was NOT shooting. For the past 8 months I’ve been producing/shooting/editing videos almost every day. I caught a ride to the city of sin with the Mordaunt crew and crashed at the Wrecked house. Yes, House. Thanks to they guys @ Wrecked for the hospitality. This was my first SEMA show and it was over whelming! I’ve been to the video/film equivalent- NAB at the Vegas Convention center, but seeing so many different manufactures, companies, and niche markets represented was incredible.

Everyone at the show is snapping photos constantly. Point n shoot here, video crew there, and DSLR photographer over there. Here is my drive to Las Vegas and Thursday of the show.

Nothing but love for: Joey, Jason, Jake, James, (wow – lots of J’s), robleto, naderi, ricky, burga’time, and juicebox.

Pat Mordaunt ended up winning the Spirit of Drift Award for the 2008 Formula Drift season. After shooting, producing, editing, his reality show for Riceboytv this season the Mordaunt’s asked me to put together a Best of Season DVD. XX

Here’s a little sample of the DVD menu that I created for Pat to showcase his “Slider’s Ed” reality series.