Need for Speed – The Making of the RTR-X
Production Company: Need for Speed
Project: Document the build, tuning, and testing of Vaughn Gittin JR’s Mustang RTR-X with interviews with the key people in the conceptualization, design, and build process.
Role: Director/Operator/Co-Editor (Skylar Smith)
Shot on the Canon 5D and T2i cameras.
Special thanks to Charles Kha, Rachel Kelly, Vaughn Gittin JR, Andy Blackmore, Twins Turbo Motorsport, and Skylar Smith – for their help on the project.
Porsche North America/Porsche Motorsports North America – Jeff Zwart Pikes Peak Hill Climb 2011 In-Car
Production Company: Digital Guerilla (self produced)
Project: Jeff Zwart, seven-time Pikes Peak Champion bests his 2010 record setting run by 10 seconds in his street-legal Porsche 911 GT2 RS. He also set the record for the fastest street-legal car to ever race at the Peak. This is the entire run up the hill, captured from a Canon 5D Mii and a Contour HD camera. More details on the race at http://www.ppihc.com
Role: Director and editor.
Shot on the Canon 5d & Contour HD camera
Porsche North America/Porsche Motorsports North America – 911 GT2 RS record setting run at Pikes Peak 2011
Production Company: Digital Guerilla (self produced)
Project: Jeff Zwart, seven-time Pikes Peak Champion bests his 2010 record setting run by 10 seconds in his street-legal Porsche 911 GT2 RS. He also set the record for the fastest street-legal car to ever race at the Peak. More details on the race at http://www.ppihc.com
Role: Director, Director of Photography, and editor.
Shot on the Canon 5d & Contour HD cameras.
Porsche North America/Porsche Motorsports North America – Porsche, the Road to Pikes Peak
Production Company: Digital Guerilla (self produced)
Project: Jeff Zwart and Porsche Motorsports look to repeat their record setting performance at the 2010 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb – this time in a street legal model the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. The 997 GT2 RS is the most powerful production model Porsche ever made. Instead of trailering the 997 to the base of Pikes Peak – Jeff decided to drive it himself to the race. Clearly not a trailer queen, the GT2 RS achieved a 22+ MPG average on the 1132 mile drive from Santa Ana, California to Pikes Peak, Colorado. The goal of this video was to show the versatility, reliability, and performance of the GT2 RS. One day its cruising around Utah, gas stations, highway driving, mountain roads, drive thru’s, and the next day its putting its 620hp to use as a full blown race car in America’s second oldest race – the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.
Role: Director, camera, and editor – special thanks to Derek Hayes who operated second camera and drove the pursuit car.
Shot on the Canon 5d .
Director’s cut of some of my favorite footage from my recent BFGoodrich & Shaun White campaign. Shot on RED ONE MX. 2k 2:1. 120FPS. DirtFish Rally School in Washington state. Digital Guerilla productions. BFGoodrich 2011.
BFGOODRICH – Shaun White Medals :15
Production Company: Digital Guerilla
Post Production: Mondial Creative
Agency: The Martin Agency
Project: BFGoorich helps upgrade Shaun White’s driving at DirtFish rally school.
Role: Director, Camera Operator.
Shot at the DirtFish Rally school on the RED ONE X, Canon 5D, and Contour HD cameras.
BFGOODRICH – Shaun White Daydream :15
Production Company: Digital Guerilla
Post Production: Mondial Creative
Agency: The Martin Agency
Project: BFGoorich helps upgrade Shaun White’s driving at Laguna Seca race school.
Role: Unit director, Camera Operator.
Shot at Laguna Seca with Skip Barber race school on the RED ONE X, Canon 5D, and Contour HD cameras.
Linhbergh and I drove my 1995 Nissan 240sx across the US from Ohio to California – read about the trip and check out Linhbergh’s fine photography from the adventure on Speedhunters.
As I was about to leave for Atlanta last week for the second round of the 2011 Formula Drift season – I got an email from a friend asking a favor. Someone had cancelled on him for an important shoot and he needed a POV camera operator. Being a user and supporter of Contour HD cameras – I obliged and changed my travel plans to include an extra few days in Florida. Shooting exotic cars – rough, I know. Here is my look at exotic cars… enjoy.
Ferrari F430 & Ferrari 599 GTB
Lamborghini LP-560 4.
Ferrari 599 GTB – RACE MODE.
Porsche 911 Turbo & Ferrari F430.
Dirty girl.
Porsche 997/911 & Jaguar XK
Take offs.
Lamborghini eyes and BMW 328 making an appearance.
Till next time.
If you wanted to read what I had to say, this blog wouldn’t have so many pictures…less talking, more shutter clicks. My life, May 9, 2011.
Until next time. More dancing, less talking.
Need for Speed – Team Need for Speed @ the 2011 Dubai 24h
Production Company: Need for Speed
Project: Document Team Need for Speed’s run at the 2011 Dubai 24h race. Dividing the 24 hour endurance race into 4 segments: Day, Dusk, Night, and Dawn – to help show the progression of time and the wear on the team & car.
Role: Director/Operator/Editor
Shot on the Canon 7D, 5D, T2i and Contour HD cameras.
Special thanks to Charles Kha, Rachel Kelly, Rod Chong, DC Chavez, and Ekstrak for their help on the project.
Been behind the keyboard and mouse a bunch lately – without being able to release much finished work. Here are some stills from videos I’m working on right now – yet to be released. Shot with Vaughn Gittin JR in Charlotte, NC and had some fun with his personal Ford Mustang RTR.
A white car and a great day for clouds = black & white treatment.
Spent some time last month directing and operating a RED One and shot at DirtFish Rally School in Washington.
120FPS @ 2k.
My girlfriend, high stepping. This is my family’s dogger, Bailey, she has an incredible personality.
More to come. Stay up suckas.
Matt Powers in-car Formula Drift Long Beach 2011. Shot on Contour HD cameras. For Team Need for Speed. 1080/30p.
The Mustang RTR-X sounds as good as it looks – amazing. A 1969 Ford Mustang with a present day Ford Racing 5.0L Coyote Engine – breathing with Kinsler Individual Throttle Bodies and controlled by a MOTEC stand-alone ECU. Which allows the tuner to adjust cam angle through the ECU and uses the Ford’s cam position sensor – instead of just disabling that feature. Built and tuned by Twins Turbo Motorsports in Signal Hill, California, dreamed up by Formula Drift champion Vaughn Gittin JR and designed by Andy Blackmore – the RTR-X is a thing of beauty. I cannot wait to shoot it in action.
Here is a quick video I shot and edited featuring the RTR-X and it’s first session on the dynometer. It produced over four hundred horsepower at the wheels – whereas many tuners quote their power output at the flywheel, this is four hundred to the ground. On pump gasoline. A street car. YEEhaw.
End of February, beginning of March 2011 and I found myself deep in a production on the east coast. Working with friends on a small crew, we shot 8 days in a row – for a client in Virginia, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Rig shots, chase cars, POV cameras, and plenty of interviews. Here is a quick behind the scenes look at some of my favorite images and still photos. It was an awesome project to direct/dp.
Vermont was still freezing and got hit by the largest March snow storm in state history while we were there. Check out all that pow.
Finally got to shoot some more rally. Tim ONeil’s driving school was prime with plenty of new Ford Fiesta rally cars. Nice sideways shot from the slalom course.
Everyone on our team was good behind the lens – here out DIT/DAT Colby takes a break from transferring and logging to snap some stills.
Wyatt Knox & Verena Mei, in-car screen grab from ONeil’s. Looks like fun in a FWD Rally Mazdaspeed 3.
Art director, Dave Spoonman Padgers explores the powder.
Sunrise in Burlington, Vermont over the green mountains.
Tag team partner DC Chavez is ready to operate, produce, rig, whatevers clever – he wears many hats and they all look good.
Car prep at Vermont Sports Car was neat to see production Subaru WRXs get transformed into Rally America machines.
Sound recordist guru of LA sound gypsies – Justin Gay leans back in VA. We were in search of some BBQ – which we found on the last night.
2011 Mustang rips through some leaves on a country road.
Excited to post up the final product in the next few weeks. Thanks to all the crew and agency homies who made the project fun. Thanks to cheese for the snaps of the crew. All other stills are screen grabs from the video itself.
Last year, I directed the Cinematic sequences in the upcoming Need for Speed Shift 2. Now since the game has been announced and details are being released – I can finally talk about my experiences!
The marketing video up top contains live action footage of mine from many different events last year. Team Need for Speed BMW Z3 from Silverstone, SUMO Power Nissan GTR GT1 from Silverstone, Team Need for Speed BMW Z3 from the Dubai 24h race, Vaughn Gittin JR from Irwindale Formula Drift, and interviews with Chris Rado, Vaughn, Rod Chong, and Tommy Milner – that I had the opportunity to shoot and direct for this project. Very cool to see what Charles Kha and the producers were able to do with the Need for Speed Shift 2 in game footage! It’s awesome to see one of my pan shots transform into a shot taken directly form Need for Speed Shift 2′s game play. Having worked on the game – it is a new bar for racing visuals, truly stunning in detail and beauty.
Here is a still from Vaughn Gittin JR’s recent Speedhunters post about Shift 2. Showing Linhbergh standing in for Vaughn as I check the shot and Rod and Vaughn reviewing the script one more time before Vaughn’s performance.
I’m excited for the Shift 2′s release!
I’ve owned my 1995 Nissan 240sx since early 2008. From 2008 – late 2010 it was my daily driver. It was a project car for Rice Boy TV – where we added Enkei RPF1′s (18 x 8.5 (rear) & 18 x 7.5 (front)), an AEM intake, Magnacore wires, plugs, NRG short hub, NRG quick release, NRG steering wheel, and DC Sports test pipe in addition to the Tanabe coil overs, Apexi N1 cat back exhaust, Battle Version tie rods, and a few interior refinements.
Then it was driven and not upgraded as planned.
I thought of motor swaps to get more power than the 100hp KADE. Skylines had left me with a love of the inline six. Particularly the RB25det and RB26det, however the more I researched them – the more I realized having a Japanese market engine in a US car is not the best idea for daily driving. I then debated VQ, 2JZ, 1JZ, and LS swaps – the price of the motors, custom mounts, drive shaft, fuel system upgrades, and rear end upgrades – made it seem a bit unlikely for the budget I wanted to have for the project.
So more time passed, busy with work and living in Vancouver working on Need for Speed Shift 2 – I had never really considered a KA-t setup.
Then I had Christmas break off and my Nissan was back in Ohio at my parents – so I started thinking about what I really wanted from the project. I wanted to do the work myself, to learn the car more, to build something reliable, and to be able to continue to work on the car myself – without it becoming a track machine only. Keep it a street car, build power over time as I get used to owning a turbo car.
After a couple months of work with my best friend & Honda tech – Chris Stein project 240 is running and I’m stoked.
January was a busy month for me, however so was last January – when I did the same thing: Dubai 24 hour race & the Sundance film festival. As someone who goes from project to project this type of routine is uncommon – but welcomed. Team Need for Speed, which I was following in Dubai won the race. Sundance, did a record number of live streams including a partnered stream with YouTube for the Life In a Day premiere. It felt awesome to be a part of two successful teams. I even got to spend a day shredding some Utah pow pow at the Sundance resort – thanks to Joe!
After snapping the tail on my longtime snowboard, a 2008 Burton Custom 158, I picked up a new Rome Agent Rocker 153. It rides like a beast. I was hesitant about switching from traditional camber to rocker camber, however this board has made me a believer. Small turns, big carves, and high speed bombs without jitter – it does it all, better than traditional.
I ordered a copy of Justin Shreeve’s 2010 DVD, which showed up with a funny label. Thanks Justin! Get a copy and support him.
I spent some time recently in Vancouver with some pea coat wearing ARTPANTs shooting photographers: Linhbergh and Larry Chen. 2011 should be an even better year for automotive photography – thanks to these two.
We got some “good stuff?” and explored Stanley Park’s closed miniature railroad. Should be releasing some new videos in the next few weeks, until then… Keep the Wheels Rolling.
Need for Speed – Shift 2 Unleashed Career Intro
Production Company: Need for Speed
Project: Using in-game capture from Shift 2, along with footage of the Team Need for Speed BMW Z4 GT3 and Vaughn Gittin Jr’s Mustang GT Competition drift car, with interview footage of Vaughn Gittin Jr. – to create an overview of the Career in Need for Speed Shift 2.
Role: Director and Camera Operator.
Shot on the Canon 7D.
by Will
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