Overview

I was commissioned to cover the last day of the Chicago Grit bike race in Fulton Market. The client's goal was to highlight the fast pace and size of the bike groups while also emphasizing the community aspect for both web use and for social media.

Challenges & Approach

Because of the speed of the bikers, tracking them and maintaining fixed focus on them is tough, so picking the right equipment was essential. Zoom lenses or longer primes were the best bet here since there was no other way to get close to the action without disrupting the athletes. For the same reason I made use of plenty of aerial angles with a Mavic 3 and custom built FPV drones.

The result

The deliverables were a short form vertical reel for Instagram and a long form video for web use. The shorter version needed to hook the viewer early so I made use of fast cuts to emphasize the energy and pace of the athletes. The longer cut explores more of event and is more narrative focussed to build interest and tension.