LACE UP: The Ultimate Sneaker Challenge
in april of 2017, i was conscripted as a general ‘special forces’ entity for a YouTube Red competition reality series titled “Lace Up: The Ultimate Sneaker Challenge.”
the series shot in portland, oregon for several weeks, and was based around four teams of shoe designers competing each week to create unique sneakers meeting a variety of criteria.
one of the episodes involved each team creating a music video featuring a hip-hop artist. YouTube personality jesse wellens directed the four videos, which i photographed, edited, coloured and post-produced in less than 48 hours for playback on stage for judging.
shots from two of the music videos DEM produced for “Lace Up…” - each video had its own specific style and colour palette, allowing each team’s vision and character to come through. hey look at the messed up matte on the clone to the left. nobody is perfect.
for the series finale, each team was tasked with creating a commercial for their final shoe. Lance Bangs (of Jackass and music video fame) was brought on to direct the commercials, while i took on DP duties, editing, visual effects, colouring and postproduction on a short time scale (48 hour magic!)
team NuBlack’s crime drama-inspired take on a shoe commercial.
team Trifecta’s commercial made use of selective colour and some basic VFX shots.
team The Hype’s dramatically-lit commercial.
chris morgan on set shooting team NuBlack’s commercial on the Sony A7S.
DEM also created the presentation graphics featuring breakdowns of each team’s shoes for the judging portion of each episode. this was done in conjunction with Autodesk who provided 3D models of the shoes which i incorporated into technical breakdowns of each shoe’s features.
i also provided all of the 4K aerial footage of portland for the show, gathering several hours of iconic portland skyline as well as specific series-relevant shots, having completed my FAA part 107 certification a few days before leaving for portland!
i also provided logistical and technical assistance for the VR-based episode where each team worked with a Google Tiltbrush artist to create a VR presentation for their shoe.
all in all, “Lace Up…” was a great example of the breadth of services that DEM can provide in a television production context. and i had a great deal of fun doing it!
DIRECTOR: various
EXEC. PRODUCER: steve berkowitz
CINEMATOGRAPHY: chris morgan
POST/COLOUR/VFX: darkenergymedia
CAMERA: Sony a7s/a7sII
AERIAL PLATFORM: DJI Mavic Pro
STABILISER: DJI Ronin-MX
