Mad Media recently completed production of the newest video in the masivly successful Gymkhana franchise: Gymkhana THREE, Part 2; Ultimate Playground; l’Autodrome, France. The new video is part three of the Gymkhana series, which began with Gymkhana Practice and was followed up last year with Gymkhana TWO The Infomercial. DC Co-Founder/Chief Brand Officer and World Rally Championship driver, Ken Block discovered the “Ultimate Playground,” in France after an exhaustive search, and executed a host of new groundbreaking Gymkhana stunts for the new film that have once again redefined the sport.
Gymkhana Three was directed by The Martelli Brothers and produced by Mad Media. Co-director Joshua Martelli edited the project at the Mad Media headquarters in Oceanside, California. “This was by far the wildest ride we’ve ever taken with Ken so far! At times he seemed to defy the laws of physics. Our challenge was to make sure that we accurately captured just how intense and truly groundbreaking his driving was – so we pushed ourselves on the technology side, and I’m happy to say the results are stunning,” said Martelli.
The eighty-six year old track, which features fifty-one degree banking, was hand picked by Ken as the new playground for his Gymkhana THREE 2011 Ford Fiesta, and the video clip is nearly eight minutes worth of next level precision driving maneuvers that will leave viewers in awe. “When we scouted the location initially I couldn’t believe how steep and tall the banks were. You could barely walk up them. That combined with some of the open natural terrain and skid pads, as well as a lack of typical signage and track branding made the location unique,” said Matt Martelli, the films co-director.
The Gymkhana video franchise includes ten videos that have netted over 70 million views online and earned Mad Media several prestigious awards. Most recently the Gymkhana TWO video was named one of Ad Age’s “Top 10 Viral Ads of All Time”, for Mad Media. Gymkhana TWO also won a 2010 People’s Telly Silver Award, presented by YouTube; earned a Bronze Pencil at the One Show Entertainment Awards in the “Online Branded Entertainment” category, and was #4 on Ad Age’s list of top viral videos of 2009.
