Mad Media Produces Exclusive Viral Video Content for Codemasters DiRT 2 Video Game
This summer Mad Media produced exclusive viral video content for the worldwide video game developer and publisher Codemasters. Following up on their smash hit “Colin McRae’s DiRT”, Codemasters released “DiRT 2” this September to hordes of excited fans. DiRT 2 features an exhilarating off-road racing experience, powered by the third generation of Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine tech. It’s packed with thrilling new race types, big event atmosphere, stunning locations, and a peerless line-up of super-charged speed machines.
The new DiRT title features Travis Pastrana, Dave Mirra, Ken Block and Tanner Faust, who have gained notoriety here in North America as superstars of the Rally America race series, and have appeared in Mad Media’s viral films showcasing the Subaru Rally Team USA for the past five years.
“We met with Ken Block and Codemasters earlier this year and discussed how the game was going to evolve into something much bigger than just rally and off-road racing,” said Joshua Martelli, Director of TV/Film Production at Mad Media. “It became clear right away that Codemasters needed help producing engaging, branded content to explain Ken’s involvement in the game, as well as hype the new features in the game, such as X-Games Super Special stages. So we scoured our existing library of rally and off-road footage, and began producing and shooting important promotional films for them about Ken and these new features.”
Mad Media produced six viral films for Codemasters, as well as an exclusive Colin McRae memorial tribute video that appears in-game. Mad Media video assets were also used to create the interactive menus for DiRT 2. Then as the games release date approached, Mad Media produced a custom DiRT 2 / DC Shoes promotional DVD that was awarded to those who pre-ordered the DiRT 2 title from local “Game Stop” stores.
“DiRT 2 is an amazing piece of work – and in many ways speaks to the new generation of racing fans in a way that most titles don’t,” commented Mad Media Creative Director, Matt Martelli. “The design and layout of the game, and the game-play itself were very well executed – the best we’ve seen. So it was a real treat to have our cinematography and editing work – which we work very hard to produce – alongside such a clean and professional title.”
Mad Media Produces “Rally Horse” segment for MTV’s Nitro Circus / Travis Pastrana
Nitro Circus continues to be one of MTV’s most popular shows. As Travis Pastrana and the Nitro crew began to wrap up filming on their second season, they tapped rally superstar Ken Block for a new segment dubbed “Rally Horse”, and called Mad Media to capture all of the mayhem in pristine 4K resolution with RED ONE cameras. Shot on location at Miller Motorsports, the one-day shoot called for stunt coordination and direction by Mad Media TV/Film Director Joshua Martelli, and employed several of Mad Media’s top cinematographers for production support on the piece.
“We’ve spent the last ten years filming off-road, tarmac, and everything in between”, commented Martelli. “We know what rally cars are capable of and how they handle, and the best way to shoot them, so it was great to get a call from MTV and Dickhouse to come out and play. Ken and Travis have always had a friendly rivalry in rally, and that made for some hilarious TV. Obviously we roll with higher-end gear than a typical reality TV show has budget for, or time to use, but in the end I think the combination of the raw in-your-face filming that Tremaine and Knoxville use, will look great when mixed with our RED footage.”
Mad Media employed dollies, jibs, steadicam, and condor lifts in order to capture all of the chaos that ensued once Ken and Travis got in the car. “Basically they had a really funny list of ideas that we helped translate into realistic stunts that we knew would work. I was really impressed with their prop coordinator, the pace of the filming, and how well they captured all the funny moments between Ken and Travis”, continued Martelli. “I think Nitro fans are going to freak when they see what was thrown down.”
Nitro Circus is executive produced by Jeff Tremaine and Johnny Knoxville of Dickhouse Productions, Jeremy Rawle and Gregg Godfrey of Godfrey Entertainment, Travis Pastrana and Trip Taylor. Tony DiSanto, Liz Gateley, Chris Linn, Lauren Dolgen and Michelle Klepper are the MTV executives in charge of production.
Check out the behind the scene photos here:
Mad Media Produces “GK2.1″ with MTV’s Fantasy Factory and Rob Dyrdek / Ken Block
NEW VIDEO: Mad Media Produces “GK2.1” with MTV’s Fantasy Factory and Rob Dyrdek / Ken Block
The Gymkhana project has become the most successful automotive viral film campaign in history. So where do you go from there? Some would think bigger, but DC Co-Founder and Rally Team Member Ken Block teamed up with Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory and Mad Media, and went…smaller! Gymkhana 2.1 is a funny new video segment that was shot, directed, co-produced, and co-edited by Mad Media for MTV’s Fantasy Factory show and DC Shoes. It features longtime buddies Block and Dyrdek charging around a Gymkhana course side-by-side—Block in his Crawford Performance built Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Dyrdek in his mini shifter kart version of Blocks machine.
Gymkhana 2.1 showcases the same high-end cinematography that has become the hallmark of Mad Media film production, and was used in previous installments of Block’s Gymkhana videos. Dyrdek and Block brought the Mad Media film crew to El Toro Airfield to produce the piece, while the MTV crew documented the “reality” angle as it unfolded.
“Ken and Rob decided to get the kart built and film the clip when Rob made an appearance in the Gymkhana TWO video earlier this year.” said GK 2.1 director and Mad Media co-owner Joshua Martelli. “We were stoked to get a call from Rob and the crew at MTV to come out and use the same techniques and camera gear to create something totally hilarious, but equally cool to watch. We fleshed out the stunts onsite and created the main story edit. It was a blast to work with two super talented guys and come up with stunts that were scary but funny to watch.”
The complete version of Gymkhana 2.1 features more than what’s seen on Dyrdek’s hit MTV show, including near run-overs, drifting, racing and shenanigans that occur when two unique individuals like Dyrdek and Block hit the tarmac in polar-opposite-sized whips.To date, the clip has received over a million views on YouTube.
Watch the video here:
Check out the behind the scenes photo gallery here:
Ken Block Vintage Rally Car Practice!
A new Rally video has DC Co-Founder and Rally Team Member Ken Block having a bit of fun in a vintage rear wheel drive Ford Escort at Team O’Neal’s Rally School in New Hampshire. World Rally Championship driver, Chris Atkinson joined Block for the practice and video that resulted, now live at dcshoes.com/auto.
Block purchased the vintage rear-wheel-drive rally car to practice and have fun in. Wanting to broaden his rally skills, the Euro-only-spec 1978 Ford Escort MK2 helps him let loose in a few non-Rally America Championship events. Don’t let the vintage shell fool you—under the hood sits a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder Millington engine that boasts 280 BHP. Couple that with a WRC-styled paddle shifting, six speed sequential gearbox and you have one fast vintage rally car.
Block took the car to Team O’Neil’s Rally School in July 2009 to put the vintage rally car through it’s paces, and Former Subaru World Rally Team driver Chris Atkinson joined Block to break it in. Neither Block nor Atkinson have much experience in RWD cars, so the rally session and video is a good look at the two of them to flip flopping between the driver and passenger seats.
Block will enter select races each year with this car, including Rally Defi in Canada this coming weekend, September 11-12. Block returns to serious Rally America National Championship competition—in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI—at Rally Colorado, September 19-20.
Ken Block in his vintage Ford Escort
Ken Block and Chris Atkinson
Founded by Ken Block and Damon Way in 1993, DC quickly grew to a leader in performance skateboarding shoes and renowned action sports brand. Today DC stands as a global brand whose product line has expanded to include men’s, women’s and kids’ skateboarding and lifestyle shoes, apparel, snowboards, snowboard boots, outerwear, and accessories. As one of the cornerstones of its marketing strategy, DC has built a world-class team of professional skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, motocross and rally athletes that exemplify and enhance DC’s brand, develop its signature products, and support its promotional efforts. DC is a subsidiary of Quiksilver, Inc.
Ken Block and Gymkhana Two Featured in Modified Mag!
Modified Mag’s September issue hit newsstands August 4th. Enter here to win a signed copy by Ken Block!
Mad Media goes to X Games 15
We made the trip to X Games 15 this weekend to catch some of rally’s premier racers battle for gold including Subaru Rally Team U.S.A.’s Ken Block, Travis Pastrana and Dave Mirra. Kenny Brack, former IRL and Indy 500 champion, took the gold after a rough day for Team Subaru. Travis Pastrana battled with Brack in the final race, but on the final lap, Travis crashed into the wall, leaving him with a silver medal. Ken Block was disqualified after a mechanical issue forced him to skip the jump and cross FMXer Brian Deegan’s track in the quarterfinal. Dave Mirra was also defeated in the quarterfinal by gold-winner and underdog Kenny Brack. Though it was a disappointing day for our favorite, Team Subaru, it was still a great day of racing at X Games 15 and we can’t wait to get back next year!
Mad Media geht nach Deutschland! (Mad Media goes to Germany!)
We traveled across the sea to film the first annual Baja 300 Powerdays. The event was an invitation-only exhibition race in the Lausitz region of Germany, just outside of Berlin. The SCORE International sanctioned event organized by SCORE racer and former WRC driver Armin Schwarz featured world-class drivers from off-road racing, rally, enduro motocross and freestyle motocross all on one track together.
Baja 300 Powerdays marked the first time Trophy Trucks and Class 1 cars have ever been on European soil. The event was also the first time in history that off-road and rally cars competed in the same venue.
Off-road Competitors included BJ Baldwin, Jesse James, Gustavo Vildósola, and Danny Sullivan in the Trophy Truck class and Armin Schwarz, Armin Kremer, Martin Christensen and Andreas Aigner in the Class 1 buggies. The rally class consisted of rally legends Petter Solberg, Gigi Galli, Ken Block and Nasser Al-Attiyah. Motocross featured Dakar champion Cyril Despres along with numerous other enduro racers and freestyle motocross riders.
The track was composed of separate lines for each class within the same course. At three separate points, the trophy trucks jumped over the rally cars, including a mega-jump where freestyle bikes jumped over trophy trucks, while jumping over rally cars, stacking the vehicles three tall in the air.
We are in charge of the US television coverage and got some killer footage that we can’t wait to share!
The event was a massive success with nearly 20,000 spectators as well as an unprecedented amount of media coverage including RKL, Europe’s largest TV network. The event will return even larger next year as a full-fledged race.
Gymkhana Two in Times Square!
Gymkhana Two in Times Square!
Gymkhana Two:The Infomercial. Final day of shooting
Here is a look at all the action that went down on the final day of shooting Gymkhana Two:The Infomercial. Ken wanted to go back and nail a couple more things. The gate drift shot made it well worth it. All Images were shot by our own photographer Bendan Klein.
Gymkhana Two:The Infomercial. The Mad Media Action shots.
Here is a look at all the action that went down during the shooting of the Gymkhana Two:The Infomercial.
All Images were shot by our Director of Still Photography Vincent Knakal.
Gymkhana Two Premiere Party!
DC Shoes hosted a super exclusive premier for industry insiders, celebs and tastemakers of the upcoming Gymkhana Two film we just completed. Ken Block gave rides to a lucky few in his super dope Subaru WRX STI custom built by Crawford Performance. Rob Dyrdek and Jason Ellis were there to have a look at their parts in the film. The jaw dropping reaction from everybody was great! Gymkhana will go live on June 1st on auto.dcshoes.com
Here are a few photos of the night:
Ken Block and Mad Media run to the hills!
We just got done with a two day shoot with Mr. Block and one of his rally cars up at Northstar at Lake Tahoe. The shoot is for and upcoming project that is sure to peel your eyelids back. No kids you can’t take your subie into the snowboard park, only we can!
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- Josh Martelli of Mad Media directs shoot with Ken Block
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- Josh Martelli of Mad Media goes over shots with Ken Block
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- Mike Flores of Mad Media sets up for a shot
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- Josh Martelli of Mad Media directs shoot with Red camera
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- Ken Block gets set to take another run in his rally car down Northstar at Lake Tahoe
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- Ryan Holdridge of Mad Media sets up POV cameras in Ken Block’s rally car
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- Josh Martelli of Mad Media checks composition on Red camera