Filmmaker Jose Gomez and his colleagues at creative production company Shilo are very proud to detail their roles in creating Robbie Maddison’s “AIR.CRAFT” YouTube sensation, in partnership with executives from DC Shoes and DC Motocross athlete, freestyle motocross legend and star Robbie “Maddo” Maddison. nnThe nearly 11-minute film embedded here debuted on YouTube on Feb. 11, where it has already been viewed nearly 1.7 million times. DC Shoes also just released its behind-the-scenes film, which can be seen below.nn
nDC SHOES: ROBBIE MADDISON’S AIR.CRAFT on YouTube.nn”As a concept, we wanted this film to be revolutionary in the motocross world,” said DC’s marketing director Brian Cassaro. “We knew that by doing that, it would appeal to the mainstream and I am sure that the final product does just that. It was a pleasure working with Jose and the team at Shilo and we worked well together, to create the best short film possible.”nnFor Shilo, this project began in April, 2012, when Gomez’s ongoing discussions with his longtime friends from DC Shoes started them down a new path. “My background is in action sports, and in my early years, I directed a lot of skateboard videos where I always had ambitious ideas but we were usually on a shoestring budget,” Gomez began. “With this project I was able to bring all of those ideas to life and push the bar creatively. We treated this like a full-blown production for a film, and I think those approaches really elevate AIR.CRAFT into something new for the motocross genre.”nnThe early project discussions took into account DC’s success with the highly successful 2010 Ken Block “Gymkhana” series of films, which have collectively racked-up well over 100 million hits on YouTube, while also driving DC’s sales to new heights. With this in mind, in addition to featuring Maddo’s awe-inspiring talents to launch a new genre of videos for DC, the goals for “AIR.CRAFT” also involved debuting Maddison’s Teamworks Collection of footwear and apparel, and his signature DC Motocross gear.nn”We came up with a rough idea/storyline which became the concept of ‘AIR.CRAFT,’ using the metaphor for this empty airplane graveyard as Robbie’s playground where he polishes his craft,” Gomez added.nn”I really wanted to create something different so moto fans can see something new and interesting, really making this as special as possible,” Maddison explained. “It was the perfect timing with the direction I wanted to take this sport and I’m so thankful that DC was able to help me bring this to fruition.”nn
nDC SHOES: ROBBIE MADDISON’S AIR.CRAFT BEHIND THE SCENES on YouTube.nnAlong with Gomez, Shilo’s team including executive producer Arthur Portnoy and producer Hayley Underwood spent many weeks scouting to find the perfect location. After travelling to locations as far away as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, they finally found the perfect military airplane graveyard in Tuscon, Arizona. The domestic location involved some paring down of Gomez’s ambitions for the project, but the scale of his cinematic vision never wavered. nnWorking with director of photography Jordan Valenti, Shilo assembled a world-class crew for their location shoot. Key production tools included the Pursuit System crane car featuring a Russian Arm and flight head, two ARRI ALEXA digital camera systems and five RED digital camera systems. nn”A lot of times people use helicopters to shoot moto,” said Gomez. “I didn’t want to use helicopters, but I did want to shoot at high angles with the
