Behind the scenes with FOCUS
A match made in bike heaven
Nostalgic dating shows, science-backed documentaries exploring riders' brains, dropping bikes through office ceilings, and infinite downhill loops—it’s fair to say we’ve had our share of wild and creative campaigns with Focus over the years.
Giving us the freedom to push the boundaries with a bike launch is why it’s always such a blast working together, and there’s nothing quite like the buzz of new briefs lighting up our inboxes.
This time around, however, it was all about the bikes.
A tale of two feelings
Last summer, we got together again to launch two new super-fast road bikes, IZALCO MAX and PARALANE. Working with Focus, we set out to create an experience of contrasts between two bikes that may seem identical to the untrained eye but are worlds apart in spirit.
We dived deep into this dichotomy, playing with visual style ideas around "a sense of pace" for the IZALCO MAX and a "sense of place" for PARALANE, spinning the story of the two bikes beyond their stats on paper.
Our location was the breathtaking Les Vosges in northeastern France—spectacular scenery but an absolute scorcher for our Scottish skin at 37°C 🥵
Equipped with a tracking vehicle with a stabilising arm and a gimbal on a vertical slider, we captured both the bikes’ and the riders’ presence on the road—entirely in their element.
The team also wanted to make stills a central part of the campaign. So, extending the narrative of each film, we teamed up with Manuel Sulzer, who perfectly matched the aesthetics of the hero in the photos using long shutters, multiple exposures, on-camera flash, and skilful layering in post.
Same but different
Shooting the IZALCO MAX, we took inspiration from the bike's essence of speed. Mixing in-camera slow shutter with a variety of double exposure, slit-scan, and stretch effects in post, we crafted a distinctive visual style that really bends your perspective of time.
The result? Stills and motion working together to pull you into the experience of riding Focus's fastest-ever road bike.
On the flip side, the PARALANE—an endurance bike that helps you get places fast and explore along the way—was all about embracing the journey. Both the film and stills captured the bike's inherent wanderlust against gorgeous landscapes and the freedom cycling affords. Our athletes, Jip and Martijn, were also amazing in the film and perfectly embodied Focus’s “ride together” mission.
For the tech deliverables, we wanted to continue our 'same-but-different' approach. We asked ourselves: How can we showcase the vivid contrast between these two bikes under a crunch of time while still creating an impactful studio edit?
Enter the cinema robot
Yup, it’s as cool as it sounds.
Collaborating with Kuroki Motion—home to Scotland's only robotic motion control system—we initially whipped up a pre-vis in Blender. This helped the client visualise and approve the dynamic shots planned with the cinema robot before setting foot in the space. We managed to shoot both bikes in a Glasgow studio over a day with our good pal and long-term collaborator Gav White as our DoP.
We kept the shots clean for the PARALANE, with uplifting lighting and a straightforward treatment in post to highlight the features that make it the ultimate endurance bike.
Our other subject was a different story.
As Focus' fastest-ever road bike, we aimed for an immersive sensory experience across all creatives for the IZALCO MAX, including the studio shoot.
Because if you can make a tech film as captivating as the hero edit, why not go all-out?
To bring out the bike’s essence of speed, we played with strobes, spotlights, and smoke—we also had a lot of fun with light painting. We took all the keyframes and opened the shutter, slowing the camera movement down to 12 minutes in total and dancing around the bike with LED light bars.
All in a day's work.
In post, we boosted the colours to align with the brand, added warp effects and lightening to increase the contrast, tidied up the frames, shooting between 2 and 6 fps to add in-camera blur between camera positions—reminiscent of the hero film we shot in France.
Dive into the IZALCO studio shoot breakdown and hero films below 👇🏼
Got a story you want to tell in sports? You’re in the right place; let’s chat!
Shoot creds
DOP: Jason Hearn
Creative Director: Andy Ashworth
Directors: Matthew Martin + Dominic Simmons
Camera assist + Drone pilot: Miles Trotter
Tracking vehicle: Ascension Films
Driver: Ibrahim Mohammed
Track car gimbal op: Daniel Ali
Track car 1st AC: Brent Clegg
Photographer: Manuel Sulzer
Head of production: Sami Young
Production manager: Sophie Chater
Location Producer: Jonathan Coleshill
Production coordinator: Alex Harris-MacDuff
Account Director: Craig Thomson
Editor - Colourists: Jack Haggerty + Gavin Livingstone
Sound design and mix: Will Berridge
VO scriptwriters: Matthew Martin + Andy Ashworth
VO artists: Emily Jardine, Elsie Lovelock, and Richard Reed
Edit producer: Jonathan Coleshill
Music: Brother Music
BONUS! One of our riders, Martijn, aka Fernwee, vlogged our Paralane shoot in Les Vosges—check it out below 👇🏼
