The newest launch video for the Specialized Levo R looks like a high-budget action film. There’s a rally car sliding through desert corners, a rider boosting massive gaps and a camera car drifting sideways across red Utah dirt.
Behind the camera was a Canadian production crew.
Executive producer and director of photography Paul Reid and his partner Nicholas Taylor (Taylor Reid Productions) helped create the launch video for the new e-mountain bike. Their production company delivered the one-minute film that Specialized released as part of the bike’s global debut.
“We put the job together and directed it,” Reid said. “Nicholas and I work as a directing duo and I also shot it as the director of photography.”
“They came to use with the unreal concept of comparing the Levo R to a rally car,” said Nicholas Taylor.
The result is a minute-long blast of rally-inspired riding featuring Scottish trials star Kriss Kyle and rally driver Lia Block (the late Ken Block’s daughter) sliding through Utah’s desert terrain.
From a group chat to a major shoot
The project came together quickly.
Reid said the opportunity arrived through a creative director who had previously worked with both Specialized and Fox Racing. A simple group text led to a phone call that changed everything.
“Within 15 minutes I was on a call with Specialized,” Reid said. “They basically said the project had outgrown the team they were working with and asked if we could jump in and help.”
Soon after, Reid’s team was handed the entire production.
The catch: they had only a few weeks to pull it off.
“From the time we got the call to the shoot it was probably two or three weeks,” he said. “To lock locations, permits and the creative in that time is pretty quick.”
Rally cars, drone crews and desert gaps
The shoot took place in southern Utah near the famous Red Bull Rampage zone around Virgin.
The crew assembled a large team for an action sports production. Rally cars, drone operators and camera rigs were all part of the mix.
One of the key pieces of equipment was a massive camera crane mounted on a Ford Raptor chase truck.
“It has a big arm with a remote head on the front and we mount our camera with a big lens,” Reid said. “We had it fully sideways around turns trying to keep up with the rally car.”
At the centre of it all was Kyle.
“Kriss Kyle is one of our favourite athletes we’ve ever worked with,” Reid…
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