PROJECT INSIGHT

How Big Buoy and Smoke & Mirrors collaborated to create Rapha’s new Pro Team footwear campaign

British sportswear and lifestyle brand, Rapha, recently unveiled Comfort In The Chaos, a new campaign featuring innovative cycling shoes designed specifically for racing. Created in collaboration with fabric experts, carbon manufacturers and professional cyclists, the footwear utilises Powerweave, an entirely new, complex fabric devised of precisely engineered yarns and weave. The shoe has been engineered for comfort, power and performance, having been tested for over two years in all climates and conditions.

Above: Work-in-progress images showing the complex CG visualisations of the shoes’ Powerweave fabric

The 60-second campaign was directed by Oliver Duggan through London-based production company Knucklehead. CG fabric imitation and post-production came courtesy of a collaboration between Big Buoy and Smoke & Mirrors, two full-service post-production facilities. Head of editing at Big Chop (Big Buoy’s editing house), Matthew Felstead, also lent his talents to the campaign. “Oliver got me involved at an early stage to help put a storyboard together from historical Rapha and cycle brand films, so we could understand the challenges of making the camera travel through different parts of the shoe and how each different section would look and feel,” he explains. “Oliver had a very specific vision for the film, so the challenge for me was ensuring that he was getting the energy and pace he had envisioned.”