We’re all about finding innovative ways to ride, so we were thrilled to work with Zooz Bikes on a shoot showcasing their electric urban bikes. Not only did this project let us highlight a product we really believe in, but it also gave us the opportunity to play around with our own electric vehicles in the filming process.
Our team has been following Zooz from the beginning — their lightweight, BMX-style electric bikes have been making waves around the world, so we were eager to welcome them in for a visit from Chicago.
JP is old friends with owner Chris Zahner (he even test-rode Zooz’s first prototype), so this shoot felt like the perfect opportunity to join forces and celebrate our love of bikes. Grabbing a few more friends to form a 10-person crew, we got to work.
Our relatively small crew and modest budget presented a unique opportunity to call on some of our most trusted creative connections in the city. For our on-screen talent, we were lucky enough to feature Anna Jonynas and Tobias Lewis, both of whom co-host New York’s The Motosocial with JP.
It’s a good thing everyone was already friends, because this shoot was no joke. Starting at 5 AM and working well into the night, we spent a full 19-hour day working to perfect our shots as we followed these bikes from the Manhattan Bridge to the Long Island City Waterfront.
Luckily, our equipment seemed uniquely suited to this project. Our two Sony FX9 cameras gave the shots a remarkably cinematic feel, and we kept things interesting with a few electric vehicles of our own: our arsenal of customized chase vehicles includes a Super73 electric motorbike, an Electric Motion EPURE bike, and a 100% electric Zero motorcycle.
Demian had a blast operating the EPURE, which allowed him to capture some of our smoothest shots as we tailed Tobias and Anna on their Zooz bikes. We love using electric chase vehicles because they offer substantial torque for minimal gas consumption, and their lightweight frames make them easy to transport in our team vans.
This monster of a shoot helped us create a multifaceted campaign package for Zooz, complete with pictures, behind-the-scenes and lifestyle content, and four distinctive videos. Tonally, we wanted to make sure these videos captured the spirit of city biking in more ways than one — our “Tobias” video pulses with speed and urban energy, while Anna’s softer video emphasizes the way biking can connect us to the people and the places we love.
In the end, this project confirmed everything we love most about Zooz bikes: their versatility, their innovation, and the way they open up any city to new adventures. We couldn’t have done it without our dedicated crew — special thanks to Tobias and Anna, and shout out to Waleed Sokkar, Steve Ferdman, Devon Wycoff, Katrina Chiovon, Natalie Kaye Calter, Daryush Assar, Melanie Sallier, and Sean Ricketts.
Last but not least, big thanks to Chris and the rest of the Zooz Bikes team for letting us be a part of their cutting-edge vision for the future of urban biking. We’re already in the process of planning our next project with Zooz, and we couldn’t be more excited to lend our skills to electric vehicle history in the making.
Interested in trying out a Zooz bike for yourself? They’re going fast, but feel free to use our coupon code JP75 to get $75 off your order.
- pictures by Devon Wycoff & Steve Ferdman