Maple Treeway and Koopa Cape - Mario Kart Hot Wheels - Episode #2

"WARNING: This video may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised."
Music: Wii Maple Treeway and Koopa Cape by ‪@JoshhMarshh‬ Used with written Permission
Thanks to Coleman with Anderton Films for helping film this! / @andertonfilms3248
Fun backstory on this one. One winter night as I was staring at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep, I had this CRAZY idea...I should do a Hot Wheels track on the roof!!! As I mapped it out and was just trying to figure out...HOW TO I GET IT OFF THE ROOF!?! I knew the track would just bow down and not support the weight of the car, so I searched online for ideas…and that’s when I found a 3D print for a Hot Wheels Suspension Bridge! It was perfect! So when the time came to film this idea, using it for Maple Treeway only made sense
Although Maple Treeway is about 45 seconds long… it took about 9 hours of filming and editing. I think the reason this took so long, was because it was all high off the ground. Set up took twice as long. I had to set up guardrails on the roof so the cars, GoPro and gear wouldn’t fall off and break. I ended up having to buy a second Koopa car, because he fell off and bent his wheel pretty bad. Luigi did as well….but he’s Luigi…I’m not going to spend more money on his character.
I filmed the first half on the roof by myself…that was probably pretty comical to see a grown man on his roof playing with his Hot Wheels…but my neighbors are kind of use to my weirdness now. My buddy then showed up about the time that the cars were going onto the suspension bridge. It was then that he showed me that I could be filming in 4K on my iPhone!!! All this time I didn't realize the quality I was missing!!!
The bridge and tree portion of the film was very difficult to film. I couldn’t get the typical space I needed to launch the cars to get the speed they needed to complete the shot. So I often had to lift the track up a couple feet to get the speed they needed. Then…this lead to the track separating SEVERAL times and falling to the ground. You’ll notice I started using packing tape to keep the tracks from separating. In order to get the right shot in the limited space we had to work with, I'd often have to be hanging from a limb to push the car while remaining out of the scene. But, I’m happy with the end result. It will be a fun memory to look back on.
Koopa Cape took around 12 hours to make. As I was plotting out my ideas, I really wanted to have an underwater scene and a tunnel scene. But how could I accomplish that? I figured what I could do is use a lot of GoPro Hot Wheel shots shooting them through a clear tunnel that was inside a light blue silk drape. The refraction of light through the clear tube would give an impression of being under water. I found some clear PVC pipe on-line, but found it would be a couple hundred dollars for the distance I needed. I was drinking some bottled water at the time and as I was thinking of ways I could solve this problem...there it was...right in front of me! So I bought a bunch of water bottles, cut off the top and bottom and attached them together. I tested it out and it worked.
The other questions was where I could film this? I was thinking about filming it in my back yard and basically having it go over a kiddie pool and through a splash pad. I wasn't too excited about it, but figured it would be good enough...just wouldn’t have the WOW factor I wanted. Then one day as I was scoping out a bike park where I’ll be filming Waluigi stadium, I looked up and there it was...our local Swimming Pool....Rexburg Rapids. I knew the lady who managed it, and she was kind enough to let us film in their off season. So while she was training their new life guards…two adult men were filming a Hot Wheel track…one of them on a Segway and a camera….I swear we will never grow up!
Filming this was so much fun. My buddy and I had so many different ideas that made each challenge more and more exciting to figure out. One issue we had was speed. Once the cars get wet, they get heavy. Heavy does not make it through more than 7 feet of track before it slows down. We also had to figure out how to get them to go uphill?? HOW? Then voila, film them going backwards and reverse it with editing! This became a new cheat to filming Hot Wheels that I’m going to try not to use too much, but “landing jumps” or getting “back on the track” are going to be SOO much easier now! With Koopa, the reverse shot of him getting “back on the track” was so funny and impossible, that we just HAD to go with it.
Of this episode, the shot that will always be my favorite is Koopa going down the tube underwater. It had everything I wanted in the scene. The transition of air to water, the bubbles, the light refraction and ripples, the slow descent…it was awesome. So happy with how this turned out.