In My Head It's Always a Race
Every now and then, we step away from the brief and make something just because we have to.
No client asking for it. No deadline pushing us. Just an idea that won't leave you alone until you put it on camera.
This is one of those stories.
The Passion Project:
F1 Miami is a phenomenon. Every year, the race weekend takes over the city private jets, supercars, packed venues, and a level of energy that's hard to describe unless you've lived it. And in Miami's real estate market, the impact is real. F1 has brought serious buyers to this city. Some drivers have actually purchased condos and homes here. The lifestyle and the luxury overlap in a way that's completely unique to Miami.
So every year, I find myself asking: what do we do with this moment?
At 1 OAK Studios, we make it a point to carve out passion projects work that keeps us sharp, creative, and connected to the things that excite us beyond the day-to-day. F1 season felt like the perfect opportunity. I started writing down ideas, storylines, concepts. And then one of them clicked and it clicked because of one person.
The Inspiration: Michael Martinez
If you know Michael , you know he doesn't need much of an introduction. The man is an absolute force of nature a powerhouse in the Miami real estate market who operates with a calm and precision that is genuinely rare in this industry.
He is also, without question, the most detail oriented client I have ever worked with. And I mean that as the highest compliment because he pushes us to a higher standard.
Michael is the only agent I know who will show up to a shoot with a leaf blower because if there's a single leaf out of place on the driveway before we roll camera, that's unacceptable. He doesn't want good shots. He wants the right shots. Every single time.
That level of obsession got me thinking. On the outside, Michael is composed, methodical, always in control. But underneath all of that I knew there was a mind going 100 miles per hour.
And that's where the concept was born.
The Concept: "In My Head It's Always a Race"
The script came together fast once I had the idea.
We open on Michael calm, collected, driving through a beautiful Miami neighborhood, classical music playing, heading toward a listing like it's just another day. Perfectly put together. Unhurried.
And then we cut to what's actually happening inside his head.
Race suit on. Helmet down. Porsche on a track. Full send.
The tagline wrote itself: Real estate is a race. And I'm not one to come in second.
The concept was a perfect fit for F1 season, a perfect fit for Michael's personality, and honestly a perfect excuse to go film on a racetrack.
The Track: Concourse Club Miami
Getting access to a track isn't exactly easy. But Michael had a connection to Concourse Club an exclusive, members-only facility in Miami built for serious car enthusiasts and high-performance driving. This is not a place you stumble into. Think high rollers, rare cars, and a genuine passion for speed.
We got everything sorted permits, logistics, the whole nine and locked in our window. Two hours on the track. That's what we had. We weren't going to waste a second of it.
On the Track: A Whole Other Level
The crew was Richard, Tom, Kevin and Thiago. We brought our Ronin 4D 6K camera mounted with DZO lenses, rigged to a BMW M4 driven by our own team member Kevin. The camera car. The setup was clean, the gear was ready, and the plan was locked.
Then we started rolling and I quickly learned that filming on a racetrack is a completely different universe from anything we'd done before.
There are plenty of people out there who film cars for content. Car meets, cinematic street rolls, slow-motion parking lot b-roll. But filming on a track, at speed, where the subject car is actually pushing it through corners? That is a whole other level.
I was controlling the camera from inside the BMW eyes on the monitor, hands on the rig while Kevin pushed the car through every corner at pace to keep up with Michael's Porsche. Your body goes one direction. Your mind goes another. The monitor is moving. The car is moving. Everything is moving.
I will fully admit: I got dizzy. Multiple times. and threw up once (luckily i had only had a celcius) Looking at a monitor while your body is being thrown through corners does something to you. But you push through it because the shots were incredible, and stopping wasn't an option.
We captured a full set of rollers Michael in the race suit, Porsche lit up beautifully at speed plus b-roll of the track itself and standalone shots of Michael in the race suit between runs. Every minute of those two hours was used.
The Second Visit: Back to Reality
The second part of the shoot brought us back to Michael's world real estate.
We captured him in one of his listings, calm and in his element, and ended the sequence with the money shot: Michael slapping a sold sign on the property.
The full circle moment. The race ends. The deal closes.
Real estate is a race. And I'm not one to come in second.
In the Edit Room
Some of my favorite memories from this project weren't even on the track they were back at the studio, cutting the video together.
Digging through the footage. Finding the right music. Playing with sound design and effects. Watching the story come together piece by piece. Projects like this remind me why I got into this in the first place. It's not just about delivering a file. It's about building something that makes you feel something.
We produced a kick-ass video. Full stop.
Why This Matters
Day-to-day production keeps the lights on. But passion projects like this one push 1 OAK Studios into new territory new challenges, new techniques, new stories to tell.
There are a lot of production companies in Miami. Not many of them are mounting cinema cameras to chase cars around a private racetrack at 7am on a weekday because a concept was too good not to chase.
That's who we are. And projects like this one are exactly how we stay that way.
Want to create something that goes beyond the ordinary? Let's talk.
