The snapshot:
In June 2013, Danny MacAskill published a seven-minute long film on YouTube. Three weeks later, it would hit four-million views. Recreating MacAskill’s childhood mindset, Imaginate brought his bike fantasies to life.
“I feel like I’m a kid and I’m given the biggest toy ever”, he said. To this day, Imaginate is still considered one of the most creative bike videos of all time.
A tribute to every child’s creative mind, the video has now been watched over 90 million times. It’s the most seen video ever released by the Scottish athlete.
The bike mechanic background:
Four years before the release of Imaginate, MacAskill wasn’t a professional rider. For about eight years, he used to work as a bike mechanic on his native Isle of Skye.
In April 2009, he first released a five-minute street trials video onto the Internet filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby. “The day after, I got woken up by BBC News”, says MacAskill. “I didn’t have a mobile phone at that time, not even a laptop so I didn’t know how the video was doing.” All of a sudden, the bike mechanic became a YouTube phenomenon.
The making of:
It took one year and a half to complete the film, with a time consuming and complex set-up. Plus, MacAskill had to battle through serious injury throughout the shoot.
“The biggest challenge was having a team in place that could realise Danny’s ideas from quite basic concepts, and turn that into a gigantic object,” said producer Mike Christie. “The set was over 100 metres long and it took a huge amount of time to make it all fit together.”
The MacAskill way of life:
For MacAskill, sports are a creative relief, and that’s what clearly transpires through Imaginate.
“I’ve always been a very mellow competitor,” he says. “Even at ping-pong! I’m into my own little challenges. When it comes to trying to beat my friends, I’ve never really been interested. If they’re faster than me, that’s fine. I did do a few local competitions in Scotland. I was just really bad.’’