Makina Drivers Club X Humanist Films present the CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary Screening on Saturday, 3/1/2025 at 8th & Santa Fe in Los Angeles, California. As part of this cinema experience, there will be a car show showcasing legendary MOONEYES and modern speed shops. One of the featured shops is respected Sleepers Speed Shop, owned by Len Higa, which is known for hot rodding Porsches.
We admire the storied history, elegant design, and precise engineering of Porsche. To be able to film Len and his team hot rod air-cooled Porsches is an incredible honor. We love how the world of MOONEYES becomes interconnected with the world of Porsche in this video. We’re thrilled to be able to tell Len’s important story.
The video was produced by Nick Tolosa of Makina Drivers Club and Ming Lai of Humanist Films. Ming also wrote and directed it as well as edited and color graded it. Inspired by Len, we wanted to “hot rod” this video like we had done with our “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary.
Tuan Tran served as the director of photography. He was also the co-director of photography on “Craft of Speed.” His camera kit, which he owns and operates, consists of a Canon C70 with a Canon RF 14-35mm f/4 L IS lens as the A camera and a Canon R5C with a Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS lens as the B camera. With these Canon Cinema EOS cameras, he created beautiful rich footage. The dual gain output (DGO) of the Canon C70 allowed us to film in the shadowy speed shop without any digital noise.
Tuan mounted the Canon C70 on a DJI gimbal to help speed our filming during the tight shoot day. It also helped to create fluid shots in an otherwise static space, where Len and his team were focused on their intensive work. We also designed long dolly shots with the gimbal-mounted camera to engage the viewer with the subject.
Tuan also operated the DJI drone. While we used the drone to create dramatic aerial establishing shots of the speed shop, we also employed it in atypical ways—like long eye-level dolly shots of the shop. In effect, it would draw the viewer into the dynamic setting.
We love black-and-white films and photography. We enjoy all the classic black-and-white films and more recent ones like “Roma” by Alfonso Cuaron and “El Conde” by Pablo Larrain. We also adore the black-and-white photography of legendary landscape photographer Ansel Adams and documentary photographer Sebastiao Salgado.
Master street photographer, Elliot Erwitt, eloquently said, “Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.” To this end, we used black-and-white to help convey Len’s artistry and craftsmanship. We were also inspired by the chiaroscuro of his speed shop’s interior. Because the location is cluttered with Porsches, tools, machines, and parts, it helped to remove the distraction of these items and unify the overall look.
Ming edited the video with Adobe Premiere. While we shot the video in color, he converted it to black-and-white during color grading. Thanks to the Canon C70 and R5C’s rich color science and wide dynamic range, he was able to color grade the footage and convert it to black-and-white easily. The footage looked beautiful and contrasty.
Instead of black-and-white being used to convey the past, color expresses the vibrant, idyllic past when Len and his brother, Travis Higa, used to watch Kenji Okazaki drag racing his MOONEYES / Jim Dunn Racing Team funny car—a formative time in their youth. We were able to source this amazing archival footage of Okazaki from MOONEYES. Because the video had degraded over time, Ming restored the original color of this historical footage.
For the interview of Len, we wanted to make it look natural—like it wasn’t lit. We used a Godox UL150, a 150 watt LED light that is fanless and completely silent, which makes it ideal for recording interviews. To soften and shape the light, we used a Godox SB-UE octagon softbox with a honeycomb grid.
Our audio kit included a powerful and compact Zoom F6 audio recorder, which has 32-bit float, and a trusty Sennheiser G3 lav mic and ME-66 shotgun mic. Like typical garages, the speed shop was very noisy, inside and out. We were able to record the audio cleanly with the Zoom F6 and denoise it easily in Adobe Premiere.
Jeff Hutchins, who envisioned the soundscape of “SpongeBob SquarePants” and has won five Emmys, created the powerful sound design, specifically the archival footage of Okazaki drag racing. Brianna Tam via Artlist composed the powerful score, which gave the video gravitas and humanity.
Thank you so much to Len Higa & Family, Thomas Johnson, Tony Jackson, Gary Castillo, and Sleepers Speed Shop for this huge honor. Many thanks to our crew for their dedication and hard work. And a heartfelt thank you to Nick Tolosa of Makina Drivers Club and Anthony Ngo of 8th & Santa Fe for their dynamic collaboration.
Presented by Makina Drivers Club X Humanist Films
Production Company: Humanist Films
Featuring: Len Higa, Tony Jackson, Thomas Johnson
Producer: Nick Tolosa/Makina Drivers Club
Producer/Writer/Director: Ming Lai
Composer: Brianna Tam/Artlist
Director of Photography: Tuan Tran
Drone Operator: Tuan Tran
Editor/Colorist: Ming Lai
Sound Designer: Jeff Hutchins
Photographers: Ming Lai, Nick Tolosa
Archival Footage: Courtesy of MOONEYES
Thank You: Sleepers Speed Shop, Len Higa & Family, Tony Jackson, Thomas Johnson, Gary Castillo
Special Thanks: MOONEYES, Nick Tolosa/Makina Drivers Club, Anthony Ngo/8th & Santa Fe
sleepersspeedshop.com
craftofspeed.com
humanistfilms.com
makinadriversclub.com
8thandsantafe.com
mooneyes.com
To watch the video:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/cinemakina-sleepers-speed-shop-len-higa
To learn more about CineMakina:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe
To buy tickets to CineMakina:
craftofspeed.eventive.org