Where the Buffalo Roam Kicks It in Italy for Vespacross Short Film

All the way from sun-drenched Italy, full-service creative production company Where The Buffalo Roam (WTBR) has created another instalment of ‘Vespamania’, a short film series celebrating the world’s most beloved scooter brand and its passionate riders. Episode three unveils the fast-paced world of Italy’s Vespacross League, an underground community of Vespa enthusiasts who soup up their scooters and race for glory.

WTBR director David McMurry reunited with creative director Tuesday McGowan and Piaggio Studios – the content arm of Vespa’s parent company Piaggio Group – to create the documentary short. The team emerged with a cinematic homage to Steve McQueen, Spaghetti Westerns, and the Tuscan countryside. With David’s love of chronicling hinterlands and outsiders, WTBR quickly keyed into Vespa’s brand identities of design, style, and freedom.

“Vespamania is all about documenting the constellation of archetypes who embody their love of Vespas,” explained David. “On top of Vespa’s timelessly beautiful design, its riders are drawn to the simplicity and accessibility of the bike’s engineering, and the Italian Vespacross League embraces these pillars like no other.”

Though Vespacross is an amateur racing league, the sense of family and community it fosters is bigger than the sport itself, making it a way of life for those involved. Participants travel from all corners of Italy for more than a race; it’s a weekend to celebrate the ingenuity of the community and, of course, share homestyle Italian meals. WTBR found its hero subject to tell this story in Vespa mechanic Alessandro Pendezza, the lynchpin of Vespacross’s tight-knit community.

“Albeit competitive, the overall vibe of the Vespacross scene is welcoming and fun,” remarked Tuesday, “and Alessandro embodies that spirit to a tee. You can see during the races that the community is just in love with him.”

In addition to the interview shoots at Pendezza’s home garage, WTBR’s production crew went on location for a Vespacross race in Clusone, Italy. David shot 400-foot loads of 16mm film for the down-and-dirty racing segments. Evoking great sports documentaries like Bill Brown’s ‘On Any Sunday’, David said he embraced the use of analog for a number of reasons.

"Shooting film lent itself well to capturing the tactile and colourful nature of the sport, and 16mm was the perfect homage to those earlier docs," explained David. "Film has just the right combination of texture and expressiveness to really bring things to life. And it's simply quite beautiful."

David juxtaposed the 16mm footage with high-speed digital shots at 600 fps for the racing sequences, when Vespas takes to the sky. "Turning these Vespas into dirt bikes and jumping them is pretty incredible. That created an opportunity to add a bit of magic and poetry to the film."

“Vespacross’s truly infectious ‘let’s all pitch in’ vibe bled over into our film crew, which became something like a tight little docu-strike unit helmed by producer Nilou Safinya,” David recalled.

Led by Collin Kriner, the WTBR editing team rounded out their cut with a particularly fitting homage: opening credits à la Sergio Leone classics, accompanied by epic Ennio Morricone-inspired music.

"Piaggio Studios once again gave us the runway to bring artistry to the Vespamania series," concluded Tuesday. "When it comes to branded content, Vespa is unmatched in their commitment to celebrating the people who are loyal to their brand with authenticity and creativity. Being among the Vespacross community, we saw firsthand the excitement they felt from being recognised by Vespa on that level. That’s a very fun place to be with a brand.”