In the autumn of 2021, Peaches. was set to launch South Korea's first RWB car. But the pandemic had closed the borders, and Akira Nakai could not travel. Instead of putting off their promise to the fans, Peaches. did the opposite: they sent the car to him.
Akira Nakai is the man behind RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF (RWB), the Japanese workshop that turned wide, hand-built Porsche 911 conversions into a global phenomenon. The tradition is as famous as the cars: Nakai travels to the owner's country himself and builds every car by hand, often with the fans gathered around him. Peaches. is the Seoul collective that styles cars in step with today's car culture, and the first to bring RWB to South Korea. With Nakai unable to come to Korea, the Porsche 911 was shipped to Japan, built in his own workshop, and shipped home again for the launch in Seoul. The result was RWB Batto, RWB Korea #1.
Changgyu Keum (CreativeKCG) was responsible for the entire Japanese side of the production: as DOP, directing the lighting and sound team, and running the local production. Filming took place over three days in November 2021 at RWB Headquarters in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, where Nakai builds his cars, and on the roads around the workshop.
Nothing in the film is staged. The team filmed from 8 am to 6 pm all three days and followed Nakai in real time as he built the car, part by part. No concept to play up to, nothing arranged. Just the work as it happened, captured as it happened. That is what gives the film its documentary edge.
The driving scenes became the most memorable days of the project. Specialised car rigs were not available to hire for the production, so the solution was simple and direct: the side door of the camera car open, seatbelt fastened, and the camera held out of the car at speed alongside RWB Batto. Demanding, intense, and the most fun shot of the whole production.
The workshop was filmed the way it actually is: cramped, full of parts, neon and coloured LED strips. The lighting built on that atmosphere instead of washing it out, with large diffusion frames for the daylight out in the yard and coloured sources inside the garage that picked up the workshop's red and teal tones. The A camera, a RED Monstro with Atlas Orion anamorphic lenses (40, 65 and 100 mm), ran on dolly and track for calm, cinematic moves around the car and Nakai. The B camera, a RED Helium, was used handheld and on a DJI Ronin 2, up close in the engine bay and in the driving shots.
The film was released on 21 February 2022 on the Peaches. YouTube channel as The Birth of RWB Batto, the first chapter of the RWB Korea series. The launch in Seoul was filmed by a separate Korean unit with DOP Seokhyeon Kwon. Changgyu Keum is now part of the Visio Film team.
