An avid speed bagger, Juan Zambrano of Haute Sauce Films knows timing is everything whether it's creating a polished product intro video or punching a Speed Bag. This spring he found himself prepping a project for The Thrasher House, a small family-run business shaking up the speed bag boxing world. Although their relationship started when he was a speed bag customer, Zambrano and entrepreneur Jeff Thrasher soon struck a friendship based on their common passion. And Thrasher chose Juan to produce the content that would share the revolutionary new Blade accessory with the speed bagging community.
With over 20 years experience shooting product campaigns heavy on tabletop work, Zambrano knows precision rigging can make or break a shoot. Enter the Matthews MicroGrip Master Rigging Kit—a compact, modular solution he came upon just in time at its NAB '25 launch. Another small family-run business, Matthews too prides itself on engineering better technology and builds it to last. With a week until the shoot, Zambrano traveled to Las Vegas to see what was new at the expo. That's where he struck up an enthusiastic conversation with Matthews’ CEO Tyler Phillips who was eager to help out. Zambrano drove home not only with Matthews prototype kit, but also with a new creative partnership.
Having the right gear for a job can make all the difference. The new 148-piece Master Rigging Kit (complete in a well-organized hardware organizer case) is a collection of tools curated to make mounting, rigging, and hanging straightforward and secure for small equipment that's got to stay dead static or perform action moves. It includes rigging plates to expand mounting options and secure gear to most any surface and MICROGrip Heads to add articulation and positioning versatility. Additionally it supplied tapped pins to seamlessly affix to standard gear and an array of mounts and rods to face any task—all based on the 3/8" grip standard, so it was compatible with Haute Sauce's other equipment.
Zambrano knew he had worthy support for the Thrasher video. Built for speed and precision boxing training, Thrasher was introducing a high-performance speed bag swivel stainless steel blade to promote smooth, quiet, and responsive action regardless of a user's striking technique.
His challenge? To exemplify its low-profile design and capacity to handle fast rebounds and advanced combinations. “This product also has a sealed bearing and it spins. Made of stainless steel, it would otherwise be hard to rig. But the Matthews MicroGrip gear gave me the ability to position the product and the camera it where I needed, with stability and without showing up in the shot,” he explained. “Especially for motion control, you need everything locked. The Master Mount Arms let me fine-tune angles exactly, and I didn’t have to waste time trying to make something work. It just worked.”
The result: a sleek product video featuring bold black-on-black visuals, fiery lighting effects, and a driving, rhythmic original score. But the most surprising element? The emotional connection at the heart of the project. Zambrano emphasizes that speed bagging is more than a workout. "It can create a meditative and therapeutic experience for enthusiasts. " He feels that the look and effects, combined with the original music composition, helped create a sensory experience that deeply resonates with users.
Haute Sauce director/producer, Zambrano is proud of his team who put their all into the project: Cinematographer Diego Avellaneda, Prop Styling & Rigging Specialist — Mark Welsh, Music & Sound Design — Kevin St. Croix, and of course creator and maker of the "Blade" Speed Bag Swivel, Jeff Thrasher. "The community really came together for this project. I am proud to be part of it."
The MicroGrip Master Rigging Kit is now a permanent fixture in the Haute Sauce package—ready to go whenever the next story demands precision, flexibility, and an invisible footprint. “I’ll be using it again and again,” concludes Zambrano.
