CA ❤️ BYD
Geogram produced CA hearts BYD—a documentary film connecting California's clean-air future to BYD electric buses on the ground. Los Angeles skyline to Lancaster factory floor; UCLA researchers to Formula E; Long Beach Transit to Antelope Valley's all-electric fleet commitment.
The brief
BYD needed California to see more than a bus manufacturer—they needed the state to understand why electric transit mattered here, now, in Los Angeles and across the regions where smog, jobs, and public transportation intersect. The film had to make the case for clean transit with credibility: researchers, operators, factory workers, and the agencies putting BYD buses on real routes.
CA ❤️ BYD weaves that story from city scale to human scale—cities as the path to prosperous, technology-enabled life; vehicles as the source of most regional smog; electrification as the only mathematically viable path to clean air; and BYD as the partner making it real on California roadways from Gardena and Stanford to LADOT, Metro, and Long Beach Transit.
The film
Opening on Los Angeles at dusk, the documentary moves through wind and clean-energy imagery into the urban reality of traffic and transit—then into the voices making the case for electrification:
- Cities & innovation — "I think cities are going to save us… Los Angeles is a perfect example." Disruptive technology wins because it is a better product—not just cheaper—with electric vehicles carrying countless selling points.
- Clean air math — "Vehicles are responsible for 80% to 90% of the pollution that creates our smog in the Los Angeles region." Meeting clean-air standards requires cutting that pollution dramatically; electrifying public transportation is a huge component—providing transit and clean transit.
- BYD's role — "Companies like BYD getting into the electric bus industry… a major part of this push to cleaner air and reaching climate goals." Factory workers describe helping change how people understand electric vehicles; innovators who opened the market through technical innovation.
- Better buses — "They're more efficient, they're quieter. They're not blowing diesel fumes all over the place. And they're cheaper on top of it." A zero-emissions future for every piece of equipment—powered by clean energy.
- Next generation — "If anyone's got a kid under this height, they will probably never drive a petrol car in their life." Kids experiencing electric vehicles and telling their parents what the future looks like.
- Antelope Valley Transit Authority — "By the end of 2018, when we are 100% electric with up to 85 battery electric buses, we will be the only fully electric battery electric bus fleet in the country—and that will be with our partner BYD." The right people in the right place at the right time.
Interviews include Alex Turek of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, Sam J. Piccioni at Formula E, BYD Lancaster factory team members, transit officials, and passengers aboard BYD-built buses—closing on Griffith Observatory and the Los Angeles basin at twilight.
Watch the film
The finished CA ❤️ BYD documentary—~3:17 connecting California communities, clean air, and BYD electric transit.
From the film
Screenshots across the documentary—Los Angeles, BYD buses in service, factory workers, and the voices making California's electric transit case.
California & clean transit
Voices & workforce
On board & closing
What we delivered
Documentary production
Field production across Los Angeles County—cityscapes, freeways, transit agencies, Formula E, the Lancaster factory, and interviews on board BYD buses.
Video editing
Editorial weaving research, policy, workforce, and operator voices into a single California narrative—from smog math to AVTA's all-electric fleet commitment.
Art direction
Visual language for a statewide story—lower-thirds, interview framing, b-roll pacing, and a cinematic close on Los Angeles as California's transit laboratory.
Interview direction
On-camera conversations with UCLA researchers, Formula E leadership, factory workers, transit officials, and passengers—authentic voices, no actors.
Music selection
Score curated for documentary momentum—supporting the clean-air argument without overpowering the speakers making the case for electric transit.
Color grading & audio mix
Finishing for golden-hour cityscapes, factory interiors, and interview clarity—balanced for events, web, and stakeholder presentations.
The result
A film that answers why California should love BYD—not as abstract technology, but as cleaner buses on real routes, jobs at the Lancaster factory, and a path to the nation's first fully electric battery-electric bus fleet. CA ❤️ BYD connects the people building buses to the people riding them, and the policymakers who decide what kind of air the next generation breathes.