Podium: Building a Website Where Running Becomes Storytelling
A case study on building Podium, a production studio portfolio site focused on running and athletic filmmaking. The developers share how they used Next.js, React, GSAP (ScrollTrigger, Flip), Lenis, Three.js/React Three Fiber, and Zustand to create a continuous scroll-driven narrative experience. Key technical highlights include a cursor-reactive grain shader using trail textures with difference blend mode, character-by-character text animations with random stagger, and seamless page transitions where the clicked media element expands into the project hero. The design philosophy centers on restraint, rhythm, and pacing — deliberately slowing the experience to mirror the progressive nature of running.