Challenge
The United States Air Force at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska was facing a quandary. Their largest air show, the Arctic Thunder Open House was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This event takes 2 years of combined planning hours between multiple service branches, requiring extended permissions from military base leaders around the country. It's the greatest display of US Air Forces assets and a strong recruiting tool, attracting 200,000+ guests every year for the past 15+ years. Due to COVID-19 they needed to pivot quickly or the 2020 show was done for.
Solution
During an expedited contracting process, DCV proposed a solution beyond live streaming. We would create an entire campaign of videos, traditional and 360° Virtual Reality that showcased each role around the base, while also capturing the air show cinematically. This would give viewers a never before seen look at what happens behind the scenes at the JBER installation. They believed DCV was the right team to do this in the most effective and creative way to attract viewers and the Anchorage community to this new "Virtual" Air Show. The campaign became known as "JBER Salutes". Operation COVID Strike The keystone video of the campaign, the capture of the entire live air show transformed into a "movie like" mission. This involved 37 camera positions in the air, in live fire, and from 2 locations miles away from each other spread out over 2 days. The entire 3 hour show was reduced to 7.5 minutes of non-stop, flowing action. F-22 Demo in 1000 Frames Per Second Never before filmed with a specialized Phantom camera for public release, we captured high speed maneuvers of an F-22 fighter jet, while hovering at 2000ft filming from an Apache's helicopter gunner's door. We also had multiple cameras spread out around the runway and infield. Fly in an F-22 - VR / 360 One of many VR / 360 multimedia experiences we created, viewers are transported into the cockpit of an F-22 fighter jet, the world's most advanced aircraft. Put on your headset and no peeking for classified information. Experience Alaska Filming from sea planes, on glaciers, from rock faces, and even in a bowling alley, we captured a glimpse of what you can expect being stationed in Alaska. Our teams worked tirelessly, integrating into the US Air Force, US Army, and US National Guard's scheduled daily drills and missions. Not being able to stage "actors" was a huge challenge to overcome but the production crew made it work, adapting to new information and script changes on the fly. Stories were evolving every 30 minutes. Flexibility was key. The production required meticulous scheduling as 5 minutes was the difference between making a flight, getting a shot, or being part of that drill for the day. Crew 10 cinematographers 5 support staff Equipment 2 Red Cinema Cameras 1 Phantom Flex 4K 8 Sony FS7s 2 Black Magic 4Ks 1 Titan 11K 360 6 Go Pro 360s 6 Go Pro Hero 8s Cinema lenses ranging from 50 to 1600mm
Results
The base leadership loved the final products. They felt it achieved the mission and introduced US Air Force JBER in a new and exciting way. The videos gained more than 2 million views in the first few days of launching, with countless re-shares extending past our analytic tracking ability. Multiple media outlets and celebrities praised the productions for their quality and exciting look into a rarely seen area of the military. The campaign was a success.
DC Visionaries
DC Visionaries is a visual communications company infused with heroic creativity, providing video, animation, and branding services to clients around the country. DC Viz provides brands with intuitive, effective, creative solutions. We inspire the...
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