Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan
With new technology comes new capability and limitless opportunities. We were tasked to create a film that displays all use-cases for the aircraft through mixed mediums of 3D, VFX and live action filmmaking. In order to make this film compelling, we drew inspiration from the form factor and flight characteristics of Nomad (the aircraft), and compared it to that of a Wing-suit flier. We captured the main features of autonomous flight, personal aviation, selfless mission, unprecedented design, and incredible performance and placed that into a narrative that put an Air Race pilot at the center. This project, as a whole, was intended to blend Orb’s technology, mission, and capabilities into a visual journey that instills organic thrill and excitement.
This product will advertise itself once it goes into final production, but until then here is Nomad, with over 375k+ organic views.
For an aircraft the world has never seen before, we knew we had to craft visuals the world had never seen before.
In order to have the greatest flexibility and freedom to film the aerial maneuvers, in a location that felt far enough out-of-this-world, we selected Arizona to film our on-location scenes.
With only sunrise and sunset slots available, we would only have two chances to film per day (sunrise and sunset). Working with Volare Helicopters, we carefully orchestrated a system of safety procedures & operating logistics that allowed us to film as much footage as possible, as safely as possible. To make sure we nailed the shots with the limited opportunities we had available, we spent several days at Skydive AZ completing over 30 skydives practicing the required maneuvers until they became second nature. When it came time to hit record, we only had 5 total filming opportunities. Our team, lead by Calvin, filmed by Chris and starring Austin, captured footage that pushed the limits of physics. While Chris wore a 20lb camera mounted to his helmet, Austin flew through the skies gracefully and was able to film over 5 mins of total flight time & 2x the amount footage needed for the shotlist.
In the process, we even drew the attention of border patrol agents who came to investigate after "seeing something fall from the sky" and were, ultimately, impressed to see the footage after learning what we were up to.
Accomplishing the aerial maneuvers was only the first challenge of this project. The second element involved seamlessly blending live-action with VFX & 3D. Collaborating with Arizona Studios, we set up our actor, Austin, jumping from and interacting with the aircraft (which we didn't physically possess at the time). This process involved precise remote direction from our VFX Supervisors and custom set construction that replicating the exact dimensions & angles of the aircraft's seat position, all against a green-screen backdrop. Leveraging reference frames captured while our actors jumped from the helicopter at 10,000ft mere days earlier, we created a light-scape that matched the suns angles, color temp and intensity, and were able to successfully grab foreground plates for the VFX team to work their magic.
This project pushed our entire team beyond where we thought we could go and, along the way, we accomplished several world firsts for wing-suiting while filming. Take a deep dive with us on the entire process with the full BTS video below!
