Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) is the regional airport for Arkansas offering an average of 40 flights per day to major cities all over the country. When we first visited with the XNA team, we learned about their vision to carry out a special video to commemorate their 25th anniversary. A vision came together quickly to recall the past, document the present, and speak to the future expansion of the airport.
Our pre-production included wide range of 13 speakers what would eventually include U.S. President Bill Clinton, State Representative Uvalde Lindsey, philanthropist Alice Walton, as well as an amazing group of stakeholders, board members, and executive leaders. It was quite an undertaking to coordinate so many schedules and people - all credit goes to the XNA team for tackling this feat! The team at XNA also did a great job with coming up with the right questions to ask each individual to highlight their unique perspectives and influence into the making of the airport.
From shooting in airplane hangers to capturing b-roll around the airport, the Campbell Creative team took a cinematic approach. We shot completely on RED Cinema Cameras using Zeiss CP3 lenses and variety of movement applications from our Dana Dolly rail system to the Movi gimbal. Our favorite shot was hanging out of the XNA mini-van while driving 70MPH following a jet landing on the tarmac! It made for a buttery slow-motion shot. And while each interview was beautiful and yet had it's own unique challenges, our biggest obstacle was actually the sounds of airplanes and jet engines taking off!
The Campbell Creative worked hard in post production polish the final project. We sound designed the project to help remove the sound of jet engines in the background. We also carefully colored the project to pull out the vibrant colors and balance out the frames and help separate our speakers from the background. Another fun element was designing a logo animation drop in with airplane sounds timed with the movement.
The final deliverables included a 13 min long video, 3 separate videos highlighting the past, present, and future, as well as a variety of reels and shorts for social media marketing. In the end, the feedback from the client and executive leadership was extremely positive and pleased with the final production results.
