XTI Aircraft "reach" (2015)

OBJECTIVE

The mission was to help raise crowdfunding through Crowdfund X to get this aircraft design into production. But how to do that? Joe’s vision was to place a thematic emphasis on the idea of reaching for new innovation. Through flashback he wanted to look back at the history of man’s relationship with flight, and subtly imply that this vertical take-off jet could be part of the next generation of point-and-go autonomous air travel.

APPROACH

We had a smaller budget on this one than usual, but a wealth of ideas :) Joe wanted to include flashbacks to Wright brothers planes, which we obviously couldn’t afford to shoot practically. So instead we shot those shots at a location and composited in digital stock assets (and by “we” I mean Joe did it all himself). The core of the story was centered around our hero in the airplane hangar, that XTI was able to get us free access to in the Van Nuys airport. We brought in a table of model airplane props, like a trip going down memory lane. Here’s where we got savvy to get the job done. After Day 1 in the hangar, four of us took a trip 5 hours north to Manteca, CA, my hometown, so we could get all the orchard and farm-like locations. In a short turnaround on a small budget where we needed almost everything for little to no cost, shooting in Manteca really elevated the spot into a more dynamic form of storytelling with a range of locations and looks to evoke emotion.

Production Company

Executive Producer

Director

Writer

Producer

Production Manager

Director of Photography

Production Designer

Editor

VFX

Colorist

Sound Design

Whitelist

Jerad Anderson

Joe Sill

Joe Sill

Nick Erickson

Tyler Zelinsky

Nick Roney

Tye Whipple

Joe Sill

Ember Lab

Andrew Finch

Jackie Zhou

NOTES

2 day shoot on locations.
1 day in Van Nuys, CA. 1 day in Manteca, CA.