STUNNING ICELAND VATNAJOKULL TIME-LAPSE VIDEO

Time-lapse Video

It was an honour to be invited back to work with Icelandair on their follow-up time-lapse video to their original Northern Lights video (please see below).  Icelandair is the main airline of Iceland offering it’s services to 39 cities over 16 countries. The Vatnajökull glacier video was to celebrate their 80 year aviation history.

The excitement comes from working with a company who really like to make a statement with their promotional materials and branding. They do not rest on their laurels and go to great lengths to produce memorable videos. These videos really show off the company, their brand and their home country. It is a privilege to work with such a proactive company.

The Concept

In a similar execution, the concept was to take a normal Icelandair 757 and to paint the Vatnajökull glacier on both sides of the plane. Their video would encompass the production process and the focus on the stunning aerial footage captured above the actual glacier. This concept would be inline with their promotional objectives of branding. More importantly the video would showcase the natural splendour of Iceland.

The Process

In terms of the livery production, this was a long process. The job started off like most of the airplane livery time-lapses we have produced in the past. The plane is inputted, scaffolded, sanded and stripped to base metal. The primer was applied and then the blue was applied across the plane. This stage of production is now the divergent point from the norm.

As Soon As Possible

A specialist company was then employed to create the glacier. ASAP Aviation are from Germany. Working with the biggest brands in aviation they provide a comprehensive service that includes design, layout and special paint jobs. This was certainly a special paint job. The team had 10 days to accurately recreate images from the glacier on both sides. This was from the nose of the plane stretching all the way to the underside of the fin. This is not an easy task, fortunately ASAP have a wealth of experience in this field and produced the Northern Lights for the previous Icelandair commission.

They got straight to work, mapping out the dimensions and providing the blend from the sky to the main blue colour. Next the mountain skyline was applied and a complete white colour applied to this area. After this the team painstakingly added all the details to the mountain over a 4 day period. Referencing from very small sections of the main image, the team work together to create a perfect match. If you thought that sounded difficult, they then had to do the same process to create the more complex glacier itself.

Vivid’s role was to of course document process through the time-lapse technique and traditional filming. We set up 10 cameras over the whole period and used camcorders and DSLR cameras to record the footage. Once the plane was finished, it was sent over to Iceland to produce the stunning aerial shots you see in the final film.

The Result

Well it is there for everyone for to see. ASAP really brought the glacier to life on the plane and it looks stunning. This plane will now have so many practical and promotional uses. Apart from the main video that has gone live, there are news/print reports and photographs and video of the plane arriving at each destination. This promotion will continue for the life of the plane’s livery. The level of detail shown in the final paint is incredible and the likeness to the original source image is outstanding.

Northern Lights #MyStopover

If you would like to see their previous video, please find it below.

Final Thoughts

It was a privilege for Vivid to work on such a commission. We have worked on numerous time-lapse video commissions and it was amazing to be part of a real effort to produce a stunning video. I think we can all agree they achieved their objectives.

Please click on the Icelandairair blog to find our more about the commission. Please click on the link, if you would like to find to find out more about Vivid Photo Visual’s time-lapse video service. Our time-lapse blog details more information about the time-lapse production process and the benefits of the time-lapse video promotion. If you have any ideas you would like to discuss, please call a member of the Vivid team 0n 0161 477 2404.