Graduation video concepts reviewed 'Apprentice'-style

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Agneta Murnan
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Two teams of officers awaiting pilot training appeared before the 71st Flying Training Wing leadership and Chad Chambers, base audio visual specialist, Dec. 4 to present ideas on plans for a new Joint Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training video. The five-minute video would replace a current version shown to parents and guests at each class's formal graduation dinner.

"We set these teams up to try to develop the concept of how we would replace the video. Our job is to rate their two performances or concepts," explained 71st Flying Training Wing commander, Col. Chris Nowland, to his participating commanders and staff members. "The team whose concept we pick will work with Chad to produce this video."

The two teams of five officers each were given approximately three weeks to scour through base photos and videos, and learn as much as possible about pilot training, the base's mission and the preparation required for video production.

"I met with each team as a group and individually to discuss story boards, our capabilities, to offer a few suggestions, and help groom their ideas somewhat," said Mr. Chambers. "The final version of the storyboard and concept came completely from their brains though.

"They've done a great job with the project. It's interesting to see the viewpoint from an outsider who hasn't been around pilot training in the past. A fresh pair of eyes notices a lot more than someone who's been around it for years. That fresh perspective is exactly what we needed on this project," Mr. Chambers said.

The first team, 2nd Lts. Ashley Bower, Chris Horn, Justin Bauman and Tyler Radford, was led by 2nd Lt. Tyler Stecker. Lieutenant Stecker pitched the first video concept.

"The main thing was making the video specific to pilot training at Vance...we wanted to make the video educational," said Lieutenant Stecker.

The team played several sample tracks of background music for which they hoped to get copyright permissions and presented photographs for potential video imagery.

The second team, 2nd Lts. Scott Brenner, Drew Margulis, Cari Pierce and Dan Sieman, was led by 2nd Lt. John Yates. Each of the members took turns presenting the concepts behind each phase of the video and identifying the music tracks they wanted to accompany the different video sections.

"The UPT experience is full of anticipation and excitement--an emotional elixir we leveraged to grab the audience's attention immediately," said Lieutenant Yates.

After each presentation, the teams were questioned for clarification of ideas and rationale by members of Colonel Nowland's staff, including project officer Maj. Matthew Crowell of the 25th Flying Training Squadron.

Following the teams' presentations, all were dismissed while the merits and concerns with each plan were discussed including representations of the joint nature of Vance AFB.

"While these Lieutenants haven't been to military planning education, there's always an option C," said Colonel Nowland. "Each team had some good concepts, so we decided to consolidate the two plans and have the two teams work together to make the video happen."

"One of the winning ideas for the second team was using the sound of heartbeats to convey the anticipation and excitement of pilot training, and the first team had interesting transitions to show the chronology of pilot training. Both teams wanted to get some fresh aerial imagery," Major Crowell said.

"We're shooting for completion in January or February," Colonel Nowland said. "In  addition to having a new video to share the pilot training experience with family and friends, these officers awaiting pilot training learned a lot about the base and went places that most APT's probably have never been. I can't wait to see the finished product."

Mr. Chambers and the newly formed team met again with Colonel Nowland Dec. 15 to provide updates on the project and show portions of the video already produced.