Yorkshire Air Ambulance
Multimedia content & ongoing support
Overview and Challenges
Yorkshire Air Ambulance’s (YAA) two helicopters provide ‘a rapid response air emergency service’ serving a population of approximately 5 million people across 4 million acres. What is surprising, is that YAA are a registered charity and therefore rely on the generosity of individuals and organisations to help them to save lives across Yorkshire.
Engaging with the public to raise awareness about the vital work they do is critical to their mission and a huge source of funds for the charity.
YAA had recently purchased two vans to help them to take their message out on the road at fairs, festivals and schools, and they needed content to make these promo vehicles a fun, user-friendly learning environment for a range of audiences.
Client
Yorkshire Air Ambulance
What we did
- Video Content Creation
- Created a cockpit experience
- Created interactive infographics
Briefing and Considerations
We’ve always placed a big emphasis on investing heavily at briefing stage. We need to get to the core of the story, understand the audience and the objectives of the content. YAA absolutely were on the same page and throughout the project were open, transparent, keen to share and generous with their time. This was massively helpful in our research and development to allow us to collaborate with them to fully explore and realise the creative solution and ensure if you pardon the pun, we weren’t just acting on the fly..
Approach
> Helicopters are cool right?
> To young and old.
> Whoever you are.
Early on in our creative development, we knew we wanted to create experiences that would let the public feel part of the crew and let their imagination take flight.
To do this we also knew we would need aerial footage. We were conscious of the range limitations of drone footage, but also that a camera operator could not join a YAA flight…hmm?
However, with a touch of innovation and a bit of engineering, we successfully fabricated a rig that mounted our camera unobtrusively to outside of the helicopter…
Outcome
We created an authentic cockpit experience in the front of the vans, complete with pilot seat and flight stick. The audience are immersed in an actual flight, with aerial footage which plays out on two curved monitors in front of them, mimicking the view from the pilot’s seat.
We balanced this installation with a series of videos which play on a loop on a large screen at the rear of the vehicle. This documentary style piece tells the story of the work YAA do, and the difference the public can make.
We have also created a fun interactive infographic which visitors access on two iPad kiosks in the middle of the van. The project has evolved further, seeing us animate a “Henry the Helicopter’s Emergency Mission” children’s book that is being promoted through schools.
We balanced this installation with a series of videos which play on a loop on a large screen at the rear of the vehicle. This documentary style piece tells the story of the work YAA do, and the difference the public can make.
We have also created a fun interactive infographic which visitors access on two iPad kiosks in the middle of the van. The project has evolved further, seeing us animate a “Henry the Helicopter’s Emergency Mission” children’s book that is being promoted through schools.
But it was the sense of excitement, fun and collaboration which ran through the whole event which really made this a brilliant project to be part of.
Donations are truly the life-blood of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and they can make a real difference to the lives of people across Yorkshire. As an independent charity they are entirely public-funded and it costs £12,000 a day to keep both of their helicopters maintained and in the air. They are truly grateful for every donation received, no matter how big or how small. Please click link below to find out more.