February 4, 2011
It was months in the making and involved countless hours of donated time and planning on the part of numerous CABA members. The end result has been the production of a high- quality, well-scripted video that takes the “No Plane No Gain” talking points to the local level and makes the value of business aviation easy to understand.
This 9-minute-plus video (view it at www.mycaba.org) delivers messages that make crystal clear, even to audiences with little or no understanding of the topic, how business aviation improves the quality of their lives. Through a series of interviews and video vignettes, it delivers an impactful dialogue that literally hits people where they live.
“I think we were truly effective in taking a message that those of us in business aviation understand, and making it digestible to those who don’t,” said David Purvis, CABA’s Chairman. “The idea behind it is that aviation has a profound impact on all of us in some way shape or form. [The public] may not always appreciate it, but if the aviation system didn’t exist as it does… life would not be as we know it today.”
All-Volunteer Effort
While neither Purvis nor anyone else involved with the video can tally up all the donated hours that went into the production, they can tell you – and with a great amount of satisfaction – that producing it cost just $800.
“That doesn’t include production costs to put it on CDs,” Purvis said, adding that the project’s total cost, including copying it to 200 CDs, will run about $1,500. That’s nothing short of amazing, given that videos of similar length and quality typically will cost $15,000 or more, according to video producer Jeff Mattoon, who also is director of video production of Pilot magazine, based in Englewood, Colo.
Mattoon, who also is a CABA member, shot most of the video and handled all of the video production and editing. He also wrote most of the script for the project. “I don’t know what the level below ‘low-budget’ is, but this was below that,” he said with a laugh.
‘Aviation Saves’ Theme
Mattoon’s involvement started last spring when CABA members began discussing the video concept after the organization’s first “Aviation Saves” event in April 2010. During those meetings, he said, it was clear CABA couldn’t afford an expensive production. Yet, he agreed with the group’s leaders that a video pushing the No Plane No Gain/Aviation Saves message points was needed to counter negative media coverage and misconceptions about business aviation. “What we were trying to accomplish…was to affect not only general aviation in the state, but to have a positive impact on it nationally,” Mattoon said.
CABA has posted the video on its website, as well as on YouTube.com and Facebook, Purvis said, adding that CD’s will be sent to a variety of constituents, not only to promote business aviation in the state, but also to raise awareness about the association and its next Aviation Saves event, which will be held in June. The video is structured so that it can easily be updated and adapted for other uses, said Retrum.
“The nice thing is that, moving forward we can make tweaks to the video… and take it into different directions and add to it,” said Iver Retrum, CABA Membership Director. “We look at this as almost a start for us, and something we can build on and make better.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.