> [!summary]+ Summary > In this page I write about one of my favorite educational videos of all-time. This one has always stood out to me as a model of sorts. Please see my page on [[multimedia production]] for insight into my thoughts on the value of this work it people who do it. # "Autopilot in Action" by KLM One of my favorite educational videos called "Autopilot in action", is this KLM video produced in 2015. It is part of a series called the "Cockpit Tales" and teaches about the different aspects of flight management done by commercial pilots. <iframe width="100%" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9NFq2eZSDJE?si=TdTXpwLROIb_oFF9" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> This educational video is just *slick*. Here are some of the things I love about it. - **Throughout** — The sound track is uplifting, energetic, and encouraging. - **The clear story** — It walks through a pilots journey from pre-boarding to landing. - **The simple graphics** — There is nothing fancy, but it doesn't look like a consumer product. On-screen graphics are unobtrusive, informative, guiding, and aligned with the organizational colors. - **Stock footage is real** — There is nothing more boring than stock footage that doesn't authentically connect with the story. When footage is stale or just loosely connected, it appears that the media producer was either lazy, uncreative, or just didn't care enough. - **Visual description of relevant tools and processes** — This video is a guide to the novices. It takes complicated concepts and its use of both narration and simple graphics in tandem is awesome. - 00:00:42 to 00:01:30 — description of the Flight Management Computer (FMC) - 00:01:39 to 00:01:53 — description of 'cost index' and relation to FMC - 00:02:13 to 00:02:38 — visual of the taxing process - 00:03:27 to 00:03:45 — autopilot updates - 00:04:46 — simple on-screen animated graphic of landing - 00:06:44 — simple on-screen animated graphic of Instrument Landing System (ILS) - **People** — Including people, particularly the persons being highlighted in a video, is fundamental to building social presence. Educational videos without people in them make little sense to me. ## Media production from my experience Producing this kind of video I know has certain challenges. And from my experience, overcoming these takes folks with an eye for powerful media and a care for quality that I fortunately learned at the IMF. Here are a few things that might be a little hard to ensure for some organizations: - **Commitment to quality** — It sounds crazy, but a lot of folks just want to have something produced. They do not think about what the production communicates about the team/brand, what lower expectations send to the production team, or how the contributing value may be perceived over time. - **Access** — A video like this involves a significant amount of access and likely permissions (to have cameras in the working space). Not always, but some times it is a difficult to get those by-ins. - **People commitment** — This kind of production needs producers who want to feel pride about the work and maybe even see this as an opportunity to grow their skill set. Assigning the right person is key.