Here’s the next installment in our ‘Neon San Francisco’ series called ‘SFO’. It’s three minutes and fourteen seconds of love for one of our favourite airports in the world.

In this short film, we showcase the flurry of activity that occurs daily at San Francisco International Airport. Our aim was to shift the audience’s perspective from seeing SFO as just somewhere to depart and arrive and to see it the way we do: as beautiful and endlessly fascinating. We want to reconnect the audience with the romance of air travel.

The American is the creative genius behind this series. Aviation is in his blood, and making the film was a real labor of love. I couldn’t be more proud.

Why we made the short film

A few people have asked us why we make the ‘Neon San Francisco’ series, and here’s what we tell them: The aim of producing these short films is to demonstrate the unseen beauty in something commonplace. There’s no catch, no ulterior motive. We were not sponsored by San Francisco International Airport or anyone else to make this. We made it because we wanted to.

We are like proud parents, showing the world our new creation. We love making art, we love showing others how we see the world, and we love planes. So devoting our time and energy to such projects brings us joy. We find that there’s a real honesty in making art and hearing people respond to it.

Behind the scenes

One interesting fact about this project was the timing. July 6 was the American’s birthday and his request, unsurprisingly, was to spend the day filming the final scenes we needed. No cake, no fanfare: just 110% commitment to the project. And this was the very same day that has proven to be more memorable/infamous than we could have ever imagined… it was the day that Asiana Airlines Flight #214 crashed as it came in to land at SFO.

And at 2m15s into the film, sharp eyes can see the burnt out fuselage of the crashed Boeing 777-200ER.

What we hope to achieve

Making short films isn’t the only thing we do, but it’s one of the things we’re most passionate about: uniting the creative with the technical to tell a story. And ultimately we hope to make it into a viable living for us. It’s not something I talk about at length on here, but it is something we’re aiming for. And with each project, we’re improving and this goal becomes one step closer.

Let us know what you think!

Watch our short film ‘Neon San Francisco: SFO’ here and then let us know what you think of it! And if you really love it, please consider sharing it with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

Unfortunately, with the licensing of the Charlie Parker song that was perfect for the film, it’s not available to be view on a mobile device. Next time, we’ll be sure that doesn’t happen!

You can also see the first film in the ‘Neon San Francisco’ series about the N-Judah Muni line here.

EDIT #1: We were fortunate enough to have newscaster and pilot Ken Wayne of the SF Bay Area’s KTVU feature our short film on the 10pm news last night. Our film is up on their homepage under the Hot Topics section.

EDIT #2: Our favorite channel, KQED, also featured ‘Neon San Francisco: SFO’ on their website today. You can read the marvelous things Olivia Hubert-Allen had to say about it here.

EDIT #3: And many thanks (again!) to Erin Sherbert for featuring the film on the SF Weekly. She helped start the ball rolling for our ‘Neon San Francisco: N-Judah’ short film, so extra special hat tip to her!