Shadow Show on board Air Astana

Pre-flight video instructions are a vital component of flight safety, and it is important for passengers to listen to and understand the information presented before the flight. In order to make this easier, a video clip should be both interesting and attractive to watch.

You will by now have noticed our new safety clip. Launched in November

2017, it has already accumulated a huge number of enthusiastic reviews, not only from our passengers but also from social media. Air Astana is the first airline in Central Asia to apply a creative approach to video instruction. This project has attracted interest abroad, and the International Advertising Association, Ads of the World and WE LOVE AD portals have put our clip in line with the best international advertising. A team of professionals created the clip and this is how it happened.

About a year ago, an advertising agency called FCB Almaty suggested we demonstrate the strict safety rules with the help of a shadow show, where actors create shapes and silhouettes with their bodies, keeping the use of computer graphics and visual effects to a minimum.

It was important for the silhouettes to reflect with accuracy the information spoken by the off-screen voice and be perfectly synchronised, so if oxygen masks were being spoken of, then the passenger should simultaneously see them on the screen. Light played an important role; it hit the actors at a certain angle and they needed to move at set times and very precisely so they would appear lifelike and natural, not like cartoon characters. The pre-filming rehearsals of each scene under the guidance of a choreographer lasted for several months and the artistic director of FCB Almaty spent hours reviewing the video recordings. Today you can see the result of the agency’s work on every Air Astana aircraft. From now on all your trips will begin with theatre. The theatre of shadows.