Sky Stadium have released today their newest Healthy and Safety video, featuring Wellington’s favourite mascots: Leo the Lion (Wellington Rugby), Captain Hurricane (Hurricanes) and Nixie (Wellington Phoenix). This video comes ahead of the return to international rugby to the venue next week.
Taking inspiration from Air New Zealand’s iconic in flight safety videos, fans of the Stadium may remember the first Health and Safety video done by the Stadium in 2018, featuring Ardie Savea, Andrew Durante and other players from the Hurricanes and Wellington Phoenix teams.
Sky Stadium’s Marketing & Hospitality Manager, Alex Bargh, says: “We wanted to recreate the video with the same fun and engaging tone, but securing players on a long term basis was proving tricky. We decided to incorporate the mascots from our three Wellington home teams and use animation throughout the video to mix things up a bit and communicate some of the more complex securiafety messages.”
“It was important to the team to include both te reo Māori and English in the video, and we worked with the Māori Language Commission who assisted in the translation of the script that features in the subtitles to the video”. The subtitles are also in English, assisting those who are hearing impaired to follow the messages.
Leading the project from Sky Stadium, Mat Hellyer - GM Operations and Events, says “even though the video is set in a fun tone, the messages in the video are important to convey to all fans attending events. Particularly In light of incidents that have occurred both internationally and here in New Zealand, following the Manchester Arena shooting and the Christchurch attacks, incidents in crowded places are becoming more common globally, and it’s vital that everyone attending an event knows what to do should an emergency the situation arise.”
The project, originally scheduled to complete in 2020 following the rebrand to Sky Stadium, was put on hold due to the pandemic and the go ahead was finally given in late 2021 to push ahead.
Wellington based creative film and video production company, Clarative Media, were selected to bring the Stadium’s ideas to life, including the animation aspects.
Jess de Lucht, Producer at Clarative Media, says “Together with animator Sam Harris, we created a storyboard working in the live footage and animation based on Alex’s idea. Our team really enjoyed working on the project, and we hope Sky stadium's visitors will enjoy it as much as we do.”
The filming took place on a hot summers day in January while Captain Hurricane and Leo were taking a well-deserved break in their respective off seasons. “Thankfully, two of our staff were happy to step into their big rugby boots, albeit temporarily, for a day’s filming.” says Alex. “Wellington Phoenix mascot, Nixie, did a great job in showing the newbies how it was done.”
The shorter length version of the video will be played on the Big Screen and internal IPTV system at events at Sky Stadium going forward. The full length version can be seen here.
Māori All Blacks v Ireland, Tuesday 12 July, 7.05pm
All Blacks v Ireland, Saturday 16 July, 7.05pm