Meggitt Defense Systems

In 2001, Digital Studios West, Inc. was contacted by head-of-media-department, Dietrick Volkland of Meggitt Defense Systems. Meggitt is a multi billion dollar strong company that is traded on the London Stock Exchange. They supply military and law enforcement products, equipment, and training worldwide. When Mr. Volkland contacted Paul Sadler- President of DSW in 2001, he stated he was looking for a production company to help give them a facelift and start a media campaign that could continually grow in production quality and advertisement effectiveness.

Mr. Sadler reflects on some of the first projects with MDS, and remembers them being pretty challenging, as the client, at times, only had VHS and mpg files to work from. “It was tough, but at the same time it gave us a lot of training to find ways to make older or poor footage look better. We realized through these endeavors, that not always is a perfect solution available. Whether it be red-tape, national security issues or even budget constraints that would make it near impossible to get pristine footage, it educated us and showed us that we needed to find creative solutions to make these types of footage work. The list is long but I’ll keep it short and just say- that we have a very creative team and I think we made some pretty impressive leaps in making less than perfect footage more than acceptable.”

Over the years, MDS grew their media department and ventured into larger productions that helped improve the quality and image of their products and services. DSW over these years created 3D animations as well as a host of motion graphics pieces that show off several of the MDS products. During this time, DSW crews’ traveled to several MDS locations throughout the United States to capture live footage of products, training, manufacturing, etc. to add to the continually growing library of new media. ” Some of the stuff we filmed was incredible, such as: the Motion Platform in Atlanta GA. I was blown away at the futuristic training facility. It was like being in a giant iMax theater with a virtual reality ship located in the middle, kind of like the Star Tours ride at Disneyland. It was an incredible virtual training scenario”, stated Jeff McCoy- Director of Photography.

In 2006, MDS’s manager Dietrich Volkland left the company. MDS executives worked quickly to put in place communications expert Judy Smith as the new Manager of Communications and Graphic Art. Mr.Sadler and Mrs. Smith started discussing what she envisioned for MDS ’s future media productions for 2007. Within a few months DSW started their first production of the year. Terry Timms- Managing Director of MDS contacted Judy Smith with the task to create a stunning presentation piece for an upcoming event. Paul Sadler and Judy Smith consulted and arranged a meeting with Mr. Timms. During this meeting all expectations where outlined and soon after the DSW team began the work. DSW utilized existing footage as well as creating motion graphic segments for this particular piece. The audio was supplied by the client and the DSW team finished editorial; mixing cuts, explosions, gunfire, etc. to match the music. “It was a hit! Perfectly executed”, exclaimed Mr. Timms.

A few weeks after the success of the presentation video, DSW was again contacted by Judy Smith, this time MDS was looking for a 30 second spot to show off their Environmental Systems for an online advertisement as well as trade show events. She stated this needed to be a special video with the cinematic style that DSW is known for in their broadcast work, while staying within the budget of a web-ad video. One hitch was that the subject was a well known Abrams tank that would appear on screen along side a future-combat-vehicle that has never been filmed and that no one outside of the military had access to. With this in mind, it was decided to create the complete scenario from 3D and include a real-life background for a real-world effect. The DSW crew then traveled to a Californian desert 3 hours away and filmed some desert backgrounds for the plate. Expert 3D artist Dave Vander Pol modeled all needed vehicles and compositing started soon after. Weeks later, DSW uploaded proofs to the secure client area and MDS staff was able to download and review. Another success can be added to the list, as the video was well received with complements coming from the top.

From 2008 – 2009, DSW has been involved in several other MDS projects such as; the kiosk style Environmental Control Systems video, several Product Videos for their website, and currently an Ammunition Handling Systems video for tradeshow use.
“We are very proud to be working with such an important company that supplies products that keep people safe around the world. We look forward to the future and enjoy the relationships we have built with Meggitt Defense. We cant wait to see what’s next!”