Case study
Ideal vacuum products
Creating an Epic Product Launch Film
What do vacuum chambers and muscle cars have in common? Both deserve an epic launch film. For Ideal Vacuum Products in Albuquerque, NM, the debut of their ExploraVAC Unlimited wasn’t just about showing off a new product — it was about redefining how people see them. We teamed up to create a film that matched the scale of their vision, and helped place them on the map in their customers minds.
Director:
Andrew Bartlett
Executive Producer/BTS:
Hannah Bartlett
Producer
Micah Versemann
DP:
Jayden Peterman
Gaffer:
Calder Tozier
Editor/Color
Jayden Peterman
Animation:
David Beal
Sound Design:
Benjamin Burnett
Music Editor:
Zachary Horner
CASE STUDY
01 Introduction
A Look Behind the Film
Ideal Vacuum Products has long been known as a trusted supplier of vacuum components and small chamber systems — the go-to for labs and manufacturers who need reliable parts, same-day shipping, and real engineers on the other end of the phone. With over 20,000 products in stock and customers ranging from Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs to Boeing, SpaceX, and Intel, they’ve built a reputation on both scale and expertise.
But in recent years, Ideal Vac has been expanding beyond parts and pieces into something bigger: building full-scale, turnkey chambers. To mark this shift — and to launch their new ExploraVAC Unlimited lineup — they asked us to create a film that would help them step out of the “component supplier” box and be recognized as a leader in complete systems.
Fig. 01: The final ExploreVac Unlimited system
02 the problem
Cutting Through The Noise
We knew the challenge would be communicating complex technical advantages in a way that engineers would respect—without losing the sense of story. This audience values precision and hard data, but they’re also people who connect with a narrative that feels human and authentic.
At the same time, we saw a huge opportunity. Most of the industry’s content was anything but engaging. Competitor videos often felt like safety training courses—sterile, dated, and forgettable. By breaking that mold, we set out to create a film with the energy and polish of a car commercial, bringing a fresh sense of excitement into a space that’s too often defined by boredom.
Fig. 02: Industry Norm for Product Videos
03 the goals
Defining Success
With a clear understanding of the challenge, we worked with Ideal Vacuum to establish the core goals for the film:
Drive brand awareness and qualified sales inquiries for the ExploreVac Unlimited product line.
Solidify Ideal Vacuum’s identity as a premier, vertically integrated American manufacturer.
Humanize the brand by telling the story of why the product was created and showcasing the passionate engineers who built it.
Create a high-energy, cinematic film that feels as advanced and robust as the technology itself. AKA, show the engineering for how cool it really is.
A project this ambitious lives or dies in the planning. Our pre-production process was built to take out the guesswork, align our creative vision with Ideal Vacuum’s goals, and lay down a clear plan for execution.
01 Discovery & Strategy
The first step was a trip to Albuquerque, where Andrew and Timothy met the Ideal Vacuum team, toured their facility, and dove into the technology behind ExploraVAC. We spent the day asking questions—not just about what the system does, but why it’s better. That discovery phase was critical. It gave us a clear grasp of their competitive advantages and allowed us to translate complex engineering into a visual narrative that would resonate.
Fig. 03: On-location Discovery
02 The creative Concept
With a deeper understanding of the product line, we moved into brainstorming. Instead of looking only at industry peers, we pulled inspiration from car commercials and other cinematic tech videos from brands like SpaceX. The goal was to merge technical precision with a bold, exciting tone.
To shape the pacing, we mapped the story on a waveform-style graph. This gave the film a deliberate rhythm: opening fast to hook viewers with the product’s development, shifting into the core technical details, and closing with an inspiring look at the future possibilities the technology unlocks.
Fig. 04: Mapping the film's energy and pacing
03 Visualization & Planning
To ensure the client could see exactly what we envisioned before we shot a single frame, we developed a comprehensive creative pitch document.
Fig. 05: Creative Pitch
At the heart of it was the animatic—a full-length mockup of the film. By combining music, shot descriptions, and rough sketches, we established the timing, pacing, and flow of the final piece. This gave the client a clear window into what we were building, and it became an invaluable tool for workshopping ideas and securing full buy-in before production began.
Fig. 06: Building The video animatic
Fig. 07: The Final video animatic
Even though the product is essentially a massive block of metal, we looked for creative ways to move the camera and capture dynamic shots that would make it feel alive.
Once the vision was locked, our producers mapped out a detailed schedule - the biggest hurdle being the timing. The massive “hero” vacuum chamber would only be fully assembled for a brief window before shipping to its new owner. That deadline became our anchor, and we built the entire four-day shoot around it, crafting a tight but efficient plan to capture every shot we needed.
Fig. 08: Part of Our client facing resources for internal planning
We also met with our crew to talk through and game-plan our lighting setups to make sure we had all the gear we needed to make sure the product could look its best.
Fig. 09: Lighting Planning Meetings
02. Production
On location in New Mexico, our crew of four worked to translate the plan into reality. The goal was to capture both the immense scale of the machinery and the human-level passion that brought it to life.
Fig. 10: Rigging Timelapse
Fig. 11: the Crew
01 Lighting
Lighting for Innovation
The hero product was built almost entirely of stainless steel—a material that’s notoriously challenging to light because of its highly reflective surface. A single hard light can quickly create distracting hot spots and streaks. To solve this, we used large, soft light sources (Aputure 1200d’s with grids and softboxes) that produced broad, even reflections that would wrap beautifully around the machine’s surfaces. This technique allowed us to sculpt the product, highlighting its form and pristine build quality while controlling spill to create a dark, focused, high-tech environment.
Fig. 12: GALLERY - Working with the Machine
02 Talent/Interviews
Humanizing the Machine
We chose to feature Ideal Vacuum’s own employees rather than actors, ensuring every moment on screen felt authentic. Since we’re working with non-actors, the key to capturing natural b-roll (footage that goes over the interviews) was giving people real tasks to perform—letting their expertise show through in ways that felt comfortable and genuine.
For interviews, we broke away from the typical static, documentary style. Instead, we approached them like a movie trailer—fast-paced and punchy. By reverse-engineering what we wanted each interviewee to say, we developed questions that would allow us to draw out short, impactful statements. We also filmed all of the interviews handheld, helping to create a more dynamic, “in the moment” feel that underscored the engineer-led, expert-driven spirit of the brand.
Fig. 13: GALLERY - On set with employees
03 Hero Shots
Capturing The Hero Moments
Capturing the film’s hero shots started long before production—we mapped them out in pre-production and built extra time into the schedule for the most complex setups. One example: the opening overhead shot. We devoted an entire morning to rigging, lighting, and shooting it. As the very first frame viewers would see, we knew it had to be flawless, and the effort was well worth it.
Fig. 14: Capturing The opening Shot
Post-production is where all the pieces of the puzzle finally come together. Our process is collaborative and iterative, turning hours of raw footage and audio into a polished final film that delivers both clarity and impact.
01 Editing
Editing the Story
The first step in post-production was for our editor, Jayden, to comb through every bit of footage and pull “selects”—the strongest, most usable shots. With those in hand, he began shaping the interviews, which formed the backbone of the story. Everything else—b-roll, graphics, and sound—would be layered on top of that foundation.
Once we had interviews roughed in and a preliminary cut of b-roll, we shared a first draft with Ideal Vacuum to gather their feedback on direction and content. From there, we polished, finessed, and iterated until the film felt complete.
When the client approved and we locked the edit—meaning no more changes to timing or dialogue—we moved into the finishing phase: sound design, color grading, and graphics. That’s where the film truly came to life.
Fig. 15: The editing timeline
02 Animation
Animating the Possibilities
We knew from the start that strong 2D and 3D graphics would be essential to telling this story. One of the key challenges was showing the different payloads that could be loaded into the chamber without pigeonholing the product into a single use case. Animation gave us the flexibility to demonstrate range and possibility in a way that felt both clear and exciting.
We collaborated with 3D artist David Beal, who brought our mockup sketches to life with fully realized animations that seamlessly fit the film’s tone. His work gave the story both clarity and cinematic energy.
On the 2D side, Jayden handled data callouts and illustrations in After Effects, carefully tracking them into the live scenes. This kept titles and graphics grounded in the real environment, elevating the production value while reinforcing the technical credibility of the film.
Fig. 16: Before/After of Animation Shots
03 Final Touches
The Final Polish
The final touches are what elevate a film from great to exceptional.
04 Color
Our color pass gave the film a unified, high-tech aesthetic—dark, precise, and stylistic. It elevated the footage from good to great, creating consistency across scenes and reinforcing Ideal Vacuum’s cutting-edge identity.
Fig. 17: Color Before/After
05 Music
We started with a strong stock track, then worked with composer Zachery Horner to make it our own. He re-edited sections and layered in new elements so the score’s energy perfectly matched the emotional and narrative beats of the film.
Fig. 18: Sample of Music Before and After additions
06 Sound Design
Sound designer Benjamin Burnett crafted a rich audio landscape. He layered grounded, real-world sounds that matched on-screen action with cinematic effects that built intensity and kept the audience engaged from start to finish.
Fig. 19: Sound Design Pass Example
The final film gave Ideal Vacuum a cornerstone marketing asset to spearhead their push into the high-end systems market. It communicates their identity as an innovative, agile, engineer-led American manufacturer—and does so with both technical credibility and emotional resonance.
Ideal Vacuum was able to incorporate the film and assets as a central piece of their brand awareness efforts, rolling it out across campaigns and customer touchpoints. More than a product showcase, it tells the story behind the machine, giving them a tool to connect with customers on both a technical and human level.
Credits
Director:
Andrew Bartlett
Executive Producer/BTS:
Hannah Bartlett
Producer:
Micah Versemann
DP:
Jayden Peterman
Gaffer:
Calder Tozier
Editors:
Jayden Peterman
Andrew Bartlett
Colorist:
Jayden Peterman
Sound Designer:
Benjamin Burnett
Music Editor
Zachary Horner
Animation/VFX:
David Beal
Jayden Peterman
Contact