Barksdale Airmen film Kirtland's air base wing for mission video

  • Published
  • By Argen Duncan
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  For the first time in recent memory, the 377th Air Base Wing is getting a mission video.

Two videographers from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, have spent the past two weeks filming at Kirtland Air Force Base.

"Because we haven't had a mission video in a long time, the commander wanted to have something that highlights all the great work being done at Kirtland," said Kendahl Johnson of the 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office.

Col. Eric Froehlich, 377th ABW commander, could use the video in a number of ways, including showing it to the community and new Airmen on base. Videographer Airman 1st Class Gabriel Stuart said the video aims to show "why it's cool to be here."

Stuart and a fellow videographer, Senior Airman Shellby Matullo, came from Barksdale because Kirtland doesn't have video capability, Johnson said.

Matullo said she and Stuart were filming every squadron that plays a part in the mission of the 377th. They filmed everything from munitions maintenance, military working dogs and fuel testing, to the dining facility and fitness testing.

The final video will be three or four minutes long, edited down from hours of footage, Stuart said. It might incorporate narration or text.

"We won't typically shoot two weeks for a mission video, but we didn't have an inventory to work from, so we're getting all new stuff," Matullo said.

Johnson said footage would also build a video archive for Kirtland. The videographers plan to spend a few weeks editing their work to create the video.

"We take several clips of the same thing, but it's always a matter of finding the really good-looking shot," Stuart said.

Johnson expects to get the finished product in mid-January.

Matullo said the Kirtland visit was the first time she and Stuart filmed a mission video for another base.

"I think it's an awesome opportunity that we get to come here and shoot this for them," she said, adding that it's a good chance to see how other bases do things.

"And it's a pretty place," Stuart said. He pointed to the Sandia Mountains, so different from the Louisiana landscape, as a highlight.

Johnson escorted the videographers at the base.

"They've been really professional, eager and excited to learn more about Kirtland and to get out and shoot some exciting things," he said.

He and Matullo said they appreciated Kirtland personnel be willing to show their work for the filming.