The Australian flag carrier Qantas is known for their advertising campaign which emphasises itself as the "Spirit of Australia", also their slogan, and uses renditions of the patriotic song " I Still Call Australia Home" by Peter Allen. The song tells the story of an Australian expatriate who still shows faith in their homeland despite traveling overseas. The campaign, frequently nicknamed the "I Still Call Australia Home" campaign or the Spirit of Australia campaign, began with a 1987 television advertisement. In the 1990s, the airline began partnering with various youth choirs to sing for and star in their advertisements. Later, they began making advertisements only with instrumentals of the song. Starting from 2018, "I Still Call Australia Home" is used in their safety videos, and in 2020, during the airline's centenary celebration, they released a safety video chronicling their history, with period renditions of the song.

The advertising campaign has been hailed by Australians and scholars as a marketing masterpiece, and has been subject to cultural analyses. It was credited to making Qantas a symbol of national pride among Australians, and the popularization of the old song to the newer generations. The incorporations of the youth choirs have been praised for its carefree depiction of Australians, though its rare inclusion of the Aboriginals have been noted. Throughout its history, Qantas has been involved in various problems and has made decisions not liked by some, and thus its campaign have been satirised, with the critics questioning whether Qantas really calls Australia home.

Background

The Australian musician Peter Allen recorded and released his patriotic song " I Still Call Australia Home" in 1980. The song tells the story of an Australian expatriate who travels to various places overseas, but says that no matter how far he is from his homeland, his heart will always remain there, and wishes to come home soon.

A Century of Safety (titled "Qantas Safety Video" on YouTube) is a 2020 safety video commemorating the 100th anniversary of Australian flag carrier Qantas, the third-oldest airline in the world. It is part of the larger Qantas centenary celebration. The video chronicles the history of the airline, while real Qantas employees in period outfits explain the safety features of the aircraft. There is also a segment covering Qantas' support towards UNICEF.

A Century of Safety is part of Qantas' famous Spirit of Australia campaign, which uses the patriotic song " I Still Call Australia Home" by Australian musician Peter Allen in their commercials and safety videos. It is also part of the larger Qantas centenary celebration. The eight-minute video required 12 months of pre-production before three weeks of filming in 2019. The writers analyzed archival materials to ensure historical accuracy. Some historical settings were build in sets. Flights of historical aircraft were recreated digitally; when set at land, real-life models were used. To include the video in the Spirit campaign, the film features period and modern renditions of the song.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner version of A Century of Safety was released at YouTube on February 26, 2020, before being screened pre-flight on all Qantas flights starting March 1. Clips from the video were later incorporated in some of Qantas' other centenary campaign efforts, and "I Still Call Australia Home" was later sung by youth choirs as featured on the airline's other efforts. The video received positive reviews for its style, historical detail, as well as its evoked nostalgia and emotion.

Summary

A Century of Safety begins in 1920 Longreach, Queensland, when and where the Australian flag carrier Qantas was incepted as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. A pilot then tells passengers to pay attention to the video for the sake of their safety. Throughout, the speakers would refer to various modern objects, namely the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner and electronic cigarettes, and describe unfamiliarity towards said objects ("sounds a bit flashier than this ol' girl", "whatever they are"). The video moves on to the 1930s, when Qantas began leading the aviation industry, with upgraded cabins and brand-new seat belts; a flight attendant then describes how to use it. Then, it depicts 1940s Sydney Harbour, Australia's first international airport dominated by Qantas' flying boats, where a speaker describes how to wear a life jacket. Depictions of the 1950s are accompanied by guides on oxgen masks and the brace position.

The video moves on to the 1960s, also known as the Jet Age, a period of vast improvement in aviation, which included Qantas expanding their international network and turning into a jet airliner; a flight attendant then talks about emergency exits, before the video depicts the passengers embracing their cheering loved ones. Then, it moves on to the 1970s, when Qantas unveiled their first business class facility; another flight attendant tells passengers to keep a tranquil and safe environment onboard, and another flight attendant tells passengers to store their carry-ons in the overhead lockers or under the seat in front. While depicting the 1980s, an employee then describes how to exit the aircraft via evacuation slides, after sharing a factoid on Qantas employee Jack Grant being the inventor of evacuation slides. Another pilot tells passengers to turn airplane mode on and ask flight attendants if they need assistance.

In the 1990s, Qantas painted one of their 747s with a livery titled Wunala Dreaming, as part of their Flying Art series. After a short scene where a kid shows to a flight attendant his wish to be a pilot, with the flight attendant giving him a Qantas 747 lapel pin, that flight attendant suggests that passengers read Qantas' eponymous in-flight magazine, which has a section with "important information" about deep vein thrombosis, as well as the safety card. Then, a segment set in 2000s Hutt Lagoon features a youth choir singing " I Still Call Australia Home" (1980), one of the members then plead passengers to donate money of any value and currency to a bag carried by the flight attendants which will be sent to UNICEF as part of Qantas-UNICEF's "Change For Good" effort.

The video moves on to 2020, with a large crowd of Qantas employees in front of a Qantas 787-9 Dreamliner in their modern livery. The young aspiring pilot, now an actual pilot, thanks passengers for flying Qantas, alongside all the speakers from the previous sequences through fast cuts, and pleads them a safe journey, as the crowd applauds. The video ends with a scene in twilight at a vast expanse, with the pilot in casual outfit gazing at the view.

Qantas acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional and Custodians of the land on which we work, live, and fly.
We pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging.

— End text

Background

Qantas has been known for their commercials which evokes Australian patriotism. ^[1] Since 1997, ^[2] they have implemented the Spirit of Australia campaign (taken from their slogan), which backgrounds commercials with "I Still Call Australia Home" by Australian musician Peter Allen, ^[1] which tells the story of an Australian expatriate who, no matter how far they is from their homeland, will always stand by Australia and shall return. ^[3] The commercials thus reflect the lyrics, placing characters against international and national sceneries. international and Australian sceneries. ^{[2] [4]} The youth choirs include the Australian Girl's Choir, National Boys’ Choir of Australia, and Gondwana National Indigenous Children’s Choir. ^[5] The campaign paused in 2009 with a commercial where the opening verse is sung in the Torres Strait dialect Kalaw Lagaw Ya. ^{[6] [7]} Starting from 2018, their safety videos become a part of the Spirit campaign, which was regarded Qantas' most successful campaign, ^[5] and made "I Still Call Australia Home" frequently associated with the Qantas brand. ^[1] The general public hailed it a commercial masterpiece. ^[5]

In 2020, Qantas celebrates its 100th-year anniversary extensively, its campaign dubbed "Qantas 100". Most notably, the airline painted a Flying Art centenary livery titled Yam Dreaming on their Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner named Longreach, ^[8] with the registration VH-ZNJ; the back of the plane features all the historical Qantas logos as well as several modern Qantas objects, stored inside a time capsule in the aircraft to be opened in 2120, the airline's bicentenary year. ^[9] Longreach later performed a 100-minute low-level flight over Sydney Harbour, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the HARS Aviation Museum at Shellharbour Airport. ^[10] They also made various commercials and videos, some of which feature "I Still Call Australia Home", highlighting their commitment to innovation and safety, ^[8] as well as historical and modern memorabilia. ^[11]

Production

Pre-production

The script for A Century of Safety was written by a team of writers, with development and pre-production spanning a total of 12 months. To ensure historical accuracy, they went to the Qantas Heritage collection in Sydney Airport and analyzed archival photos and artefacts such as life jackets. Then, they went to the Mojave Air and Space Port, where a retired Qantas Boeing 747-200 was kept, and retrieved the wall panels used in the 1970s. Qantas' collection as well as information from retired retired crew members helped with the fashion design research. ^[12]

After researching, the film crew then scoured for the historical items. The flying boat life jacket seen in the 1930s sequence is one of the two remaining actual jacket of the type. The Boeing 707's Australian Wildflower wallpaper was recreated, as well as the 747 Captain Cook lounge furniture, the latter designed by Instyle Interior Finishes, commissioned by Qantas. An original 1940s tea set was also used. Regional opportunity shops were visited to acquire "carefully curated" outfits for the extras, with the Longreach-based St Vincent de Paul housing many outfits for the 1980s sequence. Personal wardrobes also housed many outfits used for the video. In addition, 50 wigs and 30 prop moustaches, all of which accurate to the decades depicted, were worn by the cast. ^[12]

Filming and post-production

Production then shifted to filming, which took three weeks overall. ^[12] It was directed by Josh Whiteman. Cinematographer Peter Eastgate ^[13] filmed the video with an Arri Alexa Mini camera. ^[14]

The opening sequence and end scene were shot at Longreach. The former was filmed at the Qantas Hangar area, ^[12] which took a day. ^[15] It featured an Avro 504 owned by the Hangar's Qantas Founders Outback Museum, who permitted it to be temporarily towed to the apron. Art director James Clark "worked with an engineer to design and build a custom slide raft that could be taken off its permanent plinth and moved to the tarmac without damage." ^[12] The video was also filmed in six other locations: the HARS Aviation Museum, Sydney Harbour, Brisbane Airport, Camden Park Station at Longreach, Melbourne Tullamarine Airport, Essendon Fields Airport, and Hutt Lagoon.

Other historical settings were filmed in sets. The Captain Cook lounge scene was filmed in a set made by Instyle Interior Finishes, commissioned by Qantas, who flew the 747-200 from Mojave to Sydney as designing reference.

Release and reception

A Century of Safety received generally positive reviews, with the production value being the more-praised element. Ricki Green of Campaign Brief called the historical attention to detail "fastidious", ^[13] while Thomas Bywater of The New Zealand Herald categorized it an epic film and a blockbuster. ^[16]

References

Works cited

External links

• A Century of Safety on YouTube