A total solar eclipse over the first major city in its path — captured for NASA's national broadcast by one team holding both the camera and the signal.
- Client
- SSERVI
- Type
- Film
- Deliverables
- Strategy, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, Campaign Development
- Year
- 2024
On April 8, 2024, the Moon's shadow made landfall over Mazatlán — the first major city in the path of totality. A total solar eclipse gives you one pass: four minutes of daylight going dark, at a fixed moment, on a live national broadcast. No rehearsal. No second take.
NASA SSERVI set out to be on the ground for it — to witness a rare celestial event alongside the city that saw it first, and feed the moment into NASA's agency-wide live broadcast. That meant standing up broadcast-grade capture where none existed yet, and getting the math right the first time: partial, totality, and back again.
Broadcast Standup
Starlink brought to a venue that had none, and a multi-camera rig specced to the exact phases of the eclipse. Broadcast-grade capture, standing before the shadow arrived.
Precision Capture
Every camera, lens, and setting calculated for partial, totality, and partial again. One pass. The math right the first time.
People-First Film
The eclipse as the city of Mazatlán lived it — locals, astronomers, and enthusiasts under the same sky. Science, told as a human moment.
72-Hour Cut
A four-minute-twenty cinematic film, edited from the live footage and delivered within 72 hours of the event. Timely to the moment, while the world was still looking up.
Final Result
The four-minute-twenty cinematic cut of totality over Mazatlán — edited from the live broadcast footage and delivered within 72 hours of the event, while the world was still looking up.
The segment fed NASA's national broadcast — and the broadcast won two Emmys and four Webbys.
1st
Major city in the path of totality
72 hrs
From event to final cut
2 + 4
Emmy & Webby wins for the broadcast