Red Bull Wings Team Gets Crash Course In Hand Paint
Red Bull wanted to treat their incoming Wings Team members to an extra special Flight School orientation. They asked Colossal, a longtime partner, whether the incoming class could get a walkthrough of the shop and have a barbeque out back.
Insert Paul Lindahl.
Paul’s idea: school the new kids on what it takes to make a mural. What started as a simple shop tour quickly blew up into a no-holds-barred, Colossal-style obstacle course.
Colossal’s Creative Team picked up the gauntlet and ran with it. They devised a competition in which two teams would race to paint murals. In true Colossal form, though, the work wouldn’t be easy.
On the day of the event, 50 Wings Team members walked into a quiet, empty shop. The new recruits took selfies in front of rigging supplies while a massive setup hid behind a curtain and rain, fog, and snow machines lay in wait.
After the honorary Colossal painters were greeted by our Operations Team and Game Master, they pulled back the curtain, powered up the machines, and turned up the music. Jaws dropped, minds were blown, and Snaps were snapped.
Dueling murals were broken up into five sections, each of which came with its own obstacles. The Scorcher, meant to mimic a brutally hot, blindingly bright, sweaty summer day, was blasted with production lights. The Polar Vortex, a frosty scene invoking the most bone-chilling days of winter, had to be painted while wearing gloves that had been chilled in a bucket of ice. The Mean Monsoon simulated soaking wet rainstorm conditions with rain and fog machines, Rough Terrain used sandpaper and plaster to demonstrate the most difficult surfaces to paint, and in the Obstacle Course, a city scene, painters had to wear a harness and scale a rope ladder to get to the upper reaches of the mural.
The Wings Team dove right in, barely glancing at the match prints before grabbing brushes and paint. The two sides flew through their rotations, with frenzied groups of five powering through the elements and racing to finish their sections.
Just when they thought they were done, more obstacles would be thrown into the mix. Wild card teammates were given spray paint and acted as hooligans, tagging over all the hard work. Others were given disposable cameras and played the part of tourists asking the painters to stop working, answer questions, and take a photo. The teams embraced the new additions, attacking the walls from all angles.
When the madness died down, Colossal’s painters were brought in to judge the murals. None of them started worrying about their job security, but they were amused by lively, freestyle work.
“We could not have imaged it to be any better than it was. Members from our leadership teams were blown away by what Colossal was able to produce!”
