The Kiwi company that pioneered commercial bungy jumping has turned to technology for its latest innovation.AJHBNZ has launched a unique way of using iPhone to capture videos and images of its thrill-seeking customers. Sparked by a desire to challenge the status quo with its existing content-capture operation, the tourism leaders applied Kiwi ingenuity to co-design a software platform that uses a custom iOS app to intelligently record and edit content for customers in real-time.
The content-capture solution leverages the versatility and portability of iPhone and harnesses many of its powerful camera capabilities. Using specially designed, built-in sensors from strategically positioned devices at the Bungy sites, the content-capture system automatically detects customers when they jump and then triggers each iPhone to record a combination of video and stills of their trajectory. By the time the customer has their feet back on the ground, a dynamic video and photo package, offering incredible image quality, is ready and waiting for them.
Using a combination of lenses and camera modes on iPhone 15 Pro – including the 0.5x (13 mm) Ultra Wide, versatile Main (24mm), and 5x (120 mm) Telephoto cameras, as well as the Slo-mo and burst modes – the company has dramatically improved the quality and consistency of its photos and videos to capture adventurers at every stage of their experience.
Recognising the potential to help other tourism operators, AJHBNZ has established a subsidiary business called EpicShot to supply the system to the industry. The cost-effective solution is set to innovate the way memories are recorded and shared at tourism experiences across the globe – and it’s already attracting interest from other major industry operators.
“Capturing the moment has always been an integral part of what we do,” AJBNZ owner and co-founder Henry Van Asch explains. “An AJHBNZ experience is an opportunity to conquer fears and empower people to achieve anything – and photo and video capture allows our customers to relive the exhilaration from their experiences time and time again.
“With the rise of social media, being able to provide a continuation of a customer’s memories efficiently though high-quality photo and video content has never been more important. The photos and videos we capture with iPhone are more energetic and expressive. With iPhone, we’re able to provide entertaining and highly engaging angles in content formats that are optimised for social sharing.”
AJHBNZ is now utilising two new EpicShot custom iOS apps – EpicShot Experience Capture and EpicShot Guide App – to take and edit stunning and exclusive content for customers in real-time. The company worked with development partners DWS to design and build the software.
EpicShot Experience Capture leverages the iPhone LiDAR Scanner, ARKit and pro camera system to identify when a customer jumps and instantly captures a sequence of video and stills of their experience. The EpicShot Guide App is designed to capture the customer experience during guided operations and enables guides to trigger static iPhone 15 Pro units along guided walking routes, to capture even more unique perspectives.
The technology was first piloted at the Taupō bungy site last year using 20 iPhone devices to capture a jumper’s 47-metre bungy. The tech proved successful, so EpicShot Experience Capture was introduced to its Queenstown Nevis Bungy site (the highest NZ bungy at 134 metres).
This week in Auckland, AJHBNZ’s two Sky Tower activities – SkyJump and SkyWalk – will begin using EpicShot before the system is rolled out to the Auckland Bridge Bungy and the original home of bungy, Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, in the next few months. The EpicShot Guide App is also being launched this week at Sky Tower for AJHBNZ’s guided operation, Skywalk, before being introduced at the company’s Auckland Bridge Climb activity.
“EpicShot turns the emotion and exhilaration of adventure experiences into viral visual media and our top priority with EpicShot has been to provide software solutions that remain innovative in the dynamic digital landscape,” AJHBNZ chief information officer Dan Waugh explains. “Whether it’s still shots, video or zoom capability, the final product is primed for platforms like TikTok and Instagram – and we’re already seeing hundreds of AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand guests go viral, with more than 100 million EpicShot views on social media.”
AJHBNZ is already in discussions with other large tourism operators about implementing the new technology at other experiences, Waugh adds.
Watch the documentary now: Big Thrills. Epic Footage. Captured on iPhone.