For Marquette residents and commuters, the V.I.O. sign on downtown Front Street is a fixture, and has been for a decade.
But what's behind the sign? It's a product that's being used in award-winning documentary films, adventure expeditions, extreme sports, and even by military forces across the globe.
V.I.O. makes a point-of-view camera that shoots high-quality video from just about anywhere: on a helmet, mounted on a vehicle, even tied to a fishing pole. V.I.O. stands for "video in and out," says Clint Slack, V.I.O.'s marketing director, and that's what its cameras are used for: point-of-view video anywhere, anytime, even in the harshest conditions.
The company began as Viosport, in 2000, founded by U.P. native Dave Ollila. It started out as something very different: a website hosting videos of mountain biking, motocross and other sports. Ollila rigged up his own helmet camera to film point-of-view shots, and soon people started to ask how the footage was shot. Viosport then came up with a design to manufacture the cameras, and started down the path it is on today.
"We found that the problem with the original design is it was not a complete off-the-shelf solution," Slack says. So they added data storage, recording and a host of accessories including a more rugged frame, and different mounts for different uses.
"We wanted a product that would be able to cross over into any market," he says.
Now, as of 2007, there is a consumer version of the
V.I.O. POV, designed for sports and entertainment uses, and a public safety version, called the V.I.O.-T, for tactical use.
Helmet camera company
Third Eye Productions in Queenstown, New Zealand, uses the V.I.O. POV 1.5 to film customers' outdoors adventures, including skiing, snowboarding and mountain biking. Customers hire out a camera, attach it to their headgear, and can film up to five hours of action video. Third Eye Productions then edits, formats, and burns the footage and sends it to the customer as a video memory of their experience in Queenstown.
Mike Topp, owner of Third Eye Productions, says the all-in-one unit makes the process easy for anyone to shoot point-of-view film.
"It's simple; I mount the cam head to the goggle strap, place the recording unit into a breast pocket or pack, and then use the wireless remote to start and stop," Topp says.
And it's been a success for Topp so far; his business is growing each year, he says, and feels the V.I.O. camera was the right choice for the work he does.
"They are durable and reliable, I haven't had one break yet, and the footage quality is great," Topp says. "Plus they look cool too; it's the best looking cam you can buy. The lens is small and lightweight, (while) others are a lot bigger." He adds the recording capacity – eight gigabytes -- and long battery life on the camera also make it ideal for filming action sports.
Slack says while V.I.O.'s POV cameras are higher-end compared to some on the market, they also aren't the more disposable style of POV camera, and instead are made with durability and ruggedness to withstand repeated use.
"There is more competition at the low end of the (camera) market, but our market is not often first time users. These are made for people who are serious about video and serious about competition," he says.
Some examples of videos shot with the camera are available both at Third Eye's website and on V.I.O.'s video sharing page, the
V.I.O. Voice.
True to the company's background, action sports customers are still the biggest users of the POV camera, but other uses are beginning to flourish.
"We have a number of professional production companies that use our products," Slack says. They include producers for MTV, the Discovery Channel, A&E, and CNN.
Besides the consumer and professional uses of the camera, V.I.O. also uses the same technology in a different body, as the tactical version of the camera. It has various features needed by the public safety and military communities, such as on-screen time and date stamping, view-only software to keep the video from being edited, and other attributes and accessories, both in software and hardware.
"That version was made very much in response to inquires and feedback from the public safety and military folks," says Slack. "It's a tougher market to crack, because they know exactly what they want."
V.I.O.'s cameras are used by various military forces around the world, including multi-national troops in Afghanistan, and the Dutch version of the Marines.
A Danish-made documentary film following soldiers in Afghanistan, Armadillo, used V.I.O. cameras for point-of-view shots, and recently won its category at the Cannes Film Festival.
But while tactical uses are growing, it's still the consumer/professional product that makes up the bulk of V.I.O.'s growth.
"Sales have been very good, and we've launched a number of accessories to complement the POV platform," Slack says. And, there will be a whole new product out this fall and another next year, although V.I.O. isn't ready to talk about details yet.
For now, V.I.O. will continue helping adventure and film trailblazers record what they do and share it with others in their trademark exciting POV style.
Kim Hoyum is a freelance writer based in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Her credits include contributor to Geek Girl on the Street as well as a regular writer for Marquette Monthly. Hoyum is a graduate of Northern Michigan University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in writing.