Outdoor heat pump unit beside a white clapboard house in autumn — The opening shot: the half of the system nobody looks at.

The same unit shown as a glowing blue x-ray — An x-ray pass shows every part that gets checked.

Blue gas flame under a burner — Down the duct to the burner: blue flame, good sign.

Warm living room with a large window over a lake — The thermostat panel: scroll and the room warms from 61 to 72 degrees.

Side-by-side crops of the outdoor unit, 720p stretched against the 2K upscale — Grille, shutters and leaves, 720p stretched against 2K: five times the fine detail.

Web and stores, concept build

northwind

A heating and air site that follows the warm air in: through the unit, down the duct, into the room.

How it was made

Planned one unbroken camera path: the outdoor unit, an x-ray of it, through the fan, down the duct, past the burner, up through a floor register into the room.

Generated nine clips and chained each on the last frame of the one before.

Built four working panels between the scenes: a thermostat that warms the room, a filter check, a system chooser and a repair-or-replace calculator using the 5,000 rule.

Upscaled eight of the nine clips to 2560; the fan dive, mostly motion blur, stays at 720p.

Tested on phone, iPad, laptop and 2560 screens; fixed a card covering a heading on phones and a calculator that never changed its answer.