“Any time you’re trying to shoot aerials, the chances of you getting perfect weather for a seven-day stretch are almost impossible no matter where you’re at in the country,” said McMahon, 32, who has been flying for 16 years.

“We map everything out and then take all the highlights and then have the customer categorize those into must-haves and maybes. You try to do everything you can to cover the must-haves and depending on the day you try and get all the maybes, too.”

One of the days required 10 hours in the air. It started in Green Bay, went up the Door County Peninsula and over Washington Island, across the northern third of the state and ended in Superior, McMahon

said.

The film showcases the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, captures an eagle in flight and a flock of turkeys racing across a field.

An attempt to film the elk herd near Clam Lake came up empty but the camera found a wind surfer on Lake Michigan, sailboats on Lake Mendota in Madison and traffic at night on the Marquette interchange in Milwaukee.

In a coordinated scene at Old World Wisconsin, actors were in costume and played their roles as the helicopter flew over.

“They’re going to see how spectacular this state is,” Gorman said of viewers. “I think a lot of us have flown over it, but to see it this way, up close, is pretty amazing. It was quite a privilege to have that opportunity.”

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