Filming Pilot Robotics’ Launch Video With Sony Wu in San Francisco

At FogLine Visuals, we film launch videos and founder content for software and AI startups, including Y Combinator companies and a16z speedrun teams. Our recent work with Pilot Robotics brought that production experience into robotics.

Sony Wu, co-founder and CEO of Pilot Robotics, worked with us to film his company’s launch video in San Francisco. Before Pilot, Sony worked at Google DeepMind on training Gemini Robotics models. He is now applying that experience to industrial vehicles and material handling.

Our job was to bring the production together around him: create the right visual setting, handle the lighting, cameras and sound, and help him communicate the company’s story on camera.

Building the production around the launch

For Pilot’s launch shoot, we created a dedicated corporate set and filmed with a Netflix-approved cinema camera, supported by professional lighting and a second camera capturing the side angle.

The main shot framed Sony speaking directly to the audience. The closer side angle gave the editor another perspective to work with. We shaped the lighting and background to give the video a polished, considered look while keeping the attention on the founder.

Every production decision supported the same goal: give Pilot a strong visual introduction, with Sony telling the story himself.

Turning the launch shoot into more founder content

As Sony shared more about Pilot, we saw an opportunity to make the shoot even more useful. Alongside the launch video, we suggested recording a separate founder Q&A.

We researched the startup further and developed questions around the story he had shared: the problems Pilot is tackling, the technology behind the company, and how his background connects to what he is building.

Francisk Hanchar, FogLine’s founder, guided the conversation from behind the camera. Sony answered in his own words, with focused questions helping him explain ideas that needed more room than a short launch announcement could provide.

For a busy founder, that meant getting more from one production session: the launch recording, plus additional answers the team could develop into founder videos, product explanations and short clips.

Working with founders who know their technology

We often work with founders and technical teams whose backgrounds include Google, Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta.

These founders bring years of research and engineering experience to the companies they are building. We bring the production experience to help them explain that work on camera: preparing the shoot, shaping the visual approach and guiding the conversation.

For Pilot, that meant filming the launch and making space for the deeper founder story in the same session. FogLine handled the production and filming, with post-production managed separately.

We are sharing selected frames from the shoot for now. The full video is not available to share yet.

Planning a launch for your robotics, AI or software company? Tell us what you’re building.