Last Day of the DeLorean at Avantis Video

The concept for this video was to show the DeLorean departing Avantis as it returned to its permanent home — a fond farewell to a vehicle that had become a talking point both within the company and at several events over the years. Although it wasn’t the hero car from the first Back to the Future film, it was a replica produced as a backup vehicle for use on set, and its dashboard had been signed by Christopher Lloyd and producer Bob Gale.

After learning that the DeLorean would be leaving the company permanently, the social media executive and I developed the idea of capturing its final departure on video, by creating a structured sequence of shots to follow the car as it left the building. We then brainstormed potential angles, working within the limitations of the industrial estate — such as restricted space and moving vehicles — and considered how these shots would come together in the final edit.

As the DeLorean had previously been central to Avantis’ presence at the Bett EdTech show at the ExCel Arena, we incorporated archival footage from that event as a nostalgic callback. I re-drew and recoloured the main titles and created new end titles, carefully matching their timing to those used in the original film trilogy. I also replicated the typeface, transition style, and precise timing of the opening titles from Back to the Future Part III for the location and time captions, ensuring the video remained as faithful as possible to the film’s visual style.

Due to time constraints, we were only able to capture two short, gimbal-assisted takes of the new footage. Additionally, the company’s location made it impossible to reach even 28 mph, let alone the iconic 88 mph required for time travel, so recreating the famous flaming tyre tracks was not a relevant effect to add.

The video was ultimately left without a soundtrack, both due to time limitations and because the original music and sound effects are so iconic; anything less authentic risked feeling like a weak imitation and detracting from the overall piece. Overall, the video serves as a fitting tribute to the DeLorean and a valuable opportunity to make use of a unique piece of film memorabilia. It also allowed us to create something distinctive and engaging for the Avantis social media channels.