NBC combines massive video wall graphic with see-through video panel for Space Force special

NBC News Now offered an in-depth look at the Space Force, the newest branch of the U.S. military, to see how technology and recruits help protect the country and planet from threats from the final frontier today — and beyond.

Titled “Battlefield Space,” the special featured its own graphics package, including an impressive rendering of the world fed to the 40-foot curved video wall in Studio 1A, normally home to “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.” Also brought on set was a Planar LookThru unit that was visible in the extreme wide view of host Tom Costello’s intro to the special.

The panel, which allows video content to be fed to its semi-transparent screen to create the illusion that it’s floating in midair or somehow like a “Minority Report” style “hologram,” was used to showcase a starscape, creating an interesting metaphor to the potentially infinite size of the universe and numerous layers of stars, galaxies, planets and more that might be out there.

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The graphics package had some similarities to the ones NBC has used for coverage of eclipses and commercial space launches in the past, though had enough original elements to make it its own bonafide look, including a thin, minimalistic logotype accented with red, white and blue comet-like bursts and neon blue schematics of spacecraft.

The circular curve of the earth with a bright, burst of light lining it was a common element used throughout the special, including to create the lower third insert graphics.

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Additional fullscreens used throughout the special relied on the circular ring as more of a background element, with key imagery and facts showcases in rectangles with angled corners.

Like many specials, NBC created a highly edited extended open before Costello appeared on screen to grab viewers’ attentions and preview the content coming up.

The entire special is also available to watch on YouTube: