Across the world Museums are finding new ways to engage visitors with their content as they seek to maintain relevance to new generations. Museum visitors are becoming increasingly discerning consumers, often experiencing high quality media content in other areas of their lives such as TV, films, computer games and theme parks.
At the same time as looking to Museums as the authoritative voice on their subject and a trusted source of educational content, visitors want to be entertained. On a day out, often with a family or in a social group, they want to enjoy their learning experience. Successful museums are responding to this demand, making use of the opportunities that digital content brings for explaining complex subjects in highly entertaining ways.
When the Field Museum, Chicago embarked on a major gallery re-development to house SUE, the most complete, best preserved, and largest T.rex ever discovered; they commissioned UK’s Atlantic Productions to produce cutting-edge animations for the new 5,100 square feet experience. Atlantic Productions is a BAFTA and EMMY winning independent company producing factual content for broadcasters, distributors, cultural and academic institutions around the world.
After the year-long project, SUE was updated to reflect the latest in 21st century T. rex research. SUE is now in a “private suite” that educates museum visitors about the T.rex’s world. The animations bring to life how the T. rex would have interacted with other dinosaurs and what the landscape looked like in the Hell Creek Formation in the Late Cretaceous.
Atlantic Productions worked side-by-side with Field Museum palaeontologists Dr. Peter Makovicky, William Simpson, and Dr. Thomas Cullen to ensure every detail of the animations represents current scientific knowledge about the creatures and environment depicted. For example, the textures of the skin are modelled on fossilised dinosaur skin, and the 3D model for SUE was built up from a scan of the mounted fossil itself
The scenes which run in a loop in the galleries, include the dramatic clash between SUE and a Triceratops, SUE stalking a herd of Edmontosaurus as well as depicting SUE having a poo. A custom soundscape featuring the environmental noises of the landscapes accompanies the animations, delivering a cinematic sound experience in the galleries.
Atlantic Productions partnered with the Field Museum to produce cutting-edge animations for an experience which encapsulated SUE, the largest and best preserved T Rex ever to be discovered
The animations are displayed on six rear-projection screens, each measuring 49 by 106 inches and resulting in an awesome total width of 24 feet 6 inches. They are rendered in ultra-high resolution at 6000 by 2160 pixels resulting in a bespoke widescreen format.
The result is a dramatic setting for SUE that delivers the ‘wow’ factor for today’s discerning visitors at the same time as providing scientifically accurate context for the T.rex.
“The animations look so real, and scientists checked every detail—if you want to know how T. rex really looked and behaved in its habitat, this is probably the best way in the world to learn.” Jaap Hoogstraten, Director of Exhibitions, The Field Museum, Chicago
ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS
Atlantic Productions is an independent company producing factual content for cultural and academic institutions, broadcasters and distributors around the world. Atlantic sits at the heart of a group of specialist content creation businesses encompassing immersive and interactive experience creation including virtual, augmented and mixed reality, 2D and 3D production, visual effects and CGI creation.
Atlantic and its associate companies have won many of the most coveted awards for content creation, including 11 Emmys and 4 BAFTA’s as well as museum and other experience awards. Over the past 28 years, it has built a reputation for world-class storytelling, enhanced by exceptional production values typically enabled by, and incorporating the latest technologies.
Atlantic has specialized in content creation in the natural history, science and history spheres and have established a reputation for their collaborative approach to working with the world’s leading academics, scientists, engineers and historians to ensure that we produce (on occasion, uniquely) factually accurate illustrations of their specialist subject matter which are deployed across a broad spectrum of media. Atlantic regularly creates content for platforms ranging from IMAX and giant screen cinemas and in-gallery installations to television, the web, hand-held devices, headsets and other wearable devices.
Notable credits include a 26 foot in gallery digital diorama for the Field Museum, Chicago featuring their T.rex SUE; Space Descent VR with Astronaut Tim Peake for the Science Museum London; David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive for Sky, David Attenborough’s First Life VR at Natural History Museum, London, Hawking: Can you hear me? For Sky, History of the Emirates for Image Nation and 21 natural history projects with David Attenborough across TV, Giant Screen, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality.
Atlantic Productions
Brook Green House
4 Rowan Road
Hammersmith
London W6 7DU
Telephone: 44 (0)20 8735 9300
Email: emily@emilysmithassociates.com
Website: www.atlanticproductions.tv
Atlantic Productions will be part of the Experience UK delegation at the American Alliance of Museums Meeting and Expo, taking place this week at Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Interested in their offer? Drop by the Experience UK Stand (Booth 1078) to learn more between May 20-21.
