Visitor Attractions - Bringing Europe's museums to life

Bringing the bard to life

Working to a 46-page brief that involved bringing the Bard to life in a space that can only accommodate 25 people at any one time is certainly a challenge. But that was the gauntlet thrown down by independent charity the Shakespear Birthplace Trust to Sarner, as part of a full renovation of the Shakespeare birthplace visitor centre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The centre, which is set within the grounds of the house Shakespeare was born, was previously a static gallery of artefacts and cased literature, and was used as a thoroughfare allowing access to Shakespeare's cottage and gardens.

Sarner designed and implemented all of the production elements, from set design and facia to hardware and software installation, video production and script writing.

The client brief specified the introduction of a theatrical element into the museum with the objective of having visitors engage with the subject matter, rather than pass the exhibits by, as was previously happening. Sarner began the project by stripping the interior back and redesigning it to create five zones that guide visitors through the exhibition in controlled groups via lighting and automatic doors, and timed a-v presentations that are of paramount importance to the installation as a form of crowd control.

The exhibition, designed by Sarner's creative director Michael Bennett, features video segments, created for each of the zones. Actual artefacts are revealed as part of the show sequences. The rebuilding work took place between Oct 08-Jan 09, with the a-v work beginning straight after that and finishing on schedule for Easter weekend.

According to Chris Hawes, Sarner's head of engineering: 'This was an immense task with many elements. We were required to create an immersive acoustic experience together with the visuals, projection and other effects. The show works in batches and needs to be perfectly orchestrated, from the controlled flow of people through the exhibition and timed stays in each zone to the a-v presentations and automatic doors ushering visitors from one area to the next.'

Rotterdam Port Experience

Rotterdam's centuries of history as a major international port are now represented at the Rotterdam Port Experience (RPEX), a visitor attraction located on the waterfront under Rotterdam's Erasmus Bridge.

The RPEX uses projectiondesign 1080p HD projectors in four areas: the entrance lobby, elevator and two cinemas to attract tourists, local schoolchildren, retired former port workers and business people with a series of multimedia displays designed to showcase the city's history, diversity and range of trading activities.

Rob Haarlem, managing director of DEP BV, was hired to turn the RPEX team's creative ideas into technical practicalities, and was ultimately responsible for the multimedia infrastructure of the project, including the evaluation and integration of all a-v equipment, lighting, IT and electrical systems, as well as content management and control. DEP was also responsible for the systems' physical installation.

At the entrance are two projectiondesign F12 1080 projectors, showing a multimedia presentation about the Port of Rotterdam, its daily workings and how it might look in the future. This leads on to a bicycle exhibit area where visitors can virtually cycle along the Rotterdam harbour.

A scenic movie is being projected via another F12 1080 using rear projection to give the visitor the feeling they are actually cycling around the harbor. To make it more realistic and life-like, the pedals are connected to the HD playback player which has variable speeds. In the elevator, a F32 1080 projector shows material that gives visitors the impression that they are travelling through a tube, surrounded by sea, with fully synchronised sound and light as in the lobby.

The RPEX also has two cinemas, one using front projection, the other rear-projection, using a F12 1080 in each. One screen shows a contemporary description of the port while the other offers abstract reflections about the area.

Projectiondesign's sales manager, Benelux, Gerben van den Berg, said: 'Full HD 1080 is becoming a default standard in visitor attractions such as this. RPEX needs to have multimedia displays that appeal to people from all ages.'

Futuroscope Full-dome in cosmic projection

The kit list includes a Fidelity Bright digital full-dome system, six projectiondesign F32 series high-performance DLP projectors with SXGA+ resolution projectors delivering a breathtaking 21-metre tilted dome theatre.

The venue is The Futuroscope Theme Park in France, which earlier this year reopened with a revamped its planetarium 'Destination Cosmos'.

The park initially opened in 1987 and since then has hosted more than 35m visitors. It is the second largest in France and uses multimedia, cinematographic futorscope and a-v technology. Located in the department of Vienne, north of Poitiers, it has several 3D cinemas along with other attractions and shows.

In 2002, Destination Cosmos opened alongside the 21 existing pavilions in the park, housing a fulldome theatre and an interactive pre-show area to engage visitors with astronomy and space science. It has become one of the highest attended planetariums in Europe, with approximately 800,000 visitors walking through its doors each year. The 21-metre tilted dome theatre has been screening a French-dubbed version of the American Museum of Natural History's (AMNH) fulldome productions 'Search for Life' to an audience of up to 350 people at a time.

The planetarium uses a Fidelity Bright digital full-dome system provided by immersive theater provider Global Immersion. Six projectiondesign F32 series high-performance DLP projectors with SXGA+ resolution projectors have been matched for the planetarium's show. Global Immersion was contracted to upgrade the existing system with a six-channel Fidelity Bright system including a full contentmanagement and storage system.

The Fidelity system used at Futuroscope includes a custom Fidelity Media Server cluster - Global Immersion's high-resolution, uncompressed fulldome server system. This open-architecture setup will be used to show AMNH's 'Cosmic Collisions'.

Ancient Rome in 3D Rome

Rewind provides Rome's visitors with an immersive and virtual 3D-stereo animated experience combining tens of thousands of virtual characters and with its accurately recreated buildings, it brings the ancient city to life at around 310 AD.

A high-resolution and uncompressed Delta Media Server from 7thSense drives immersive and 3D-stereoscopic displays in the pre-show and main theatre areas at the Rome Rewind Attraction located just metres away from the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. The system was designed and integrated by 7thSense Italian partner, Officine SRL in 2008.

The installation aims to understand better the architectural sights of the city today and is a fascinating adventure back in time. The project was realised in partnership with the city of Rome and was developed by an international group of architects, archaeologists, historians and digital designers.

In the pre-show area, the Delta Media Server drives eight large plasma screens which are positioned above eye height in an innovative skylight position.

Visitors are able look up and to assume the roles of ancient gladiators about to be hoisted into a lift to the main Colosseum theatre which is made to be complete with moving platforms and floor. Visitors reach the main amphitheatre, visitors witness animated images across a passive 3D-stereoscopic screen measuring nine metres wide, driven by the Delta Media Server.

The server is integrated with Ophrys' Orpheo hand-held audio player which contains audio and can be adjusted by visitors to fulfil a variety of language requirements.

The Delta Media Server also provides timecode and track synchronisation to the Orpheo audio using LED emitters to ensure that visitors in the amphitheatre are able to visualise and hear a lip-synced audio track in their own language.

For Ian MacPherson, director at 7thSense: 'Rome Rewind is very well located, being 80m from the Colosseum, and the attention to detail shown in the creation of the attraction is brilliant. Hand-painted frescos line the corridors leading to the pre-show, giving the visitor the immersive impression of entering the actual colliseum through one of the underground tunnels used by gladiators, and the pre show is exciting, featuring moving floors and doors and an unusual viewpoint for visitors looking up through the Colosseum floor at a gladitorial battle. The main show is a great romp through the coliseum guided by a virtual visitor with good use of 3D stereo to engage the visitors.'

He adds: 'Delta's flexibility was key in this installation, since it was used in two separate areas of the theatre in two different modes; preShow area - eight bezel-less plasmas overhead were driven from a single Delta server; and main 3D Theatre - 2 x HD projectors were driven in Passive Stereo onto a 9m wide screen. For this installation, Delta customised the handheld Orpheo audio players from Ophrys with the video from Delta so that audiences could choose which language to listen to the commentary. Other ambient eight-channel sound was generated from Delta's audio outputs.'