Lobster, Artichokes and the Alamo. How Geomedia brought the coasts to San Antonio.

In a recent gig in advance of the Alamo Bowl, Valero wanted us to help them show how they provide gasoline from coast to coast. In order to do that, we had to bring Maine and California to Texas.

Lobster Imposter

When you think of Maine, you obviously think of salty sea dogs and lobster. The sea dog was easy – add a hat, add gloves and drop some “r”s and you’re set. The lobster, however, was a little trickier.

Our original idea was to work with what nature gave us and just use a real lobster. Unfortunately, in order to do that, we’d need a lobster wrangler on set to make sure we weren’t mistreating or otherwise damaging the crustacean. (No word on if we would be free to eat it after the shoot.) This seemed like more trouble than it was worth, so we decided to have a prop lobster made.

The thing about lobsters is, they’re really big. When you ask for an eight pound lobster, you may be surprised when the prop you get back is the size of a fire extinguisher. It dwarfed our salty sea dog! Strike two.

Finally we decided to ditch the practical effects and let our 3D animation and visual effects team take a crack at generating a lobster for us. We shot our sea dog holding a weighted and painted candle in his hand, so that everything would look right, and sent it to post. What came back was lifelike digital lobster that not only looked real, but moved too! Fisherman and lobster were united at last, as it should be.

Invasion of the Giant Artichoke

The artichoke, on the other hand, that bad boy was all real. It actually started as a joke. During casting, someone said it would be funny if the California representative was dressed as an artichoke. A quick google search turned up a costume designer who had made one, and we were sold.

Shipping it turned out to be pretty tricky. They don’t really make boxes designed for human-scale artichokes. When it arrived in Texas, the suit was a little dinged up. Luckily, director Murray Breit and a few handy assistants were able to repair it.

Of course, the thing was awkward to wear and a pain for our actor, so we had to call in Murray again to rig up a system to suspend the costume. His genius saved the shoot and the actor’s back.

With our actors and props in place, we shot our segments and went to work turning a set in San Antonio into two coastal vistas. Such a stunt required solid planning in the pre-production stage, on-set ingenuity during video production, and some solid time in the visual effects studio. Check out the video above to see the difference once our post production crew got their mitts on it.

P.S. If you’re looking for a 5 1/2 foot artichoke costume, we have one at a very good price.

Three Ways Zoos are Incorporating Technology

The world of education is changing rapidly. The proliferation of digital learning tools has fundamentally changed the way that many children learn and interact with the world around them. A 2013 survey by Technological Horizons in Education found that 31% of students use tablets in their studies and that 90% believe tablets make learning more fun. Studies show a link between tablet usage and increased test scores and many educators are pushing for further incorporation of new technologies in the classroom.

What does this mean for zoos? It means that as traditional classrooms evolve, supplementary sources of education need to keep up.

Here are three ways that zoos are using new technology to keep visitors engaged and learning.

Bringing the Past to Life with Augmented Reality – The Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia is using augmented reality to complement their Dinosaurs in the Wild exhibit. Visitors can download an app to their smartphones to scan special markers across the zoo. Each marker generates information about a particular dinosaur, quizzes and a special animation depicting the way the dinosaur moved, ate, and lived. The scanned dinosaurs are then stored in the user’s collection, adding a level of gamification to the experience. Jeremy Kenisky, of Geomedia, which created the app, said that the value of the technology goes beyond its ability to educate and engage visitors. “The primary goal of augmented reality at the zoo is to create a richer educational environment,” Kenisky said. “However, it’s also capable of providing a wealth of information to the zoo itself. From data about what parts of the park people spent the most time in, to statistics on how well visitors did on the quizzes. The application allows zoos to create this amazing new experience while simultaneously discovering new ways to improve upon its existing operations.”

Live Video from Inside Habitats – The Bristol Zoo recently participated in a trial run of the Wild:i application. Visitors to the zoo were able to use tablets at specific wi-fi hotspots located around the complex to watch short pre-recorded videos of the animals at the zoo, stream live videos, take quizzes, and navigate around the park. The sophisticated multicast technology allowed visitors to see crisp live footage of animals behaving in ways that might otherwise be missed due to inclement weather, lighting or shy animals.

Educational Video Games – The San Diego Zoo has a variety of fun, educational games on their website, starring some of their most popular animals. Players can take control of a mammoth, polar bear, or tiger and learn valuable lessons about conservation and the different types of wildlife they can encounter at the zoo. The games also present opportunities to adopt favorite creatures and contribute to the zoo. The games are a great way to excite and educate children before going to the zoo and reinforce learning after the trip.

As field trip budgets tighten and opportunities for learning outside of the classroom diminish, it’s vital that zoos do everything they can to promote a fun, effective learning environment. What do you think? How would you like to see new technology used to improve the zoo experience?