X or Y Chromosomal Narration

Posted on 22 July 2013 by Mark C. Petersen

Seasonal STARGAZING posterThe most popular fulldome title in our catalog continues to be Seasonal STARGAZING, our set of 16 constellation identification shows.

Since its introduction in 2007, we’ve licensed the show to more than 100 sites around the world, including our most recent sale to a new Digital Starlab in Hong Kong, thanks (and congrats) to our reseller Savio Fong of Galaxy Scientific Group.

We incorporated a feature in the programs that’s really unique—but it hasn’t really provided us with as much customer feedback as we thought it would. We recorded both male and female narrators for the scripts, and we include them both in the show package.

There has been a long and continuing debate in the voice-over world about the effectiveness of programs using one gender versus the other. Naturally, personal preference has a lot to do with it, so we thought we’d put it to a test. By providing both the voices of long-time favorites Roger Thompson and Wren Ross, planetarians can choose which to present, of course. If they’re running the show regularly, it could simply be a matter of varying the routine for the show operator.

But we thought it might be a good research project for someone so inclined to test with audiences. Does either the male voice or the female voice help the audience understand the topics better? Given otherwise identical material, what CAN we tell about whether the audience learns more from one or the other?

With all the educators in the planetarium field, we’re surprised nobody has undertaken such a study. This fulldome show provides a perfect test subject. Or perhaps someone HAS done so. If so, we’d love to hear about it!

What do you think? Are you running Seasonal STARGAZING? Which voice do you use most frequently?  If you’re so inclined, share your thoughts about which voice you prefer. We’d love to hear from you.

If you’re not running the show, check out the demo preview we have posted to hear for yourself.

Let us know your thoughts!

 

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A Little Polar Bear Visits the Dome…

Posted on 15 July 2013 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

…And Wins Our Hearts

A polar bear in a planetarium? Why not? Domed theaters have always been used to tell stories about the cosmos. Astronomy, space science, planetary science—all have a place on the dome. We have been creating such stories for decades, and have even billed ourselves as “Storytellers of the Universe”. For us, if a show tells a compelling story, then it is likely to be successful with audiences. And, a fulldome show that combines polar bears, astronomy, climate change, and Arctic habitats—all based on a popular children’s book character—offers a lot to fulldome show audiences.

So, how did we get a polar bear show? A couple of years ago we received a review copy of a show called Lars the Little Polar Bear, produced at the Mediendom Kiel in Germany. As we watched, we were swept up in the tale of a plucky little polar bear who loves to explore his surroundings. It’s a cute and touching little story, based on the successful children’s book called Little Polar Bear and the Whales, authored by Hans de Beer in 2008. The show also includes a friendly introduction to the polar bear’s life cycle and its habitat in the Arctic, and offers a simple exposition about how climate change is melting the ice at the poles and affecting the lives of all Arctic creatures, including the polar bears.

I was immediately taken with the show. It is touching, friendly, and presents a careful, yet essential lesson about how our world is changing. That message isn’t heavy-handed—this is a show for young children, after all—no guilt trips or doomsday scenarios here. It’s just a clever picture-book story, together with a real-life documentary.

We immediately began working with Eduard Thomas, the show’s producer, to create a version that we could add to our catalog as a children’s show. We kept all of Kiel’s clever animations and imagery, which are based on the illustrations in the book. And, we kept all their documentary imagery in the second half of the show. We created our own short star-talk scene, to round out the show with the expected planetarium astronomy session—this time from the latitude of the Arctic circle. The result is a 27-minute exploration aimed at preschoolers through grade two and family audiences.

As a musician himself, Mark noted with pleasure how the music of Jens Fisher was particularly suited for the soundtrack. “Jens has a great knack for capturing the right moods to illustrate the script. From the happy-go-lucky, finger-snapping tune of the Lars story itself, to the dramatic suspense as we’re illuminated by the whaling ship’s searchlight, to the resonant filter sweeps to imitate whale sounds… he’s done it right,” Mark said. “When we get to the documentary, Jens shifts into a more somber key, and his restless, plaintive chords match the panoramic snow-swept vistas perfectly. The real tour-de-force is the ending, as the “last” polar bear dissolves to white and we launch into an arctic snowstorm flight. The score is so tender and sensitive yet without being cloying. I still get a lump in my throat every time I hear it—and I know what’s coming!”

We hope that theaters everywhere will open up their hearts and domes to little Lars!

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Fulldome Show News from Loch Ness Productions

Posted on 3 July 2013 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Quantity Discounts on CAS Shows

On behalf of the California Academy of Sciences, whose content we distribute, we’re happy to announce some special pricing for their three award-winning shows: Fragile Planet, Life: A Cosmic Story, and Earthquake.

Here’s how it works. When you buy a license for any CAS show, you can get a 15% discount on a license of equal length for another CAS show. Or, buy licenses of equal length for all three, and get a 20% discount on the total bill. License lengths are 1-, 3- or 10-year terms and prices can be found on each show’s Web page.

Just follow the links above to the shows you want to get more information on pricing and license information. You’ll also find links to trailers and previews so you can watch the show before you buy it.

These are amazing shows and among some of our favorite fulldome presentations. Each one covers important advances in biology, Earth and space sciences. Life: A Cosmic Story answers important questions about how life began.

Fragile Planet examines our home planet, the only haven for life we know of so far, using gorgeous scientific visualizations and cinematic flair.

Earthquake takes audiences on a breathtaking tour of our active planet and examines the tectonic shifts that rock our planet.

These shows fill educational show niches quite nicely and provide satisfying entertainment for general public and family audiences. So, if you’re in the market for new shows to fit your curriculum or your public programming schedule, check out this deal and give us a call!

 More Options for Chaos and Order

Love Chaos and Order but want it longer? Shorter? Either way, we’ve got you covered.

Media artists Rocco Helmchen and Johannes Kraas, creators of Chaos and Order – A Mathematic Symphony, have provided us with two additional versions of their epic math-and-music visualization show. You can now choose from a 3-, 4- or 5-movement symphony.

The original 40-minute show contains four movements—Form, Simulation, Algorithm and Fractal. In the new 29-minute, 3-movement edit, the first two movements have basically been combined into one, and the onscreen movement number captions were revised accordingly.

And, especially for the planetarium theaters, there is now a 51-minute extended version, adding a new meditative movement of slowly rolling stars; the dance of the planets in their orbits; the lines, grids, and wheels of the “classic” planetarium projector—though of course now rendered in fulldome, from DigitalSky 2.

We’d be happy to supply any of these shows for you—just contact us!

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