Peek Inside NASA, at Distant Exoplanets, and Mysterious Moons

Posted on 23 June 2015 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Three Boston Shows Explore New Worlds

Ever wondered about the engineering expertise behind spacecraft such as New Horizons or the James Webb Space Telescope? So did the creative staffers at the the Charles Hayden Planetarium in the Museum of Science, Boston. So they set out to share with their audiences the amazing story of technological feats that allow us to send probes to space, in their latest show From Dream to Discovery: Inside NASA.

We’re very pleased to make it available to you and your audiences, and welcome the Museum of Science programs to our growing catalog of fulldome shows.

With this new 30-minute show, you can take your audiences inside NASA, to experience engineering at its most amazing. It’s a great way to introduce your audiences to the “right stuff” it takes to explore space. Surf on over to From Dream to Discovery: Inside NASA for more information, including including prices and previews

We’re also extremely pleased to offer two other shows from Boston. Moons: Worlds of Mystery explores some of the smallest and most intriguing worlds of our solar system. From our own Moon to the strange oceans of Titan, this show gives an inside look at the many different kinds of worlds circling other planets (and dwarf planets and asteroids). Check out Moons: Worlds of Mystery for more information, previews, and prices.

Undiscovered Worlds: The Search Beyond Our Sun takes audiences on a journey of discovery and exploration to the worlds orbiting other stars.

Humans have long imagined exotic and intriguing worlds around other stars, and now, with the advent of the Kepler mission and the many ground-based observatories searching for exoplanets, science fiction is science fact. Visit Undiscovered Worlds: The Search Beyond our Sun for more details about the show, including previews and prices.

We hope you’ll consider these shows (and all our other offerings) when it comes time to order new content for your theater! Give us a call or drop us an email if you have questions about any of the shows we offer!

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The Cowboy Astronomer Lives On!

Posted on 22 June 2015 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

It All Began with a Phone Answering Message

People ask me where we get ideas for our shows. Most of the time, such as in The Voyager Encounters or Hubble Vision 2, current events drive the creation of a fulldome show. Other times, we have been approached at meetings or in email about specific show ideas. That’s how we got Larry Cat in Space, when someone talked to us about doing a show about the Moon.

The creation of one of the most popular shows we’ve ever done, The Cowboy Astronomer, began with a phone message we got from a planetarium director in Gillette, Wyoming. He had an upcoming rodeo event in his town and wanted a show that would attract attendees. He said, in so many words, “Hey guys, it’s Nello! Let’s do a show about cowboys and the stars! Give me a call!”

And that was the very fertile seed for a show that has been giving audiences a unique look at the universe through the eyes of a cowboy since 1993. Although it began as an “old style” slide-tape show, it was converted to fulldome format in 2005 (with  artistic After Effects™ help from Jason Talley, now of the St. Charles Parish Library planetarium in Luling, LA). It remains one of our most-popular presentations. We are often touched when someone comes up to us to say that they loved seeing it or running it in their theater.

Recently, we got a clipping in the mail from Paul Zeleski, current director of the Campbell County Schools Planetarium in Gillette, Wyoming. It was from the Gillette News Record about The Cowboy Astronomer, and reviewed the show, its history, and talked about Nello Williams, who is the retired director of the planetarium.

Nello’s original call set in motion a very special time for us, where our little team of creatives came up with something the planetarium world hadn’t seen before. It put me to work writing the script and consulting extensively with Nello to create our cowboy. It challenged Mark to come up with styles of music he hadn’t performed since his days gigging around as part of a country-blues-delta-funk-doowop band called The Beegle Boys. And, he worked with artist Tim Kuzniar to create the memorable scenes against which our cowboy told his tales. Tim’s charge was to recreate windswept Wyoming vistas, mountain ranches, and some new constellation outlines for some Native American star tales.

Of course, the show wouldn’t be the same without cowboy poet Baxter Black, who so personably brought our cowboy astronomer to life. I still remember standing in his ranch studio with Nello and Mark, listening to him perform the work and realizing that he was a kindred spirit who saw immediately what we were trying to do with the show.

Doing productions like this makes the job of fulldome show producer fun. You just never know when you’re going to find yourself writing about ancient medicine wheels, roping calves, husband-and-wife astronomers, and baseball diamonds in the sky, all seen through the eyes of a cowboy. That’s part of what makes The Cowboy Astronomer such a great memory for me and a continuing delight for audiences.

Kathy Brown, and her editors at the newspaper, did such a good job of telling the story of the show that we contacted them to express our thanks, and asked permission to share the article with you. They said yes, so now you can read ‘The Cowboy Astronomer’ is a timeless legacy for Wyoming, free of charge.

Thanks to all in Gillette, and once again to Nello T. Williams!

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The Transformational Beauty of Bella Gaia

Posted on 9 June 2015 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Bella GaiaIn 2008, attendees of the International Planetarium Society meeting in Chicago were treated to an amazing performance by Kenji Williams, the artist behind the show Bella Gaia. He combined gorgeous music with ground-based images of Earth as well as visions of our planet from space, in reproducing something called the “Overview Effect”. The result completely wowed the audience. Since that time, he has performed it around the world, in addition to special performances for IMERSA Summit attendees. Now, Kenji has created an award-winning fulldome video of the performance, and we are pleased to be offering it in our catalog of shows.

kenjiwilliamsWe had the opportunity to correspond with Kenji about the show, and asked him to share with us — and you — his insights into creating this beautiful fulldome presentation.

LNP: Bella Gaia is a beautiful performance piece, as we all saw in Chicago. Now it’s a fulldome show. What challenges did you face when it came to making the fulldome version? What were your hopes as you transformed it?

KW: The aim of making the Bella Gaia fulldome version was to bring the magic of the live experience — mainly a transformational musical and visual journey — into the immersive world of the dome. The challenge was in the terrestrial live-action sequences, as there wasn’t exactly the quality of content out there that I wanted. Yet, we were working with a very low budget and didn’t want to get into that CG look. But, it is wonderful how limitations inspire creativity and I believe that is reflected in this unique production.

LNP: Many fulldome theaters are in educational settings and their operators usually want shows to support their curriculum needs. What would you tell them about the educational values of Bella Gaia? I’ve often wondered if the idea that music boosts educational performance areas is a good idea to bring up when pitching the show? 

KW: It is no longer fringe science that proves that the human brain needs both the right and left brain working together to learn. Neuroscience and even trendy terms like “STEAM” prove that art needs to be part of science education. Bella Gaia engages the emotions, engages the right brain and inspires our emotional intelligence.

Don’t just take my word for it — we won a NASA education grant based on using Bella Gaia as the initial engagement portal to inspire students to get deeper into the science, through more traditional educational workshops or materials that we can provide.

Our NASA education program conducted surveys proving that Bella Gaia works: 90% of respondents reported a greater understanding of the way the Earth works after just one show, and we doubled the respondents from 31% to 64% who said Earth plays a very important role in their personal lives and their families after just one show. The planetarium and education worlds must open their minds about the over-dependence on narration. One might think that the lack of narration would limit the educational potential. To the contrary, we have proven that it opens up new worlds of effective science education.

LNP: A large part of the show’s effectiveness comes from this “overview effect” that you and the astronauts you’ve talked to describe. How is this different from the usual fulldome effect, where shows take audiences over landscapes and through spacescapes?

KW: The “overview effect” is a specific transformative effect that occurs when viewing the Earth from space. This life-changing experience that astronauts report leaves them with a deep sense of connection and appreciate for our home planet. All I can say is Bella Gaia has a “magic” method and formula that has had five astronauts vouching for the realism of the experience (an accurate simulation of space flight) and the NASA surveys mentioned above proved that Bella Gaia transforms people in the same way that astronauts feel after a real overview effect.

LNP: Where has the show played so far? What feedback do you get from fulldome theaters that have shown it?

KW: The fulldome version of Bella Gaia has played in many theaters, including the Macau Science Center in China, the California Academy of Sciences, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science Gates Planetarium, Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium, the Boston Museum of Science, and many others. We received the Best Soundtrack award in Macau, and the show was a Top 3 finalist in the science Media Awards in Boston. I get many audience members saying it was such a refreshing change from the usual planetarium show and they wished there was more programming like Bella Gaia.

LNP: Are you planning a sequel, a Bella Gaia 2?

KW: Yes! We would love to make a longer version, and shoot our own terrestrial content.

Take our word for it, Kenji Williams’s work on this fulldome show is superb! If you’re looking for an artistic program that utilizes both science imagery and music, you can’t go wrong with Bella Gaia. Feel free to surf on over to the show’s web pages for previews, pricing, and ordering information.

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