National WWII Museum's Beyond All Boundaries 4D Experience

While in New Orleans for New Year's , we stopped in to see The National WWII Museum and the amazing Beyond all Boundaries show in the Solomon Victory Theater, which just opened in November.  The show is a "4D" mixture of video, archival images, graphics, computer animation and real, 3D objects. 

For example, the nose of a bomber (click each photo for a larger version to see the detail):

The guard tower at a concentration camp:

Anti-aircraft gun on a carrier:

And a very realistic closing sequence:

Here's a trailer:

Credits from this backgrounder:

Concept, Design, and Production: The Hettema Group
Media Design and Production: Mousetrappe
Lighting Design: Visual Terrain
Audio Visual Design and Control: Electrosonic
Show Action Equipment Design and Fabrication: LA ProPoint
Special Effects: Rando Productions
Lighting Integration: Bandit Lites
Technical Direction and Coordination: It’s Alive Co.

I found this video of the smoke machine for the show being tested:

Also, Audio By the Bay says they did music and sound design.

We saw it on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.  They had a few glitches at the start, and it took them about five minutes to get the show running.  But the show ran perfectly after that, and aside from some grey light from the video projectors (which were apparently shuttered for really dark scenes), the show was very seamlessly presented.  There are several physical layers, and quite a few 3D objects in front of and behind the screens.  The sound was great, and so was the lighting, and the graphics were very well done.  The nuclear explosion strobe sequence was pretty amazing too. It's a great show and well worth a visit!

Comments

[Patricia Rush]

Audio By The Bay ROCKS! Everything I've heard from them is AMAZING!

[Ed-Whoever posted this did not post an email or website, but did post from Tustin, California, about 8 miles from the company's headquarters, so I'm assuming s/he works for the company]

[Anon]

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is meant by "4D" video?

[John Huntington]

Sorry for my delayed response, I've been traveling. According to Wikipedia, a 4D film is, "A 4-D film (sometimes written 4D film) is a marketing term that describes an entertainment presentation system combining a 3-D film with physical effects in the theatre, which occur in synchronization with the film. Because the physical effects are expensive to set up, 4-D films are currently presented only at special venues such as theme parks and amusement parks."