MUSEUMS & ZOOS
Kalamazoo Air Zoo
Still frames from B-17 Mission Film, Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, USA
As part of an entirely new aviation history museum at Kalamazoo, Michigan, Kalamazoo Air Zoo wanted to provide its visitors with a unique, immersive and realistic insight into the risks and emotional impact on US airmen of flying bombing raids over Germany during World War II.
To facilitate this AI Group was contracted in hardware terms to build a 60-seat 3D/4D theatre combining high definition 3D projection onto a 180 , 60 foot curved screen; full Dolby 5.1 digital surround sound; vibration and drop seating and wind, aroma and lighting effects.
The Air Zoo's brief for the 10-minute experiential content for the theatre was to immerse the audience in the experience and to highlight the risks and sacrifice made by these airmen in defence of freedom and democracy and ultimately to establish a fitting tribute to their memory. AI Group's creative approach was to tell the story from the point of view of the sole surviving crewmember of 'Kalamazoo Gal', a B-17 bomber in a raid over Germany in World War II, looking back over the past 50 years since the War. The end result uses computer graphics, actors, audio effects and music to tell the emotional and poignant story.
3D/4D Effects Theatre installed in 'Quonset Hut' at Kalamazoo Aviation History Museum, Michigan, USA
"We believe AI Group has pulled off one of the most powerful stories and presentations in the US and probably the world today."
- Museum director, Bob Ellis.
