ntikos
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2009
- Messages
- 368
US is on a roll...
see full story here...
http://www.themeparkadventure.com/Universal_Studios_Hollywood.htm#kongpreview
It's a very large-scale (literally) operation, and one that Universal Creative is very excited about. So excited in fact, that they made a highly-irregular move and invited a handful of people from the media to the Kong film test site to witness the work in progress on March 23, 2010. This is so rare in fact, that in Theme Park Adventure's 15 years, we have never before been asked "officially" to come witness a full-blown mock-up of an attraction at a test facility; it just doesn't happen.
I began speculating immediately as to why this was happening. Being somewhat jaded when it comes to attractions (it's become quite the challenge to elicit an "Ooooh!" or "Ahhhh!" out of me over the years), my main curiosity was not the film itself - but rather why we'd been invited to come see it in such a setting. My own guess is that Universal is caught in a media attention tug of war at the moment that is dominated by two more 800-pound gorillas - World of Color at Disney's California Adventure and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. What a better way to add your own gorilla into the mix than inviting members of the media to your own attraction's test site months ahead of its debut? If that was one of the intentions of our secret gathering, I applaud Universal - because intended or not, I think it was a smart move. In tweeting live updates to our followers from the facility and in writing this full story here on Theme Park Adventure, it's absolutely been met with great interest and excitement from our own readers - Kong 360 is now definitely on the fan radar as more than a small blip mentioned in passing as they ride the Studio Tour at Universal Hollywood.
The very small group of us was invited in to the hangar by Valerie Johnson-Redrow, Kong 360's Show Producer, including online sites Shock Till You Drop and Theme Park Insider, which have also published Kong 360 stories. Once inside, it was immediately apparent that the scope of Kong is enormous, with two huge screens running the length of the hangar's interior. In the center of the hangar sits a full-size mock-up of a tram from the Universal Studios Tour. The version that we experienced Kong in is a static "tram" - other types of testing have already been done at the facility as well, including sound and movement, which I'll get to in a moment.
After a teasing glimpse of the Kong mock-up, we were escorted into a smaller room serving as the site's show control area. There, we signed legal waivers (you know, in case any unruly dinosaurs got us or King Kong accidentally tossed a T-Rex on top of our tram...) and were given a brief but detailed run-down of the technical aspects of King Kong 360 3-D by Valerie.
King Kong 360 3-D is the largest 3-D experience in the world, dropping Tour riders right into the middle of all the action you would expect to find on Skull Island. That's no line, folks... this show building and the scale of this attraction is massive; absolutely impressive from the technical end of the stick.
Under the watchful eyes and very involved hands of Peter Jackson, King Kong 360 3-D will take guests from the Universal Studios Backlot and immerse them into the jungle environment of Skull Island, the mythical home of King Kong - and other movie-sized monsters. Unlike its predecessor, the original King Kong attraction, Kong 360 will bring Universal guests up-close and personal with dinosaurs and the King himself with the use of stunning 3-D technology and in-theater effects such as water, wind and scents.
Long-time fans of the original Kong have asked us if this new version will feature the "banana breath" that the beloved Bob Gurr ape was famous for.
"We didn't want to go back and do something that had been done before," explained Johnson-Redrow. "In this new attraction, we've actually taken that original gag and have updated it - this time around, we're giving you dino breath that will smell just as bad as it sounds!"
Not only will guests be blasted with a whiff of Jurassic halitosis, they'll also be pelted by T-Rex slobber as part of the attraction's effects.
"This is a completely immersive experience," continued Johnson-Redrow. "Multiple scents including the jungle itself and the dinosaur breath will really help transport you to another place." Valerie understands the fan appreciation and curiosity of whether or not Kong will have his banana breath again, but assures us that the new and improved sensory experience will be so over-the-top that guests young and old alike will be thrilled by the new scent effects going in to Kong 360.
Continuing the explanation of the technical side of Kong, our group made its way into the film's server room. Universal Creative and Electrosonic have come together to deliver the most impressive show film experience ever created for a theme park. The servers that are in place at the Kong test site will be transported and set up permanently at the Kong show building at Universal Studios Hollywood as soon as the film itself is complete and final on-site installation takes place.
The Kong 360 film itself is being produced by Weta Digital, and features two screens that will show high-definition projections simultaneously on either side of the tram, giving Universal visitors the sensation of being completely surrounded by the action. Here's the truth of the matter - King Kong 360 isn't actually 360 degrees; the show building has to have an entrance and exit, so the screen is not completely circular. However, the sheer size of the thing completely encompasses riders' field of vision - side-to-side and up and down. The Only way to not see the screens will be to turn around in your seat in the rear car of the tram and look at the entrance where you just came in to the show building, or from the front car of the tram, if you happen to stare past the driver and Tour Guide through the windshield of the vehicle toward the show building's exit. And we're sure fans will, because that's the nature of the beast; we look at every aspect of an attraction after the initial "wow" phase is over and we start picking it apart in our minds. The "average" guest however, will absolutely feel as though Kong 360 is completely surrounding the tram.
After leaving the server room, we climbed aboard the tram mock-up in the center of the hangar, which is very close to how the actual trams will be situated inside the show building at Universal Studios Hollywood. I can attest that guests will absolutely not notice that they are not actually surrounded by 360 degrees of film; it's a non-issue. The screens themselves are massive - completely ground-breaking and unique. 16 high-definition projectors will display the film at 6,000 x 2048 resolution at 60 frames per second, giving guests an extremely clear, very real experience. The show in total is approximately 90,000 frames for those keeping tech count and makes up about a terabyte of information on the servers.
Since the show is completely digital, Weta can produce bits and pieces and they can be incorporated into the show at the test site easily. The film literally changes from day-to-day as progress is made on the project.
What our group saw was a very rough version of the film, not complete and definitely not anywhere near its final version. As we put on our black plastic 3-D glasses, the footage we saw was silent, and running at 30 frames per second - half of what the final version will be projected at. Even at the reduced speed rate, the clarity of the film is stunning - and the multiple projector integration of the film is perfectly seamless. The dinosaurs and Kong himself were nothing much more than rough animatics at this time; even so, we were instructed not to film or shoot any images of the screens while the film was being shown to us. As a fan, you can bet that my hands were squeezing my camera tightly and my fingers were itching to shoot images for all of you so that you could see what we did! The attraction will open soon enough at Universal Studios Hollywood and you're all going to be able to experience it for yourselves soon enough!
see full story here...
http://www.themeparkadventure.com/Universal_Studios_Hollywood.htm#kongpreview
It's a very large-scale (literally) operation, and one that Universal Creative is very excited about. So excited in fact, that they made a highly-irregular move and invited a handful of people from the media to the Kong film test site to witness the work in progress on March 23, 2010. This is so rare in fact, that in Theme Park Adventure's 15 years, we have never before been asked "officially" to come witness a full-blown mock-up of an attraction at a test facility; it just doesn't happen.
I began speculating immediately as to why this was happening. Being somewhat jaded when it comes to attractions (it's become quite the challenge to elicit an "Ooooh!" or "Ahhhh!" out of me over the years), my main curiosity was not the film itself - but rather why we'd been invited to come see it in such a setting. My own guess is that Universal is caught in a media attention tug of war at the moment that is dominated by two more 800-pound gorillas - World of Color at Disney's California Adventure and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. What a better way to add your own gorilla into the mix than inviting members of the media to your own attraction's test site months ahead of its debut? If that was one of the intentions of our secret gathering, I applaud Universal - because intended or not, I think it was a smart move. In tweeting live updates to our followers from the facility and in writing this full story here on Theme Park Adventure, it's absolutely been met with great interest and excitement from our own readers - Kong 360 is now definitely on the fan radar as more than a small blip mentioned in passing as they ride the Studio Tour at Universal Hollywood.
The very small group of us was invited in to the hangar by Valerie Johnson-Redrow, Kong 360's Show Producer, including online sites Shock Till You Drop and Theme Park Insider, which have also published Kong 360 stories. Once inside, it was immediately apparent that the scope of Kong is enormous, with two huge screens running the length of the hangar's interior. In the center of the hangar sits a full-size mock-up of a tram from the Universal Studios Tour. The version that we experienced Kong in is a static "tram" - other types of testing have already been done at the facility as well, including sound and movement, which I'll get to in a moment.
After a teasing glimpse of the Kong mock-up, we were escorted into a smaller room serving as the site's show control area. There, we signed legal waivers (you know, in case any unruly dinosaurs got us or King Kong accidentally tossed a T-Rex on top of our tram...) and were given a brief but detailed run-down of the technical aspects of King Kong 360 3-D by Valerie.
King Kong 360 3-D is the largest 3-D experience in the world, dropping Tour riders right into the middle of all the action you would expect to find on Skull Island. That's no line, folks... this show building and the scale of this attraction is massive; absolutely impressive from the technical end of the stick.
Under the watchful eyes and very involved hands of Peter Jackson, King Kong 360 3-D will take guests from the Universal Studios Backlot and immerse them into the jungle environment of Skull Island, the mythical home of King Kong - and other movie-sized monsters. Unlike its predecessor, the original King Kong attraction, Kong 360 will bring Universal guests up-close and personal with dinosaurs and the King himself with the use of stunning 3-D technology and in-theater effects such as water, wind and scents.
Long-time fans of the original Kong have asked us if this new version will feature the "banana breath" that the beloved Bob Gurr ape was famous for.
"We didn't want to go back and do something that had been done before," explained Johnson-Redrow. "In this new attraction, we've actually taken that original gag and have updated it - this time around, we're giving you dino breath that will smell just as bad as it sounds!"
Not only will guests be blasted with a whiff of Jurassic halitosis, they'll also be pelted by T-Rex slobber as part of the attraction's effects.
"This is a completely immersive experience," continued Johnson-Redrow. "Multiple scents including the jungle itself and the dinosaur breath will really help transport you to another place." Valerie understands the fan appreciation and curiosity of whether or not Kong will have his banana breath again, but assures us that the new and improved sensory experience will be so over-the-top that guests young and old alike will be thrilled by the new scent effects going in to Kong 360.
Continuing the explanation of the technical side of Kong, our group made its way into the film's server room. Universal Creative and Electrosonic have come together to deliver the most impressive show film experience ever created for a theme park. The servers that are in place at the Kong test site will be transported and set up permanently at the Kong show building at Universal Studios Hollywood as soon as the film itself is complete and final on-site installation takes place.
The Kong 360 film itself is being produced by Weta Digital, and features two screens that will show high-definition projections simultaneously on either side of the tram, giving Universal visitors the sensation of being completely surrounded by the action. Here's the truth of the matter - King Kong 360 isn't actually 360 degrees; the show building has to have an entrance and exit, so the screen is not completely circular. However, the sheer size of the thing completely encompasses riders' field of vision - side-to-side and up and down. The Only way to not see the screens will be to turn around in your seat in the rear car of the tram and look at the entrance where you just came in to the show building, or from the front car of the tram, if you happen to stare past the driver and Tour Guide through the windshield of the vehicle toward the show building's exit. And we're sure fans will, because that's the nature of the beast; we look at every aspect of an attraction after the initial "wow" phase is over and we start picking it apart in our minds. The "average" guest however, will absolutely feel as though Kong 360 is completely surrounding the tram.
After leaving the server room, we climbed aboard the tram mock-up in the center of the hangar, which is very close to how the actual trams will be situated inside the show building at Universal Studios Hollywood. I can attest that guests will absolutely not notice that they are not actually surrounded by 360 degrees of film; it's a non-issue. The screens themselves are massive - completely ground-breaking and unique. 16 high-definition projectors will display the film at 6,000 x 2048 resolution at 60 frames per second, giving guests an extremely clear, very real experience. The show in total is approximately 90,000 frames for those keeping tech count and makes up about a terabyte of information on the servers.
Since the show is completely digital, Weta can produce bits and pieces and they can be incorporated into the show at the test site easily. The film literally changes from day-to-day as progress is made on the project.
What our group saw was a very rough version of the film, not complete and definitely not anywhere near its final version. As we put on our black plastic 3-D glasses, the footage we saw was silent, and running at 30 frames per second - half of what the final version will be projected at. Even at the reduced speed rate, the clarity of the film is stunning - and the multiple projector integration of the film is perfectly seamless. The dinosaurs and Kong himself were nothing much more than rough animatics at this time; even so, we were instructed not to film or shoot any images of the screens while the film was being shown to us. As a fan, you can bet that my hands were squeezing my camera tightly and my fingers were itching to shoot images for all of you so that you could see what we did! The attraction will open soon enough at Universal Studios Hollywood and you're all going to be able to experience it for yourselves soon enough!
