The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games lasted 17 days, it was a thrilling show of athletic sportsmanship and competition. We created this interactive/responsive video environment for our client, Fireworks Marketing Group. This centerpiece attracted over 4000 people each day. Along with this project we were also given the responsibility of creating a lobby display piece made up of 11 Samsung Omnia II phones. These 11 phones played perfectly synchronized video, in essence creating a large video canvas.
The “Smart Cubes” were self contained interactive kiosks, but without the use of touchscreens. Instead the cubes responded to user’s simple hand hover actions. The cubes also responded to visitor’s movements around the space - the illuminated white cubes would switch to a glowing blue cycle when someone was within a certain distance of the cube. 4 sensors ensured a 360 degree detection radius. The visual result produced the illusion that the cubes “followed” you though the space. The cubes would switch from white to glowing blue, then back to white as you moved away from the cubes.
A 5th sensor located on the front of the cube detected when a user was standing infront of the cube. When this condition was detected, the cube would switch to a solid blue and the on-screen content would switch from a screensaver type animation to a short visual animation showing you where to hover your hand to select the video you wanted to see, and also where to plug your headphones in. Each cube included a unique set of videos. We edited video content and produced all the motion graphics elements used on the cubes and around the Bell Ice Cube.
On the main splash screen the user was presented with a menu of 3 trailers. By briefly hovering their hand over the corresponding sensor, the video would begin playing. Users could switch videos at any time by triggering another sensor or, at the end of each video the menu would appear again. When the user walked away, the cube would return to its default state.
For the installation in the lobby involving the 11 Samsung Omnia phones, we wrote a custom application to synchronize and trigger, on cue, video content across the 11 phones. This proved to be quite the challenge, not so much writing the application, but in all the “fail safes” we had to implement since the phones were never designed to run 24/7. We proposed the idea for the digital flame which played on the 5 phones surrounding the Sidney Crosby signed torch and completed all the motion graphics for this installation as well.
Watch both videos above and don’t forget to visit Flickr for other pics. This is a temporary video, a more comprehensive video will be posted in the coming months.
