Shanghai, China, 11 August 2010 -- Emmy winning digital media pioneer Mindi Lipschultz was engaged by BRC Imagination Arts, one of the world's leading creators of entertainment and brand experiences, to direct and produce some 80 animated and interactive media segments for the Information & Communications Pavilion presented by China Mobile and China Telecom at Expo 2010 Shanghai.
BRC was creator, designer and executive producer of the pavilion. The Shanghai Expo, which opened May 1 and will run through October 31, is the largest world's fair ever raised, with a projected total attendance of 70 million visitors. The theme of the expo is "Better City, Better Life."
A multi-dimensional guest experience and vision of future communications technology
Engaging visitors on multiple levels as they pass through the five experiences of the 6,000 square meter pavilion, the client's vision of future communications technology unfolds simultaneously on large theatrical and high-definition video screens and via custom server- and RFID-triggered interactive handheld devices. Sequences and images on the special mobile devices correspond with the action on the big screens and prompt visitors to make selections, building their own custom web pages as part of the experience and via which they may continue the experience offsite.
"It was a great pleasure to help fulfill BRC's brilliant design concept for the pavilion," says Lipschultz. "Using handheld devices in tandem with larger screens, to play customized games, and to build a continuing at-home experience based on visitors' individual preferences, is a multi-dimensional experience that I was extremely excited to contribute to. Both idea and execution were state-of-the-art, and it was incredible to collaborate with the legendary Bob Rogers and Christian Lachel, BRC's VP and Creative Director on the project."
"It was a challenging project and we knew we wanted to do something new with mass customization through a mobile device," says Christian Lachel. "Mindi was the perfect fit to lead the interactive media team. She brought a wealth of knowledge that included interactive design combined with cutting-edge media production. This combination was essential in delivering a 21st century experience to Chinese and International visitors. The result has been fantastic: people love the pavilion!"
Doing whatever it takes
To this project, Lipschultz applied many of the tools and skills she personally helped shape in the course of an over 25 year career spent on the cutting edge of digital media production - such as the utilization of complex multilayered animation compositing techniques, development of compelling interactive experiences, and the integration of live action with animation, graphics, 3D effects and stylized text. Accustomed to making the most of available resources and doing whatever it takes to meet deadlines, whether the market sector is television broadcast, museums, themed entertainment or in this case a high-profile expo pavilion, Lipschultz devised a templated production methodology working closely with the BRC creative leadership team, that helped expedite the process and keep the entire media production team on track.
"It revved up the production pipeline, enabling us to create more quickly by swapping out assets while retaining a visual continuity," she reports. "It was a modular approach that really worked out, streamlining the process and tying things together without compromising quality."
Raising the bar for digital media on handheld devices
On the subject of mobile media development, Lipschultz remarks, "Everyone is using handhelds now, and content creation hasn't caught up yet. There's a huge need and appetite for compelling, quality media to stream through these devices. You need media that is eye catching, utilizing great animation, 3D, interactive... It should be a show in itself, as visually compelling as television and as participatory as the best video game. Mobile media needs to be an integral part of the overall concept design and budget of a project, as it was designed from the get-go by BRC for this expo pavilion."
A realized dream
Lipschultz fulfilled two long-cherished creative and career goals by her collaboration with BRC on the Information & Communications pavilion: working on a world expo project, and finally having the opportunity to work with Bob Rogers of BRC Imagination Arts. "As a child, I went to the 1964 New York World's Fair," she explains. "I was enthralled - and decided that a world's fair was something I wanted to do when I grew up. Fast-forward to 1991, the week before I moved to Los Angeles: I read an article in Millimeter Magazine about Bob Rogers and his expo work and told myself, 'I want to work for this guy.' I saved the article and carried it around with me for a long time. I told Bob the story my first day of work at BRC. I'm not sure he believed me at first, but months later, I found the tattered article and showed him - that was a fun moment! I feel incredibly lucky and honored to have been a part of the creation of this groundbreaking pavilion."
Lachel & Lipschultz to give SATE Conference presentation
Christian Lachel, VP & Creative Director, BRC Imagination Arts, and Mindi Lipschultz, independent media producer, will give a presentation about the Information & Communications Pavilion technology and guest experience at the SATE 2010 conference, hosted in Orlando Sept 30-Oct 1 by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA). SATE stands for Storytelling, Architecture, Technology, Experience. Click here for more info.
About Mindi Lipschultz
Dubbed a "digital guru" by Post Magazine, Mindi Lipschultz has been involved in the production of extraordinary and innovative media for television, museums and themed entertainment industries as a producer, director, editor and innovative thinker for some three decades. Prior to being contracted by BRC Imagination Arts to produce media for the Information and Communication Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010, she completed a two-year project as senior media producer for 35,000 sq. ft. of natural history exhibits at the new California Academy of Sciences, for which she designed and produced 31 cutting edge media experiences including a "Wii" game-like virtual expedition to Madagascar as well as other interactive games and documentaries.
Lipschultz was creative director and senior producer for the design of more than 50 technology based media segments for the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. She was producer of an 80-year retrospective of science fiction films that is the centerpiece exhibit of Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum in Seattle and oversaw the integration of its groundbreaking, five-projector format that displays the high-resolution digital film on a large suspended globe, and for Showtime Networks she designed the production pipeline and served as line producer for the first animated high definition animated TV series ever aired (Free For All). Her awards include two contributing Emmys and one Emmy nomination for outstanding editing on three PBS television series, and five Telly awards for broadcast production work.
For more information on Mindi Lipschultz and her work, visit her blog.
Contacts:
Mindi Lipschultz - [email protected]
Judith Rubin - [email protected]
About BRC Imagination Arts
BRC Imagination Arts continues to delight clients and visitors alike with its award-winning design and production for some of the most recognizable brands, corporations, and cultural institutions around the globe. At Expo 2010 BRC is creating and producing two pavilions: the USA Pavilion and the Information and Communications Pavilion. BRC also is currently working on the Hainan Space Park, a theme park and space center to be built on Hainan Island for China Aerospace. Other current projects include the Sharm El-Sheikh Entertainment City in Egypt; the Park of Poland (that county's first ever theme park); and a new attraction for the NASA and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Now in its 28th year, BRC has a proven track record of exceeding the expectations of clients and visitors alike. With offices in California, the Netherlands, China, and the United Kingdom, BRC has been honored with over 270 international awards for creative excellence, including two Academy Award nominations, and 16 THEA Awards for Outstanding Achievement in themed entertainment. BRC clients include Disney, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Heineken, Korean Air, NASA, Universal Studios, Volkswagen, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, the National Museums Liverpool and the Empire State Building.
BRC has been the World Expo pavilion designer or consultant for more than 20 major presentations at six major World Expos and counting. Some of its past pavilion presentations completely conceived, created and produced by BRC include:
• Expo Vancouver, Canada - "Spirit Lodge" for General Motors Pavilion
• Expo Vancouver, Canada - "Rainbow War" for Canadian Pacific Pavilion (Academy Award Nominee)
• Expo Vancouver, Canada - "Our BC" for the British Columbia Pavilion (the host province)
• Expo Osaka, Japan - "Flower Planet" for Mitsui Group
• Expo Osaka, Japan - "Roboshow" for Toshiba
• Expo Seville, Spain - "World Song" for the USA Pavilion and General Motors
• Expo ' Seville, Spain - "Mi PaÃs Vasco" for the Basque National Pavilion
• Expo Taejon, South Korea - "Postcards" for Korean Air Pavilion
• Expo 2005 Aichi, Japan - "The Franklin Spirit" for the USA Pavilion
For more information on BRC, please visit the BRC website.
The visitor experience at the Information & Communications Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai
The Welcome Garden/queuing area shows how animals' unique senses can influence future communications technology. Mindi Lipschultz produced 16 HD media segments (24 minutes) to run on 13 - 52" monitors. In the Welcome Lobby, visitors receive their custom handheld ICT (information communication technology) devices. Lipschultz produced the media clips that ran on these devices, including an animated orientation video. Visitors collect future "dreams" to their individual websites by making selections on their touchscreens.
For the Preshow & Main Show, Lipschultz collaborated with Lachel to produce some 40 short mobile media clips that play on the ICT touchscreens in sync with the preshow and main show big screen presentations. Lipschultz implemented a scrapbook style design using archival photos. A recurring motif is the spinning 3D Chinese lantern. BRC collaborated with clients China Mobile and China Telecom to carefully craft scripts that depict visions of future technology for the Post-show. Lipschultz produced six 8-minute HD videos that play on six screens (46" to 62" in size) simultaneously. Production entailed more than 260 layers of composited animation combined with live action footage. This part of the experience provides more options for visitors to use their ICT devices, such as an RFID triggered dream lantern collecting game that visitors play.
Interactive and Exhibition Media Production Team
Information & Communications Pavilion, Shanghai Expo 2010
BRC Imagination Arts
Christian Lachel, Creative Director
Bob Rogers and Marci Carlin, Executive Producers
Mindi Lipschultz, Media Director/Producer, Exhibitions and Mobile Device
For complete project credit list please visit www.brcweb.com