The Importance of Video Design in Today’s Themed Entertainment Productions
By Daren Ulmer — Mousetrappe President
August 2007
Video has become a central character in themed entertainment and experiential designs. Just as you would include lighting, costume, or scenic designers in the production team right from the start of a project, you should be including Video Design as a core creative team component.
Video Design is the art of balancing the creative and technical aspects of moving visual imagery to develop an effective and practical implementation that enhances an overall show.
The Video Design firm brings a repertoire of creative, technical, workflow, and financial expertise to a show production. They can recommend a variety of stylistic approaches for the video content, effective and unique display/projection technologies, an implementation plan, and appropriate advice on scale of media production to best match a production’s needs and desires. The Video Designer adds value to a production by making the media best enhance the overall show.
Video can sometimes be left out of initial development phases — it is included in the creative but can be underdeveloped and underestimated. A Creative Director or sometimes Art Director will call for the use of video as a scenic element, texture, realization of a filmed or animated character, transitional element, or special effect. The scenic designer will include some type of video screen or projection surface, and the technical department will engineer and install video hardware. Then, somewhere further along in the show development a video production company will be engaged to produce the video content.
This scenario is common, and sometimes even nets strong results but video has become so affordable yet so complex that a new approach is required to ensure maximum results. Imagine if Scenic was developed using the same approach — sure there might be good sets that work just fine in the show, but more than likely there will be less-than-ideal creative designs, problems integrating the sets into the venue or attraction, and possibly most importantly budgetary “issues”.
Including a Video Design firm in the earliest stages of development, such as the brainstorming or “Blue Sky” phase, will reap the following benefits:
1. Your Overall Creative Design is Stronger and More Cohesive. The creative development of content and integration of display technologies must be an integral part of the early show development process to maximize its effectiveness.
2. You Will Be Able to Take Advantage of New and Unique Video Presentation Technologies. Video Design firms are immersed display technology trends and developments so they can bring new and exciting possibilities to the production.
3. Your Technical Integration Will Be More Seamless. Video Design firms help translate creative vision into technical implementation and production workflows. By including this expertise in the early planning phases there are fewer surprises and a smoother implementation.
4. You Will Maximize Flexibility. The same expertise and planning means more opportunity to adjust budgets, schedules, creative options, and onsite installation adjustments.
5. You Will More Likely Control Your Media Budget. There are too many approaches to video display technologies and content creation (video production) to effectively “guesstimate” a media budget. Video Design firms help to appropriate estimate video budgets based on creative, or scale creative to meet budgetary goals if included in the process right from the beginning.
Maximize your production’s potential by including Video Design in the earliest stages of development. It will help you avoid issues later in the production and will make your show more effective.
Like an architectural firm, Mousetrappe provides vision and concrete design for solid visual media that is based on practical execution and workflow. We bring the resources, ideas, and plans, and even help you to pre-visualize how media fits within your overall production design. We’re there throughout the production to ensure solid creative execution and integration of content.