Project management is something we all do on one level or another. It might be simple day-to-day projects, like changing the oil on your car; or something more complex, like constructing a skyscraper. Having the ability to manage projects and the teams involved is vital. Larger, complex projects can actually be broken into smaller, segmented projects in order to complete the desired outcome. In entertainment business, projects can be making a movie, a music record, a game, or even putting on a live show. An extraordinary concept is that the aforementioned projects can be combined to create a whole significant one.
Personally, I have a strong passion for music and love working within this segment of entertainment, but the other forms of entertainment and what they entail often intrigue me. I would love to be a part of producing some amazing movie or live show. It gives me thrills! The beauty is that music ties in with all of it. This is great news! It has expanded my mind and heightened my awareness of all the other possibilities that are out there. I do not have to focus just on recording an artist to an album, distributing a product, and managing. It is larger than that.
This past weekend my son introduced me to a new attraction here at the Orlando, Florida SeaWorld. This new attraction is called TurtleTrek. Since my son was so excited about this new attraction, I had to check out exactly what it was. So, I quickly went online to the SeaWorld Orlando website. I found out that Turtle Trek is the world’s first 3D 360-degree theater. People are able to journey through the life of a sea turtle by figuratively being the turtle itself in a completely new and amazing experience.
[Side note: Kids have great imaginations and are aware of some of the most brilliant things, if we just pay attention to them.]
A cool thing that SeaWorld did with TurtleTrek was post short webisodes about the development of the project. There are currently six videoson the making of TurtleTrek: Overview, Dome Construction, Manatees, The Movie, Turtle Conservation, and Creating the Audio. I watched all of them, but the ones that really grabbed my attention were on creating the audio, the project construction, and the creative design team to make the actual movie. This sort of project excited me. How fun would it be to do a project like this? Then I had that AH-HA moment! The figurative light bulb went off in my head—TurtleTrek was a great example of project and team management! I had to go check out this place in person now. And that is what I did.
I began to think about how this project was laid out. What type of teams would this entire project have? How many people were involved? What was the creative process? And so on. All the significant parts of entertainment are somehow involved in this project. That is what makes stuff like this awesome. There are people to mix audio, to design the video and graphics, to sing the tracks, to perform at the venue, to manage operations and construction, draw and write storyboards, and the list goes on.
The TurtleTrek team literally had to develop a new technology to project 3D video through mesh made panels—using 34 total projectors. And to create the audio they had to use 180 separate tracks and sound effects to blend together for the 3D dome sound. Rick Morris, the sound designer/mixer, says, “It is not like creating a 5.1 surround sound; it is more like creating a 20.4 surround.” Think about it. This is something no one has ever done before. The TurtleTrek team has definitely raised the bar for innovation in the entertainment world!
Most of us have seen movies in 3D already, but this is definitely a new innovative way to experience a film. As of now, I would say that this type of experience might be limited to films that are short. It is a very cool experience, but I am not sure if people would sit through a two-hour movie this way yet. I could be wrong and it is something to think about. Also, keep in mind that TurtleTrek was not just a project to bring entertainment to society, but to bring awareness and the importance of keeping our oceans clean and protecting sea life. All around this project is a true example of social responsibility. It is projects like these that bring greatness to the world.
