I'm going to miss the old Canada Hall, though. Here's a walkthrough that Andrew and I shot on 28 August 2014, just four days before it closed for good.
I hope that the new hall retains the immersive quality of the old one.
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label video. Show all posts
Friday, 20 November 2015
Old Canada Hall Walkthrough
The Canadian Museum of History has posted a nice interview with Douglas Cardinal, the architect who designed the museum building back in the eighties. Cardinal is also the lead architect for the new Canadian History Hall (opening in 2017), which provides a nice bit of continuity.
I'm going to miss the old Canada Hall, though. Here's a walkthrough that Andrew and I shot on 28 August 2014, just four days before it closed for good.
I'm going to miss the old Canada Hall, though. Here's a walkthrough that Andrew and I shot on 28 August 2014, just four days before it closed for good.
Friday, 16 January 2015
"Life Through the Ages" Videos
You've got to love the National Film Board of Canada. Not only do they have an enormous online library of their films, all viewable for free, but they also take requests for what they should upload next.
Naturally, I requested that they upload the two videos that used to play in the Canadian Museum of Nature's old fossil gallery, Life Through the Ages. It took them a while to get to them, but they did!
Here's Origin of Life on Earth, which used to play in English and French at the very beginning of the exhibit. It was made in 1972, so I'm guessing it was part of the exhibit when it opened in 1974, and it lasted until the museum was closed for renovations in 2004.
Watching the film as a kid, I didn't really understand what I was seeing. But I loved (and still love) the haunting music, which really set the tone for the rest of the exhibit.
The second film is Extinction of the Dinosaurs, which played just after you came back upstairs from the dinosaur room. It illustrates the then-current idea that the dinosaurs died because of a nearby supernova.
This video wasn't on display for nearly as long. It was made in 1976, so must have been added to the exhibit later. And it was removed sometime around 1988, I'm guessing because of mounting evidence for the asteroid impact hypothesis.
In our modern age of super-realistic CGI dinosaurs (which I like!), I miss seeing stylized, impressionistic animated dinosaurs. I'd love to see a modern film with dinosaurs, accurate to what we know now, animated in this style.
Naturally, I requested that they upload the two videos that used to play in the Canadian Museum of Nature's old fossil gallery, Life Through the Ages. It took them a while to get to them, but they did!
Here's Origin of Life on Earth, which used to play in English and French at the very beginning of the exhibit. It was made in 1972, so I'm guessing it was part of the exhibit when it opened in 1974, and it lasted until the museum was closed for renovations in 2004.
Watching the film as a kid, I didn't really understand what I was seeing. But I loved (and still love) the haunting music, which really set the tone for the rest of the exhibit.
The second film is Extinction of the Dinosaurs, which played just after you came back upstairs from the dinosaur room. It illustrates the then-current idea that the dinosaurs died because of a nearby supernova.
This video wasn't on display for nearly as long. It was made in 1976, so must have been added to the exhibit later. And it was removed sometime around 1988, I'm guessing because of mounting evidence for the asteroid impact hypothesis.
In our modern age of super-realistic CGI dinosaurs (which I like!), I miss seeing stylized, impressionistic animated dinosaurs. I'd love to see a modern film with dinosaurs, accurate to what we know now, animated in this style.
Wednesday, 11 June 2014
Transition
The Canada Hall at the Canadian Museum of Civilization has the formidable task of fitting a thousand years of Canadian history into a 43,558 square foot exhibit.
One of the hardest parts must have been designing the transitions between one environmental reconstruction and the next. A transition has to feel continuous and not abrupt, but still convey a sense of change so that all the environments don't bleed into one. It also needs to save space wherever it can. The very best are so subtle that you don't even notice them.
My favourite transition is here, between the Ontario Street and the Canadian Prairies.
Did you notice what they did? I didn't until last year.
Take a look at the furniture store on the Ontario Street, and the railway car in the Prairies.
They're the same object! It's just decorated differently on each side.
You don't notice because you're looking at the CPR ticket office and the Govan train station. This interrupts your perception of the object. By the time you turn back around, you're in the next streetscape already, so you don't perceive its continuity.
And if you do happen to look at the side of the object, they've got you covered there too:
This panel on the driving of the last spike slows you down, once again distracting you from noticing the transition. (I especially like this view because it's Ontario on one side and Saskatchewan on the other.)
And by making one object stand for two, they save space too.
If you like this sort of thing, check out the post "The Awkward Transitions of Disneyland!" on the wonderfully detailed theme park blog Passport to Dreams Old & New. Theme parks were one of the reference points used by the Canada Hall's designers.
One of the hardest parts must have been designing the transitions between one environmental reconstruction and the next. A transition has to feel continuous and not abrupt, but still convey a sense of change so that all the environments don't bleed into one. It also needs to save space wherever it can. The very best are so subtle that you don't even notice them.
My favourite transition is here, between the Ontario Street and the Canadian Prairies.
Did you notice what they did? I didn't until last year.
Take a look at the furniture store on the Ontario Street, and the railway car in the Prairies.
They're the same object! It's just decorated differently on each side.
You don't notice because you're looking at the CPR ticket office and the Govan train station. This interrupts your perception of the object. By the time you turn back around, you're in the next streetscape already, so you don't perceive its continuity.
And if you do happen to look at the side of the object, they've got you covered there too:
This panel on the driving of the last spike slows you down, once again distracting you from noticing the transition. (I especially like this view because it's Ontario on one side and Saskatchewan on the other.)
And by making one object stand for two, they save space too.
If you like this sort of thing, check out the post "The Awkward Transitions of Disneyland!" on the wonderfully detailed theme park blog Passport to Dreams Old & New. Theme parks were one of the reference points used by the Canada Hall's designers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)