The Back Room

The Producers at BPI

Boston Productions’, or BPI’s, history extends back to its early days as a production company.  In film and media production, a producer plays the role of the person in charge of making sure things happen when they are supposed to, making sure everyone has what they need in order to make a great product, the actors and staff are well taken care of and everyone is happy with the outcome of a production.  As with many other types of producing, the video producer deals with highly unpredictable circumstances and makes the best of them.

During my time at Boston Productions, I have been really fortunate to work with great producers, both highly experienced or just getting started in their careers.  We are gifted with passionate producers; however, there are a few unique differences between interactive-museum exhibit producers and film producers that I want to highlight.

In exhibit production, we often deal with some pretty complex technology subjects, and it takes a creative producer with thick skin to be able to wade through all the technical challenges and guide our technical staff and the client to a result that works for everyone.  Exhibit production often deals with the procurement of a lot more media assets than other types of production require.  This means that a producer needs to know the copyright limitations of all the media and also provide it in a format that the developers  can use in the exhibits.  It also means that the producer needs to organize it in a way that is accessible by the client and production staff. Producers are involved in all aspects of a project, from conception to completion, and because of this they must have a versatile knowledge base of the technology involved, the creative vision and the client’s own personality and vision for the project.

When creating a custom look and feel for a multimedia project, a producer also has to collaborate with designers, programmers and hardware vendors in order to make sure that an interactive project is designed, programmed and then implemented on the final hardware in a way that provides the most beautiful presentation.  This is not easy when each step of production involves custom components.  Would you know the best way to approach a multitouch table that has been fabricated to a custom look and feel that you have never dealt with before and requires highly specialized training to even function?  This is the kind of thing that happens in the museum industry quite often.  Everything we make is custom.  That’s why I, and many of our producers, love the industry we work in, despite some of the difficulties in developing custom technology solutions.  When you see a young person inspired by an exhibit you helped create, it makes all the extra hours and hard work during its production worth it.

Coacoochees Story at Creative Cow

This journal has mainly focused on the interactive development work that Boston Productions does.  However, our roots are in immersive film and video production.   There is a good chance that while Bruce, Dave, and I are programming away on interactive exhibits; Boston Production’s editors and other creative talent are hard at work on a film, television commercial, or immersive multimedia presentation.  Two of the most recent samples of award winning work Boston Production’s has done are the documentary, In Pursuit of a Dream and the immersive theater at the Tampa Bay History Center, Coacoochee’s Story.

An article about Coacoochee’s Story by one of our talented editors, Mike Sullivan; has been featured in Creative Cow Magazine this month.  The article describes the production process of Coacoochee’s story and will be sure to please the technical oriented readers out there.  Interesting topics covered include a custom sideways camera mount, mixing 7.1 audio, editing for multiple screens in an Avid DS, motorized gigantic turntables, and modern multimedia storage and playback devices.

The introductory article focus says it all: “Highly complex multi-media installations – at least the successful ones – are only possible through careful planning, intense cooperation, and a willingness to turn the picture on its side”.

You can read the full article at Creative Cow in “The Future is NOW Issue”.

Coacoochees Story In Action at the Tampa Bay History Center in Tampa Florida

One of the many rooms at the National Museum of the Pacific War

A large percentage of Boston Productions has been working on the National Museum of the Pacific War.  The facility opened to the public on December 7^th, 2009 with a ribbon cutting ceremony by former president George H.W. Bush.  There was a special preview event for veterans the Saturday prior to the official opening.  Many of them had a difficult time completing the tour due to the emotional impact of some of the media.

There are roughly eight kiosks in the institution that Bruce, myself, and our production staff worked on.  Boston Productions also worked on a large portion of the video and audio media for the facility.  The kiosks have been added to the Boston Productions Interactive Exhibit key.

The over-all theme that I heard from military personal, veterans, museum staff, and donors while on-site; is that the facility will help convey the severe cost of war and sacrifice of our previous generations.

I just wanted to put something brief about this because I’m a big fan. Smithsonian Magazine is sponsoring “Museum Day 2009″. There are hundreds of museums around the country that will allow free entry if you arrive with a printed form downloaded from the magazine’s web site. Participating museums are here. As museum fans here, we really appreciate this sort of thing, and encourage people to head out to see something new.