New Orleans-based Audubon Nature Institute
receives a Thea Award for new Insectarium,
featuring the "Tiniest Show on Earth"
New Orleans, USA, Feb 26 2009 -
The 4D theater experience "Awards Night" created and produced by Super 78 is the showpiece of the new Audubon Insectarium, an educational venue recently named for a Thea Award, the themed entertainment industry's highest honor. The award will be presented to the Audubon Nature Institute March 7 in Anaheim, by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA).
The 23,000-sq.-ft. Audubon Insectarium opened in spring 2008 as a new extension of the Audubon Nature Institute. The 8-minute "Awards Night" show with 5-minute preshow simulates an Oscars®-inspired awards gala for insects - billed as the "Tiniest Show on Earth." Super 78 took charge of scripting, animating and producing the show, including designing the theater set, and casting celebrities to voice the main characters, Joan Riversfly, Jay Lunamoth and The Cricket/Goliath Beetle.
"'Awards Night' is a very successful blend of education and entertainment," says Super 78 principal Dina Benadon.
"We really did our homework on the educational and scientific material, but we also gave it that showbiz touch," adds "Awards Night" director and Super 78 studio creative head, Brent Young. "We're overjoyed about the Thea award, which has special significance because it represents a major milestone in the city's and Audubon's recovery from Hurricane Katrina."
Visitors enter the 80-seat "Awards Night" theater, the curtains draw back and the multi-legged characters appear on three 50-inch HD plasma screens. Insects parade along the red carpet in a composited picture that integrates live action footage of real bugs with CGI animated counterparts. In-theater props, special effects and theatrical lighting, plus motion seats with ticklers, buzzers and misters add the extra dimension that makes it a "4D" experience.
Having created a set of branded insect characters, Super 78 has been busy developing a concept for a TV spinoff that would chronicle the ongoing lives of those characters - a backstage-at-the-awards-show story.
Super 78 is teamed with Nickelodeon and currently in production on "Dora and Diego: Catch that Robot Butterfly," a joint venture with SimEx-Iwerks to develop an educational and entertaining 4D experience for theme parks and museums, based on the hit shows "Dora the Explorer" and "Go Diego Go."
