The UConn Digital Media & Design department partnered with The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT, in order to showcase art on the 13 new LED screens installed around their building. I served as the project manager for a group containing 5 other UConn students. We highlighted the Jake Kulak Band, a local performing arts group, while creating captivating animation that elevated their performance. We used each screen to emphasize the individual band members, and each screen had its own speaker system, so we also sourced remastered versions of their song that each highlighted a certain instrumental. This created the effect that when walking past the screen with the drummer for example, the drums sound closer to you, for a truly immersive experience.

As the project manager I served as the main point of communication for our group. I sent out casting emails to local groups, and coordinated with the Jake Kulak Band once we decided on a direction. We filmed their performance in a green screen studio where I served as the director and cinematographer. In post-production, I created the background animation for the screens for the first 40 seconds. My main role however, was handling the main project file. In Premiere I compiled the footage, animation from 5 different animators, and the different remastered audio files, into 6 nested sequences for each screen. This also required 6 separate exports to be loaded into the Bushnell’s media system.

This project had an opening screening at The Bushnell in April 2022, and has been added to The Bushnell’s screening rotation to be played outside their building before main events. Below are our exported previews used to plan the building screening tests, one with the screens side by side, and one that simulates the actual distance of the screens when looking at the building from across the street.