News

Moonraker VFX secures 500k in funding to produce  immersive 3D content for museums and  planetariums across the globe 

Traditionally, museums and attractions have struggled to source the budget needed to create  spectacular, cinematic experiences for their visitors. However, ​as audience expectations have  shifted in line with technological advancement​, attractions have had to step up their  investment in the big screen to keep visitors coming through the door

Visual technology – specifically large screen format and projection – has become critical for  immersing people in new worlds and transporting them to magical spaces. VFX has proved a  powerful tool to bring these experiences to life, capturing audiences at a whole new level. It is a  means by which you can enhance visitors’ experiences – realising moving images that are  impossible to capture on camera and taking audiences to worlds they could never imagine.

Bristol based VFX studio Moonraker has a long history as a creative partner in large screen  projects for museums and attractions, bringing their VFX expertise to attractions around the  globe. Just recently they received an award for their projection work for the Fram Museum in  Oslo where Moonraker had the challenge of creating a new 60 fps 15 minute fully CG film for  the immense 18k, 280-degree field of view projection space viewed from the deck of the ship.  Across the globe, in China, the studio was commissioned to create an incredibly ambitious  pre-show and 5 minute film for a fully immersive and sensory ‘flying ride’ simulation, which  takes the viewer on a journey through the beautiful Changbaishan National Park in Jilin  Province.

Now, in a game-changing opportunity for the business, Moonraker have secured half a million  in funding from Creative England to produce their own original immersive, 3D Giant Screen  content.

Simon Clarke, Creative Director at Moonraker, commented; “As a VFX studio, we have the  technical tools and expertise to realise moving images that are often hard to capture in camera.  This gives us an edge to take the audiences to worlds they could never imagine – so why not  package this with a great story into our own film.”

Moonraker has a wealth of experience heading projects for attractions in the science and  natural history space, but the studio has been keen to create their own original content for the  attraction space for some time.

The funding from Creative England  will make this possible for the first time, enabling the  production of a ‘Moonraker Originals’  – an IMAX film with spectacular visuals and immersive  3D moments as audiences witness meteors flying past them or volcanoes erupting right before  their eyes.

The film will play to Moonraker’s strengths and legacy of their work in the natural history and  science-doc genre, and will be of high scientific value with the potential to appear on digital  education platforms and link to the science curriculum.

While the initial two year project will be produced for the big screen, Moonraker anticipates  spin offs in other formats, to include television, augmented reality and Flying Theatres.

Simon Clarke, Creative Director at Moonraker, added; “This is a hugely exciting time for  Moonraker and the funding by Creative England is a real opportunity for us to drive forward  our own original content and have a lot more creative and editorial control.”

“Not only will this project create ongoing revenue as we create licensable 3D content for  theatres across the globe, but the films will act as a brilliant piece of marketing as we look to  expand global awareness of the Moonraker brand,” he concluded.

To find out more about Moonraker and their cutting-edge work for museums and attractions,  get in touch.