Giant Immersive Installation
We took over Europe’s largest LED screen to drive summer zoo visitors and earn over 500,000 impressions online
London Zoo wanted to make a splash for the summer holidays. Convincing key audience segments – families and tourists – to make it a destination.
They needed to do something bold, exciting and innovative to stand out. So they approached Circus to capture one of their most popular attractions – Penguin Beach – in a new way. And turn it into an immersive public experience at the iconic Outernet – the largest 360 screen in Europe, standing at four storeys high, attracting over 6 million visitors annually.
The zoo had never before attempted to film or record sounds from these charismatic Humboldt Penguins underwater. And Outernet had never showcased real-world 360 video before, because it was thought that it couldn’t be produced at the huge 18K resolution the screens required.
We love a challenge, so we jumped at the chance. And we delivered. Half a million online impressions later, it remains one of our favourite ever projects.
We sourced a custom underwater 360 camera rig from Spain, of which there are only four in the world, and got to work planning how to capture the footage, because we couldn’t get into the water with the penguins.
This involved constructing a dummy camera rig to help the birds get accustomed to its presence in the run-up to production. Then we installed a tensioned cable above the pool, with a remote-controlled dolly which could carry the camera out over the water, and lower it to the perfect depth.
The weather on the day of shooting was perfect! Blue skies and fluffy clouds. But there was a problem. Although we’d tried to get the penguins used to the equipment beforehand, they still weren’t sure and kept their distance.
Using food to get them nearer wasn’t an option… the sight of dead fish enlarged to four stories high might cause a stir. We considered using fish paste, but that would bring them too close and they’d knock the camera.
Luckily, the zookeepers knew exactly what to do, and it turns out it’s not just cats that love to chase laser pointers. Placing a pointer-armed zookeeper at each end of the tank allowed us to choreograph the penguins’ movements towards and around the camera, making full use of the 360 field of view.
Penguin keeper Shannon Quinn said, “The penguins are very curious by nature, so they were definitely intrigued by the 360° camera equipment”. They didn’t wait long to take a few exploratory pecks at the camera, its casing withstanding some nips from the colony’s most curious penguin, Phineas.
After a successful day’s filming, it was back to the studio for post-production. We identified the strongest sequence and then painstakingly removed the rigging cables and excess leaves from the water. We adjusted the 360 projection from a sphere to an onion shape, to help make the penguins stand out on-screen. And, as a last step, used an AI-powered workflow to squeeze some extra resolution from the source footage, bringing it up from 16K to 18K.
The final visuals were then synced with a custom audio track, made up from recordings taken underwater with four specialised hydrophones. We used spatial sound effects to accentuate the squawks audible from the surface and the bubble trails left by the swimming penguins. Then, the final audio was mixed on-site for maximum impact.
When launch day arrived, hundreds of people were waiting eagerly outside the building at Tottenham Court Road for the ‘Penguin Paradise’ immersive experience. Their reactions were even better than we and London Zoo had hoped. There were gasps from the adults, squeals from the children, and plenty of prospective zoo visitors scanned the custom QR codes positioned on digital panels around the space.
A huge thanks to all involved. Not least the penguins!
If you’d like to bring an installation or event to life, don’t hesitate to contact us.
London ZooWe’re over the moon. It’s completely brilliant. Something we’ve never done before. It’s been fantastic working with Circus. It’s exactly what we envisaged and the response has been fanstastic!
