SUE: the T.rex Experience Traveling Exhibition

about the project

I worked in collaboration with lighting designers, ILC to recreate a traveling version of the SUE light show featured in the Field Museum’s permanent exhibition.

Field Museum Exhibition: SUE: The T.rex Experience Traveling Exhibition

Role:

• Creative Direction

• Lead Media Producer

• Lighting Design Concept

• Editor

Collaborators:

• ILC, Lighting Designer

• Josh Beck, Music Composer

INSTALLATION VIDEO

PROCESS IN CREATING THE LIGHT SHOW

I created lighting the effects of a forest and an asteroid in After Effects as a reference for look and timing. I collaborated with lighting designers ILC to recreate the scenes using theatrical light fixtures. We used UV paint as a way to highlight certain bones like in the projection mapping version.

SUE SHOW ANIMATIC

Because the exhibition is traveling with a replicated skeleton we had to rewrite parts of the script. Our first step was to re-record the narration and create an animatic with timed lighting cues that would be passed down to our lighting designers, ILC.

UV PAINT HIGHLIGHTING INJURED BONES

Since we weren’t able to use projection mapping to highlight the skeleton, we instead used UV paint and Wildfire light fixtures to illuminate SUE’s injuries. We wanted to keep the visual aesthetic similar to the original show by pointing out the holes in SUE’s jaw, broken ribs, injured leg, arthritis and fused joints in the tail.