The long-awaited Changbaishan flying experience has officially taken it’s first flight, offering visitors a truly immersive and sensory perspective of the Changbai Mountain from the unique birds-eye view of a soaring bird of prey.
Emmy-winning visual effects studio, Moonraker VFX and award-winning natural history production company Talesmith, joined forces as Flying Theatre Films to deliver this incredibly ambitious film for the new visitors centre at Changbaishan National Park in China – which was an epic four years in the making.
Commissioned by PEL Creative, the ride uses a state of the art hydraulic seating system ‘I-ride’ by Brogent Technologies, to suspend viewers in front of the 4K, 60-foot half-dome screen that immerses audiences in a never-seen-before aerial flight of the park and uninterrupted views of the sacred mountain.
In a single magnificent shot, the film takes visitors on an epic journey through the landscape, in all it’s four seasons, soaring like a falcon across lush wide-open plains, rocky ravines and dense forests, eventually reaching a magnificent lake at the summit. Visitors are able to connect with the mountain in a completely new way, overcoming the usual harsh conditions of the natural environment, with a 4D out-of-this-world experience that defies gravity.
The launch of the ride marks a new era of the visitor experience, as attractions across China, Europe and the US increasingly seek to take visitors to untouched corners of the globe using this immersive technology.
Simon Clarke, creative director of Moonraker VFX and founder of Flying Theatre Films commented; “ This was one of the most technical projects we have ever undertaken at Moonraker, but we’re hugely proud of the finished experience which, after five years in the making, is wowing visitors with a unique, fully immersive and sensory perspective on an environment rich in natural history”.
To capture this volatile landscape, the Flying Theatre Films team filmed multiple locations in 8k from helicopters and drones which they then used to model the precise details of the environment and animate significant moments of the flying ride back in the studio. Their 3D team used specialist software to track the camera allowing them to seamlessly blend computer generated elements with the real-life footage.
Director, Martin Williams, founder of Talesmith and Flying Theatre Films added; “At Talesmith we’re all about innovation and this project shows what’s possible when you bring together creative minds from different disciplines to produce something truly unique that pushes the boundaries of storytelling and technology. The ride experience is breath-taking”.
