Animated Events: Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo

Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo

So I'm posting this on the blog a little earlier than I normally would, hoping that it'll give everyone a couple extra weeks to make it to the Dragon Forest event at the Detroit Zoo.

First off, the admission to the Dragon Forest is an additional cost, in my case it was $6 for a single adult. Well worth the experience for the price I paid. After going through the first time, I went to lunch, walked around the zoo to gather photo and video references, then paid to go through the Dragon Forest a second time before I left for the day.

The elusive owlbear.

There were three separate types of displays: a couple were images posted on flat boards, solid statues (many of which accessible so that kids could climb on them), and full animatronic displays that could move (which were roped off so people wouldn't touch them).  

The Griffin
Made as a solid statue.

From what I could tell, all the 3d statues (solid and animatronic) had motion sensors that would trip when you got close, then they would play soundtracks: animals roaring, a dragon talking, etc. There was also a flower telling stories that was on a timer--more on that later.

The Basilisk (with motion sensor)

If you look at the photo above, you can see one of the motion sensors that would trigger the sound effects--it's the little black pole with the white sensor pointing towards the path (looks like an oddly shaped birdhouse).

They also camouflaged some of the speakers so they'd blend into the display, like the one pictured below that was molded into the shape of a rock.

The eleven year old kid in me was absolutely giddy as I walked through the display--fond memories of the time spent playing Dungeons and Dragons and daydreams of being the hero in Dragonslayer danced through my head.

The Wyvern

In addition to the many dragons, they even had a wyvern. It wouldn't be until decades later that I encountered a plethora of nerds arguing that the "dragon", Vermithrax Pejorative, in Dragonslayer was actually a wyvern since it's wings were attached to its frontal arms. 

Personally, I didn't care--back then or now--as I'm far more interested in the practical special effects used by Industrial Light and Magic to bring Disney's great wyrm to life. I love CGI and the many movies it's made possible, but there's just something special about practical effects be it the work of ILM or the films of Ray Harryhausen.

The Fairy Garden

Halfway through the display, there was a "fairy garden" with little cat-sized faerie dragon statues, larger-than-life toadstools, and stumps where kids could sit down for a spell. Every five minutes, this large flower would light up and recite stories from Aesop's Fables to the visitors.

One of several Faerie Dragons that were out and about.

They also didn't focus on one single region. There were fantasy creatures from Egypt, Borneo, and North America, among others.

The 'Western Dragon' was about as tall as a one-story house.

The Dragon Forest event ends on Sunday, September 7th, so if you're interested, I'd head down to Detroit sooner rather than later. If I lived closer to Detroit, I'd go back and see this display again. Even if I wasn't studying animated installations and displays, this would still have been a fun and worthwhile experience to have. Since all the animatronics appeared to run off of the same motion sensors, there wasn't much to puzzle out, but it was still a good learning experience.

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Animated Events: Butterflies and Lanterns, part 2

A month later, it was time to go back to Grand Rapids, pick up my paperwork, and wrap up business for the 2024 tax season. The butterflies at Meijer Gardens were gone, however the John Ball Zoo had opened up their annual Grand Rapids Lantern Festival to the public and boy did they step up their game! Much like prior events, there were static figures with elaborate lighting, basic animatronic statues that appeared to be on timers, as well as others that were triggered by sensors. Some of these used pressure plates on the walkways, still others were activated by motion sensors as we passed by. There were far more fanciful creatures and fantastic environments than last year. Inspired a lot of thoughts, mostly random, but there was a thread running through them all: animated installations and interactivity.

The Nine-Tailed Fox (Jiuwei Hu)

The Hou at night

All told, it was a fun event, though I highly recommend attending near dusk. I like to make two passes through the Zoo, the first when it's light so I can see the sensor mechanisms and a second when it's dark when those lights really stand out.

There are two other events involving animatronics going on right now for those who are interested, both of which I'm hoping to attend:

John Ball Zoo

The Power of Pollinators

July 14 - November 23

Detroit Zoo

Dragon Forest

May 24 to Sept 7, 9:30a.m. to 5 p.m.

After I got home, I started to go down the rabbit hole, researching one sensor activation technology after another--and how they could be integrated with animated installations. Fortunately I pulled back and only bookmarked a couple websites and books. Just don't have the time to dig into this tech right now. But hopefully soon. 

Prior to this event, I had been doing a little research on how museums could use QR codes (and some do) in order to link visitors to additional information on their works of art--or how it could be used for contemporary artists. As fate would have it, for the annual Free RPG Day event this year, Hoplite Games had implemented a scavenger hunt/dungeon crawl adventure that was created by Ninth Level Games. They were just letter-sized pages that described a location in the dungeon and offered clues based upon what decision the player selected. Only six locations but it was fun and showed a unique use of QR codes.

Getting back to animated installations, I'm afraid that I was a little early to the party at R.I.T. After I had graduated, Marla Schweppe had left the animation program and started a 3d digital design program that included some interactivity. Given how Riot Games has been integrating animation, live-action performers, augmented-reality, and advanced Pepper's Ghost (pseudo-holographic) tech into their yearly League of Legends Worlds competition event, I think Marla had a pretty clear vision of where the industry was headed. Wish I would've had the opportunity to take a couple of her classes dealing with interactivity and animation.

Clearly, my thoughts on the subject are all over the place.

My current plan is to see the Dragon Forest at the Detroit Zoo in August. I'll be interested to see how complex the statues are and how they leverage interactivity in their animatronics to enhance visitor engagement. 

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Animated People: Erik Timmerman

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, Erik's lessons didn't stop when the class period was over. He would check in with us off and on during the week, even when we weren't taking one of his classes that quarter. 

I remember times when I'd be walking past his office and he'd call me in to chat. In addition to seeing how we were managing our classes and workload and thesis films, Erik would also take these small opportunities to teach his students outside of the classroom. I was in his office one day, just to check in. Erik quickly opened a web browser, called up a video and showed me the trailer for the upcoming feature film James and the Giant Peach. He then asked me what I noticed. I immediately picked up on what he was trying to show me: within every shot, the character's action would lead your eyes, your attention, to the starting point of the action in the next scene. Erik smiled, I assume confident that the lessons from my classes were sinking in. He pointed out a couple other things about movie trailers. And then the lesson ended and I was off to my next class.

Erik's lesson was made all the more timely when during the following year, Marla taught a stop-motion animation class. Halfway during the quarter, she brought in stop-mo animator Tom Brierton from Chicago to talk about his career and the industry. Tom showed up with a number of ball-and-socket "skeletons" from when he worked on James and the Giant Peach and a video of clips from the scenes he animated.

This month, I was invited to return to Central Michigan University and continue teaching a class in the animation department. As I continue to interact with students, these little lessons and examples from Erik, Marla, Jack, Skip and Stephanie keep coming to mind. Sometimes, I cringe when I look at a challenging student of mine and feel sheepish over my college years--wondering if that's how my behavior looked to them. Then I remember how they all handled these energetic, overeager students who were trying to make these little films about these stories that were deeply personal and deeply emotional--to us anyways. But with each class I teach, I've learned to welcome these memories. Thinking back about my professors, the grace and the patience they displayed, those memories are constant reminders of the kind of teacher that I want to be for my students.

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