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History in Motion

Brooklyn Historical Society

Travel back in time to Brooklyn’s Historical Waterfront.

History in Motion gives visitors to Brooklyn Historical Society’s Waterfront exhibition  the chance to step back in time and become part of history. Visitors are empowered to explore the changing waterfront views of Brooklyn’s past and become active participants, making short movies to capture their travels through time.

Overview

  • Motion & Depth camera  record visitors’ actions and place them within images from the museum’s collection
  • Actions are edited together to create short videos.
  • QR codes allow visitors to find and share their movies online

Credits

  • Potion
    Concept Design & Development, Graphic & Interactive Design, Motion Graphics, Animation, Software Development
  • Brooklyn Historical Society
    Exhibit Design & Content
  • Pure + Applied
    Exhibit Design
  • Big Show
    AV Integration
  • Contentful
    Content Management System

Taking in the grand vistas of Brooklyn’s ever evolving waterfront is typically a passive experience. Potion was asked to change that. We responded by creating an experience that allows users to step into images from the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection. Using smart camera technology, users are recorded and filtered to match each of the images from the collection allowing them to become part of the photos and history. 

Within each collection, users visit three individual scenes. In each scene, they are given information that provides historical context for the image and are asked to take an active role, performing an action inspired by the scene. Ride the first ferry to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, walk the narrow footbridge builders of the Brooklyn Bridge used while constructing the massive landmark, and muck around in the marshy swamp land that once made up Gowanus!

At the conclusion of their journey through each image, users’ actions are stitched together and played back as a short movie complete with soundtrack. These movies can be accessed online so users can relive their adventure any time and share with family and friends.

Taking in the grand vistas of Brooklyn’s ever evolving waterfront is typically a passive experience. Potion was asked to change that. We responded by creating an experience that allows users to step into images from the Brooklyn Historical Society’s collection. Using smart camera technology, users are recorded and filtered to match each of the images from the collection allowing them to become part of the photos and history. 

Within each collection, users visit three individual scenes. In each scene, they are given information that provides historical context for the image and are asked to take an active role, performing an action inspired by the scene. Ride the first ferry to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, walk the narrow footbridge builders of the Brooklyn Bridge used while constructing the massive landmark, and muck around in the marshy swamp land that once made up Gowanus!

At the conclusion of their journey through each image, users’ actions are stitched together and played back as a short movie complete with soundtrack. These movies can be accessed online so users can relive their adventure any time and share with family and friends.

Credits

  • Potion
    Concept Design & Development, Graphic & Interactive Design, Motion Graphics, Animation, Software Development
  • Brooklyn Historical Society
    Exhibit Design & Content
  • Pure + Applied
    Exhibit Design
  • Big Show
    AV Integration
  • Contentful
    Content Management System