PW July 09 P30-34.qxd 6/24/09 10:25 am Page 34
Live Entertainment
www.parkworld-online.com
LOONEY TUNES LIVE
Currently playing at three
Butlins holiday parks in the
UK, this new hi-tech stage
THE EXPERIMENT
show fuses live action with
animation featuring a cast of
popular Looney Tunes
characters. The show was
A
nimalive’s patented Human Animation System all Butlins guests, but such has been its popularity
gives entertainers the power to animate live that pre-booking is available and the performances
cartoon characters or digital mascots. are often “sold-out” by lunchtime.
devised by OddPost
Audiences can then chat in real time with those “The development of the show is the culmination
Entertainment using motion
characters. The system can be as simple as a single of a process that started when we contacted
capture technology from
“Chatterbox” booth, but at Butlins the company has Animazoo and explained our plans for an
Animazoo/Animalive and
really gone to town, installing a giant 16ft x 9ft entertainment show merging live action with real-time
has been a big hit with
screen that forms an integral part of the show. animation,” explains Oddpost Entertainment’s Terry
Butlins guests since it
The storyline revolves around larger than life Morrison, who is also the show’s director. “The end
debuted in May
character Professor Potty carrying out a range of result is a product of Animazoo’s technical expertise
experiments in his laboratory which, inevitably, don’t and OddPost’s creative vision. However, credit must
go quite as planned and the professor is sucked into go to Mike Godolphin, director of entertainment at
the screen to join Bugs Bunny, Daffy and Co. Butlins, who saw the potential for such a show in the
Audience members are given an added thrill when first place. Without Mike’s drive and desire to take
the cartoon characters leap into the theatre in standards at Butlins to a new level, Looney Tunes Live
mascot form. would never have happened.”
The show’s real pièce de résistance, however, The technology behind the show would once only
comes when the professor steps back into the real have been available to major theme parks, indeed
world to retrieve his digital camera, returns to similar software was responsible for Disney’s
animated form and takes a photo of an audience acclaimed Turtle Talk attraction, but AnimaLive’s Paul
member. This image then appears amongst the Collimore says the falling cost of processors and
action on screen, leaving all in the theatre baffled. other components make his system available to a
The show’s cast comprises four costumed wide range of outlets.
characters (Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Daffy Duck and “Our Chatterbox booths, for example, can be used
Professor Potty) and two assistants, with just one in party rooms,” he highlights. “The cartoon
technical member of staff needed behind the scenes character effectively ‘hosts’ the party, and then the
to operate the capture system. children are given a DVD to take home as a
Staged three-times daily inside a 300-seat theatre souvenir. Other potential uses include ‘queue-buster’
at holiday parks in Skegness, Minehead and Bognor applications where guests interact with a character
Regis, Looney Tunes Live – The Experiment is free to on screen as they wait in line for a major ride.”
“
Similar
software was
responsible for
Disney’s
acclaimed
Turtle Talk
attraction, but
the falling cost
of processors
and other
components
make
Animalive’s
system
available to a
wide range
Costumed characters interact with the action on
of outlets
34
”
screen – before becoming part of it
JULY 2009
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