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The previous post in the Working with the FBI series dealt with the FBI History Page. The History theater was one of the smaller sections we did for the FBI. However, its was one of the most fun to develop. The guys at the FBI wanted to forgo the traditional media player and go with something a bit more engaging. They requested a traditional theater fell to carry on the Biograph Theater theme that is on the History of the FBI homepage.
Our first pass at the theater had some elements that worked well, however it did not have enough of a theater feel to it. They requested that we pull the vantage point back a bit so that the user could see more of the theater. Additionally we wanted to make the environment a bit darker to place a greater emphases on the video that was playing.
The final version of the history theater does a much better job of engaging the user and making the videos feel like they are part of the environment. Now it was time to take everything into flash and make the videos feel like they were projected onto the screen.
The videos needed to appear to be projected onto a movie screen instead of just living in a media player behind the curtains. This was easily accomplished by placing the videos within a movie clip and setting that movie clips Blending mode to Multiply. In addition to the video there was a flickering light that needed to be added throughout the theater to create the feeling of a movie reel spinning.
Above is an example of the light at full opacity and with no effects applied to it. The light gave the illusion of the film being projected onto the screen from behind the users vantage point and cast highlights on the surrounding elements and viewers.
Finally, the only remaining elements were the controls for the video and the information that goes along with each video.
So, head on over to the FBI History Theater and let us know what you think of the design and check out the awesome videos that the FBI has posted. I’ll highlight the Fun & Games and Kids Pages in the next Working with the FBI post.
