Image Engineering

What's the link between lasers, pyrotechnics, sharks, biomimicry, Meow Wolf and Walt Disney Imagineering? The answer? Self described 'photon wrangler' Genell Zuciya Genell talks to Attractions Management about how to use light to surprise, educate, entertain and amaze https://lnkd.in/eHiUhmv7

I live for big events. Hosting the Steelers for a home playoff game, for the first time in Ravens history, we needed to match the city’s energy with premiere entertainment. We have established our night games as must-see over the past five years, and adding color-changing stadium lights and railing lights this season has elevated that experience. But for a playoff game, we strived for even more. We began our Lindsey Stirling ? collaboration this summer. After hearing her song “Eye of the Untold Her,” our partner John Adams connected us, & we filmed our season’s kickoff video within a week. My hope was that in 5 months, we’d harken back with a playoff live performance to showcase her talent to our fans. The part-strategy, part-luck plan paid off with a stunning stadium moment that included synced lighting, team highlights on our secondary video boards & animation on our ribbon displays. Our partners Image Engineering added striking SFX to our intro tunnel to silhouette Lindsey. Our Steadicam op Joe Davidson crushed this shot – a ton of pressure for 2 minutes! https://lnkd.in/emB-5JUa We were also able to film a playoff trailer with her to tie it all together. https://lnkd.in/eruXnYra One of the many elements that distinguishes the Ravens organization is the way we treat our Ravens Legends. So when Terrell Suggs, Steve Smith Sr., Haloti Ngata, Willie Anderson, and Ray Lewis are all in the house, working each into our show was a fun challenge. Suggs was a no-brainer for our “Legend of the Game” moment before kickoff, since he should be a lock first-ballot HOFer in a few weeks. The Steelers didn’t have a chance on that first series with Suggs hyping up the crowd. The Ray Lewis moment was one I’ll never forget. This was the first time we surprised our fans with an on-field, in-game Ray Lewis dance. The momentum in the building felt a bit uneasy at the time – Steelers within 14 and had the ball late in the 3rd. When TV went to commercial, we killed the stadium lights to create drama & I’d guess fans thought our traditional “Maryland Moment” was coming. Then, Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” hit the stadium speakers. Incredibly cool lighting and SFX, and Ray did his thing. The Bank was shaking, Steelers took a false start on first down due to crowd noise, eventually punt, game over. Lastly, I have been following Baltimore native & Broadway performer Samantha Pollino for a while & first messaged her about singing the National Anthem for us in October. She was our first call when we clinched the division, and I am so glad that the Anthem was televised so the TV audience was able to hear her amazing talent. https://lnkd.in/eeNdNY8G I can’t stress enough how much of a team effort it is to pull a night like that off, from my co-leaders of Game Entertainment Brad Downs & Devin McDuffie, our director Steve Groff, lead animator Brent Airey & so many more. We created lifetime memories built with excitement, suspense, shock & awe.

The playoffs present an opportunity to do some extra special things to entertain our amazing fans and Lindsey Stirling ? completely fit the bill. She put on an incredible performance last night at the bank! We were so thrilled to have her there (perhaps you remember her from one of our trailer videos earlier in the season)! If you aren't familiar with her, now's a great time to learn: https://lnkd.in/ei4Zafvt ?? ?? ??