Operand created this immersive multimedia experience within an actual Chicago Transit Authority “L” train car to allow visitors to share in a virtual trip around the Loop, Chicago’s downtown business district, on a winter morning in 1959.
The experience allows visitors to step inside the actual train and look down the car to see a virtual extension of the car displaying the kinds of activities one would encounter on a real CTA train car in 1959. High definition video is rear-projected onto a nine-foot by eight-foot screen seamlessly built into the entire width and height of one end of the car, giving a realistic impression of a continuation of the train car and showing the virtually connected second car and Chicago skyline passing by the windows.
Life-sized period characters virtually enter the train through the video at scheduled stops and interact with each other and the surrounding environment on their daily commute. Twelve original characters play out this 8-minute video production, giving the museum visitors an accurate cross-reference of the culturally diverse travelers on the L.
The interpretive objectives underlying this immersive experience emphasized the creation of an experience that allowed visitors to gain a dynamic, story-based sense of what train travel was like over a half a century ago, while highlighting the ways in which growing traffic problems and suburbanization of the Chicago area during the time ultimately encouraged people and businesses to move out of the city, resulting in a new commuter society based in the Chicago suburbs.
Visitors are encouraged to sit inside the train and eavesdrop on the characters' conversations and experience a daily Chicago commute. Together with the video, the immersive experience utilizes lighting effects, synchronized audio, and seat vibrations to accurately convey what it feels like to ride a moving CTA train. The result is a moving experience that engages the audience while communicating historically accurate first-person stories.
Chicago Transit Authority L train immersive environment
The CTA car within the exhibit, as seen from outside the car
A view of the movie playing from inside the car
The chromakey "green screen" production process
Operand also created several different Character Stations throughout the exhibit. These were touchscreen interactives that delved into the lives and personalities of characters relevant to the subject of transportation in America.
Character Stations touchscreen interactives
