OVERVIEW
Recreating the ideas, events, people and legacies of America’s revolutionary origins is no easy challenge. The Museum of the American Revolution uses innovative audiovisual to bring to life the sights, sounds and experiences of the young nation in the eighteenth century. Imagine the footsteps of marching armies, the sound and fury of the battlefield, the heated discussions in parlors or the quiet ‘calm before the storm’ of a military commander’s tent — audiovisual can do that and more. The organizers wanted to convey the complexity and the continuity of the American Revolution. It wasn’t an event, or a moment in time. It was a movement and an ideal so big that the Museum states, ‘You don’t know the half of it’.
Big ideas need big solutions. The size and scope of the project is enormous and the Museum draws on the full potential of audio, video, immersive experiences and interactive touchscreen displays from Electrosonic. Visitors can get close to the action and the great decisions made inside the original command tent used by General George Washington during the American War of Independence. They can board a replica privateer vessel and relive the sounds of revolutionary sailors as they prepared to seize Royal Navy ships and disrupt British supply lines.
There’s a battlefield recreation where special effects and audiovisual combine to immerse the audience with the vibration of marching soldiers’ footsteps, the sound and smell of smoke and gunfire and the furious sounds of intense fighting. In a special gallery dedicated to the Oneida Indian Nation, visitors can stand among tribal elders and listen to their heated debates — should they side with Washington or the British? With so much complex information to convey, interactive touchscreen displays, multitouch monitors and introductory videos play a key role throughout the Museum. A revolutionary approach to revolutionary times.
