A real-time, interactive and immersive storytelling approach to digital public installation exploring the knowns and unknowns of greater Central Florida

For the digital art installations at Terminal C, which opened in fall 2022, Montreal-based creative studio Gentilhomme went to great lengths to create hours of original content, using advanced CGI, machine learning, live action, and immersive underwater filmmaking, along with 3D motion tracking technology that renders imagery in real time on massive screens. The experience reconsiders passenger relationships to the airport by offering unexpected moments of magic that bring back the joy and wonder of air travel.

The Moment Vault
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Under the mantra 'the knowns and the unknowns of Central Florida', the installations feature a multitude of original content, from underwater manatees swimming in the Crystal River, to SpaceX rocket launches, while also exploring lesser-known beauty like the vast ranchlands and the downtown Orlando skyline. As a result, an expected 60 million passengers passing through Terminal C annually will be able to discover over 70 video vignettes that are curated and scheduled based on the passenger journey, in consideration of dwelling time, time of day, and season.

The Moment Vault

Located at the center of the Palm Court, the primary public gathering space for all departing guests, the Moment Vault serves as an iconic centerpoint. The installation is designed as an organic structure composed of 3 morphing garden-like exterior walls. These nature walls house a whimsical interior where guests are immersed in a 360 degree interactive world featuring scenes from Mars, swims with manatees, fireflies, and fish. The content covers 2,979 square feet LED panels on both sides of three curved walls. Up to 30 full body users’ movements are tracked in 3D in real-time and are transformed into interactive silhouettes on screen to engage in a collaborative, participatory, and immersive experience. Using the magic of technology, the nature-based photorealistic content brings tranquility and peace to a typically stressful environment, transforming the airport into an oasis, while seamlessly blending into the architecture.

Palm Court
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Manatees
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Bioluminescence
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Windows on Orlando

Designed as an expansive panoramic reveal, the core identity is expressed as an architectural element which blends seamlessly into the airport’s architecture. A triptych of 32-foot-high screens spanning 114 feet give the illusion of three windows that open up onto mesmerizing scenes that celebrate Orlando. Gentilhomme's in-house cinematographers, along with a local production team, shot with 12K resolution cameras at more than 20 different locations within a 50-kilometer radius of the airport.

Windows on Orlando
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Beach
Photo credit: Maxime Roux

Highwaymen
Photo credit: Gentilhomme Studio

Portal

This installation, which is scheduled to launch in the arrival and departure area in 2023, will take the form of a helical structure whose exterior and interior are covered with a multitude of screens that unfold 360 degrees across four floors in 32 high resolution screens.

The arrival and departure from an airport is the first and last impression you have of the city you are visiting. Our role was therefore to define the identity and history of each of the works in order to create unforgettable emblems, thus defining the airport's identity. Our goal is to always make the technology invisible to leave audiences in complete awe.

– Thibaut Duverneix Founder and CEO of Gentilhomme, Creative Director of the multimedia mandate for Orlando International Airport's Terminal C –

About Gentilhomme

Gentilhomme is a multimedia studio specializing in immersive environments designed to enchant and engage. The studio conceives, directs, and produces interactive installations and live shows for destinations and the entertainment industry, including singer Charlotte Cardin's Phoenix tour (2022), and singer Tierra Whack's Whack World film-album (2019), but also for the transportation industry with creative mandates for Orlando International Airport (2022) and Nashville International Airport (2023), and for the well being and attractiveness of cities with the public space activation POP!, presented at the Quartier des spectacles in Montreal (2019), which is now being toured internationally. The studio was founded by director and multidisciplinary artist Thibaut Duverneix in 2014.