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Madame Tussauds Brings Personalities To Life

E&E integrates an interacti ve experience

M

adame Tussauds recently opened

its doors at Sentosa, Singapore

in November 2014. This is Merlin

Entertainments' seventh Madame Tussauds

wax museum in Asia and the fi rst to feature

a mini boat ride. Madame Tussauds off ers

visitors a possibility to mingle and take

photos with famous personaliti es. The life-

like fi gures and the interacti ve experience

within the museum has conti nued to draw

millions all over the world for a close-up with

famous personaliti es.

The Madame Tussauds experience in

Singapore starts off with a mini boat ride

that showcases Singapore's iconic landmarks.

This is followed by fi ve segments that

feature a mix of well-known foreign and local

personaliti es. The diff erent segments include:

History and Leaders; Film; Sports; Music

and The A List Party. There is also a segment

known as the Authenti c History that pays

tribute to Madame Tussauds beginnings –

a history of sorts.

Renowned for their life-like features, the

wax fi gures take into account the exact

height, size and intricate features of their

real-life personaliti es. This in itself creates

much appreciati on and enthusiasm amongst

visitors who keep busy with “selfi es” and

group photos. Guests are also invited to put

on “get-ups” and become part of scenes,

especially where the music fi gures are

featured, thus creati ng an interacti ve and fun

experience as well.

Part of this experience which may go

unnoti ced by the visitors is the subtle AV

technologies implemented within the

venue designed by Thöne und Partner

Germany. Not distracti ng visitors from

the main att racti on, the audio visual

system in place creates an appropriate

background environment which makes the

overall experience pleasing. Electronics

& Engineering Pte Ltd (E&E) who were

responsible for the soluti ons, installati on and

integrati on at Madame Tussauds worked in

tandem with the consultant and designer

for the project Benedikt Koch from Thöne

& Partner Germany. E&E was appointed in

March 2014 and handed over the project in

October 2014.

The Boat Ride

Kicking off the visit is the much-talked about

boat ride, which showcases to visitors some

of Singapore's icons that includes Marina

Bay Sands, Singapore Airlines and more.

As visitors glide through the various icons,

audio background, lighti ng and even visuals

help create a fuller experience for them.

Though this part of the AV installati on might

sound simple, it was actually a litt le tricky.

The design meant that as the boat made its

way slowly passing through specifi c “icons” a

parti cular ambience is created to match that

icon. For example one of the iconic scenes

was the F1 circuit – where Samsung monitors

showcased scenes from the actual Singapore

F1 race with audio background providing the

sounds of the cars zooming past.

BY THOMAS PRAKASAM

75

INSTALL

March - April 2015

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Image ©SMDB

Image ©SMDB