Bioluminescence has never been this much fun.
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OLogy, the award-winning website for kids from the American Museum of Natural History is designed to make learning about science rich and engaging. The site is chock-full of cool interactives, articles, and activities on all sorts of topics... endangered species, fossil discoveries, Mars, lasers, deep-sea vents, cloning, and blue whales, just to name a few. Each "ology" is its own unique world into science - from archaeology to paleontology - featuring scientists from the Museum and their incredible research.
In 2003, the Museum's famous Hall of Ocean Life was set to reopen after an extensive renovation, so it was only fitting that OLogy help celebrate the new exhibition with a Marine Biology section. Our production team developed four unique interactives and several articles based on the hall. But we knew there were several topics worth introducing that might not fit into either of these formats. One of these topics, bioluminescence, was selected to become a sing-a-long animation. With the expert help of a childrens book author, a song called "Glowing in the Ocean" was born. Now it was up to me to illustrate three different marine animals that glow for three very surprising reasons.
The first chapter of the animation moves down through the water column to the deep-sea environment. The anglerfish uses its glowing antenna as a lure for lunch. I would be remiss to not credit the trailers for Pixar's then-upcoming film "Finding Nemo" and their anglerfish as inspiration for my version, albeit two-dimensional and simplified. The second scene proved the most complex, as the story dictated lots of motion. Off the coast of Bermuda, the waves stir up these tiny fireworms and they engage in their phosphorescent mating display. Fortunately some careful object paths and clever engineering made for a smooth and looping animation for this final part of the story. The blue-ringed octopus turns bright blue to fend off would-be predators, and was deceptively the simplest to build in the final section of the animation. Each arm operates independently and moves in a loop. It's hard to tell here, but these guys are actually tiny creatures: one would easily fit in the palm of your hand.
Since the launch of Marine Biology, the OLogy site has been lauded with honors from Pirelli, AOL, SIIA, Webby, among others. And now you're sure to better understand bioluminescence... and have that song stuck in your head.
View sketches and screenshots:
Wireframes | Scene
setups | Final
artwork
