JRA, a leading experience designer, and Electrosonic, a leading international audiovisual and technology services company, have announced that The National Comedy Center received an honourable mention in the AAM Media and Technology MUSE awards.
The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York, has been open less than a year but is already becoming a visitor favourite. At the AAM Annual Meeting & Expo 2019 in New Orleans, the centre’s Laugh Battle interactive exhibit was singled out for an honourable mention. The Media and Technology MUSE awards are presented by the American Alliance of Museums, in recognition of outstanding achievement in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museum (GLAM) media. Laugh Battle received an honourable mention in the Onsite Digital Experience category.
Electrosonic provided audio-visual hardware and integration for the National Comedy Centre. JRA provided master planning, writing and content development, exhibit design, project management, executive media production and art direction for the centre.
AAM says, “The Media & Technology Professional Network’s annual awards are presented to institutions that enhance the GLAM experience and engage audiences with useful and innovative digital programs and services. The MUSE awards celebrate scholarship, community, innovation, creativity, education, accessibility, and inclusiveness.”
Interactive Laugh Battle
The interactive game, Laugh Battle, features breakthrough Microsoft AI technology. Visitors can enjoy a laughter face-off, as they try to be the first person to make their opponent crack. Facial recognition software is used to detect the first glimmer of a smile.
“As the nation’s official cultural institution for comedy and one of the most technologically advanced museums in the world, the National Comedy Center is pleased to have received an Honorable Mention from the Muse Awards for its Laugh Battle experience,” says Journey Gunderson, National Comedy Center Executive Director. “We’re proud to have worked closely with JRA, Cortina Productions, Microsoft and Herzog & Company to develop Laugh Battle using state-of-the-art facial recognition AI technology. Together we created an immersive experience that engages, entertains and educates visitors as we showcase the art form of comedy — and the work that goes into delivering comedy material to an audience. The response has been outstanding.”
Unique experiences
“All of the digital experiences at the National Comedy Center are personalized and participatory, but Laugh Battle stands out as a favourite because of the way it uses facial recognition and emotion detection to provide visitors with an authentic joke telling game,” says Stephen Platenberg, Principal and Creative Director with Cortina Productions, “we even suggest jokes tailored to the opponent’s sense of humour profile that we are tracking across all the interactive experiences via RFID.” Cortina Productions is the media design and production company behind Laugh Battle.
“The National Comedy Center is full of unique and innovative experiences, and there is no better example of this than Laugh Battle,” says JRA Senior Designer, Colin Cronin. “After all, isn’t the heart of comedy just making each other laugh?”
JRA will be hosting sessions at IAAPA Expo Asia 2019 in Shanghai from the 11th – 14th June. The sessions will be looking at professional development and industry trends.
Electrosonic recently achieved global AVIXA AV Provider of Excellence status in recognition of their professionalism and commitment to ongoing training, customer service and dedication to excellence.
