On July 7th the channel soon to be formerly known as SC FI will henceforth be called Syfy. I readily admit that I was as baffled as anyone when the re-branding was first announced, but I have definitely warmed to it and think it’s a nice play on the genre name and a distinctive title for the channel. There has also been the concern that this would also herald the channel’s departure from its previous style of programming. I’m convinced now that is a pretty baseless fear. Below is a video of a short film entitled “House of Imagination” that will put a little perspective on the whole change and show you what the folks at SCI FI/Syfy have in mind going forward.

“House of Imagination” is produced and directed by the award-winning 4Creative team led by director Brett Foraker, director of photography is Larry Fong (Watchmen, 300), the production designer is Tino Schaedler (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, V For Vendetta) and the visual effects are provided by MPC (Watchmen, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). So, you know, this isn’t something slapped together haphazardly by a marketing team. Sure, Marketing most likely had a hand in it, but they let a talented, genre-friendly team run with it.

The channel describes the promo film thusly: “The film invites viewers into a celebratory house party populated with rooms inspired by the Channel’s original programs and characters. Goldfrapp’s “Happiness” provides the soundtrack for the trip through the never-ending house, where anything can and does happen in each one-of-a-kind room. Through high-concept visual storytelling, each scene fuses a bold complement of visual effects with practical set design. “House of Imagination” was designed to be modularly deconstructed into a dynamic, long-running campaign of 10- and 5-second network identifications.

The experience will extend digitally into Syfy.com/Imagine Greater, beginning July 7, where visitors will have a rich, fully interactive and immersive experience as guests at the house party. Visitors will be able to explore parallax rooms and to discover exclusive content including games, behind-the-scenes and making-of footage, cast interviews, downloadable wallpaper and much more. …”