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. …”
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On July 2, 2009, SolveEtCoagula said:
This is a cool promo. No lie. However, the way they announced the change still gets right up my nose with cleats on. Plus, they canceled Dresden Files AND keep making those terrible original movies with Casper Van Whosits in ‘em. No, this geekette is still unconvinced.