Directed by Academy Award-Winner Louie Psihoyos, Premiering Worldwide on Discovery Channel on December 2
SAN FRANCISCO (December 1, 2015) – When Racing Extinction, an eco-thriller that exposes the man-made issues fueling the mass extinction of endangered animals, debuts worldwide tomorrow night, December 2, on the Discovery Channel, much of its audience will be primed to receive its dramatic, eye-opening message thanks to the ground-breaking work of San Francisco-based creative studio Obscura.
Passionate about collaborating with visionaries to support global causes, Obscura partnered with Academy Award-winning filmmaker and activist Louie Psihoyos (The Cove), who ventured behind the scenes armed with hidden cameras to produce the hard-hitting documentary that exposes the rapid rate of extinction among the Earth’s endangered species and the black markets that profit from the ongoing slaughter. Psihoyos’ team boldly stalks and exposes these profiteers and their far-flung networks with a guerrilla style of filmmaking that unmasks the cruel, mercenary and largely unlawful practices that are rapidly bringing endangered species to the brink of extinction.
Intent on turning the film into a movement, on Saturday, August 1, 2015 Obscura took to the air, using 40 projectors stacked on top of each other to illuminate and transform the Empire State Building with gorgeous, 350-foot-high images of endangered animals. Covering 33 floors on the south façade of the iconic building, Obscura’s startling, immersive experience — the first time anyone had projected images onto the Empire State Building — literally stopped traffic as people stood in awe of the impressive display and its powerful message. This event reached more than a billion people across the world in 24 hours and was captured and edited as the uplifting ending of Racing Extinction.
“We used every creative and technical element we could devise to develop a street to sky environmental campaign,” said Obscura co-founder Travis Threlkel, a creative technologist and visual artist.
The street portion of the vision manifested in the form of an environmentally sustainable, high- performance Tesla car. Obscura equipped the Model S with a robotic video projection system that deployed out of the back window and a military grade FLIR camera to detect toxic emissions. Powered with custom media, the system could project toxic symbols on plumes of smoke at an oil refinery or images of endangered animals on fast food billboards. To add to the covert nature of the operation, the Tesla was decked out with electroluminescent paint and equipped with a disappearing license plate.
Also featured in Racing Extinction is a large-scale architectural projection mounted just prior to the People’s Climate March leading up to the United Nations Climate Summit in September 2014. Projected onto the UN General Assembly and Secretariat buildings in New York, it told the story of climate change and the need to preserve biodiversity.
“We were honored to work with Louie Psihoyos on the Discovery Channel’s Racing Extinction,” said Threlkel. “At Obscura, we use art as a message of mass instruction to inspire and engage people around the world. For Racing Extinction, we feel that as a society, we’ve been invading nature for centuries. We stopped to ask, ‘What if the animals invaded us?’ We took this notion of a ‘reverse invasion’ and projected staggering images of these endangered species onto the Empire State Building, a major symbol of capitalism and progress. The juxtaposition of the natural world against an urban icon was powerful.”
“It’s important for Obscura to collaborate with big thinkers and global changemakers who are champions of causes in which we believe – from saving endangered species to climate change and promoting world peace,” added Obscura co-founder and CEO Chris Lejeune.
Obscura is a creative studio based in San Francisco’s Dogpatch District, an emerging hotbed of technology and innovation. Founded in 2000, the company has collaborated with a broad range of forward-thinking corporations and cultural dignitaries. Organizations like the United Nations, United Arab Emirates, UNESCO, The Li Ka Shing Foundation, AT&T, Facebook, Genentech, Google, and Nike are among those who have enlisted Obscura’s talent to create a dialogue and develop solutions, whether bringing a new product to market or changing the way the world feels about a cause.
Racing Extinction airs tomorrow, December 2, at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, and at 8 p.m. Central time, on the Discovery Channel. Here’s a link to the trailer for #RacingExtinction http://bit.ly/1zFlTbV
Here’s a link to Obscura’s impact on the Empire State Building: http://bit.ly/1Mqy7uf
Follow Obscura @Obscura_Digital
About Obscura
Founded in 2000, Obscura creates one-of-a-kind immersive experiences worldwide. Obscura works with the world’s most forward-thinking companies and public institutions to reimagine how they interact with their audiences. Obscura’s diverse team of 60 artists and technologists collaborates to produce award-winning experiences that transform physical spaces and deeply engage audiences. Obscura has worked with Fortune 100 companies including Google, Facebook, Nike and AT&T as well as global impact foundations such as UNESCO, Li Ka Shing Foundation, Oceanic Preservation Society and Vulcan Productions. Obscura was also the first to illuminate some of the world’s most iconic buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the Sydney Opera House and the Guggenheim Museum. A Certified Green Business, Obscura has offices in San Francisco, New York and Stockholm.
