On November 17, 1978 a carousel projector was left unattended at the Buffalo State College Planetarium and it's fan ceased to cool the projector sufficiently. The result was disaster when the projector overheated, caught fire, and gutted the entire planetarium facility. Indeed, the loss was devastating to its director Dr. James R. Orgren, as well as others closely associated with the planetarium and astronomy program at Buffalo State.

Unfortunately rebuilding was doubtful and the Buffalo area might have lost the only planetarium capable of "live" and computerize public programming, as well as introductory and upper level collegiate astronomy education under the dome. But, with great hope and countless hours of work, James Orgren was almost single-handedly able to restore the planetarium to its original form and even better! In fact, on April 12, 1980, less than two years after the devastating fire, the stars would again shine at the new Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State College.

Belatedly, could something be done to thank Dr. Orgren for his stellar effort and superb service; especially for his labor-of-love to see through the complete restoration of the Buffalo State Planetarium? As students in his shadow, we needed to produce a show in his honor, not just a pre-produced boxed show, but a program from scratch. So, as individuals who admired him greatly, we did.

After brainstorming, script writing, script editing, narrating the script onto soundtrack, editing that soundtrack (you remember, cutting/pasting magnetic tape!), mixing and posting music, finding visuals and painting others, mounting the pictures, opaquing and geling slides, placing visuals in carousel trays and writing the computer program... the show was finally complete! On Friday, September 30, 1988, after 13 months of preparation, "From Ancient Eyes to the Age of Discovery" opened to a full house.

The planetarium's first student produced in-house show was sincerely dedicated to an individual who believed the area needed the planetarium and spent thousands of hours of his life realizing that goal. Our final product reflected the student's true appreciation for his dedication and love for the college, community, planetarium profession, as well as just bringing the beauty of the sky to anyone who would take the time to listen. And for that we say THANK YOU Dr. James Orgren!

Why is this story important, you may ask? Well, it's the history of how Ancient Eyes Productions came to be! The show was seen literally by thousands of people from its October 1988 opening to the April 1989 closing; from local school groups, college students, to the general public alike. In fact, many individuals inquired about the marketability of the show. After much discussion, a new goal was set... turn the program into a marketable show kit. So from April 1989 until graduation that December, preparation began. This became a daunting task, a fun learning experience, and in the end my Masters Project. Here's a brief synopsis.

We needed new visuals! All pictures used in a show kit must have copyright or permission clearance before incorporation within the show. In late May 1989, a letter was drafted and mailed to sixty publishing companies requesting signed permission for photo inclusion in the show. In most cases, publishing companies don't hold copyright to specific visuals, thus I should contact the copyright holder of the photo directly.

After many mailings, dozens of long distance phone calls, and hiring a second artist to help fill the visual "holes," the final photographs arrived from the Mount Palomar Observatory on Monday, October 23, 1989. Finally, a list of 258 visuals were ready to bring the words of our show to life. But the show had to have great sound too... new music was a must!

Very quickly, I realized the original music was out. From Ancient Eyes to the Age of Discovery was originally produced with commercially available music. Realizing this, a teacher friend of mine mentioned that his son worked in the music business. Mr. Wayne Sharpe was hired to re-score the entire production scratch; he describes how this was done in his own words...

"The underlying musical score was very important to the overall perception of the show. The first score had been so carefully selected and worked so well that in redoing the music, I decided to keep intact the same timing cues, breaks, and similar orchestrations.

The main equipment I worked with was the Macintosh SE with Performer 3.0 sequencing, Korg M1, Yamaha TX81Z, Ensonic Mirage sampler, Alesis HR-16 and the Multiverb II for effect and digital processing.

I wrote the score directly into the Macintosh from the Korg M1 keyboard. This way changes in tempo, notes, dynamics, and accents could be made later if needed. To put the score to a master tape, the computer and keyboards play the score live to tape, in synchronization with the dialogue track of the reel-to-reel tape deck.

It has been very exciting working on this show; not only for the challenge, but also for such a rewarding experience."

The final component was to generate a marketable script and production package. Typing and formatting the script was first priority. It was necessary to have the script match the soundtrack exactly. In the annotated script, visuals were placed by number at the left margin showing each producer when to project the graphic or photo onto the dome and in the production package portion of the show kit, explanatory notes were available. Other helpful items within the production package included; Production Notes, Copyright Notice, About the Visuals, About the Music, Visual Effects List, Slide Reference List, Sample Press Releases, Sample Public Service Announcements, Kodalith Section, and show evaluation form.

So there you have it! In 1990 "From Ancient Eyes to the Age of Discovery" was available as a planetarium show kit through the newly formed Ancient Eyes Productions.

Since our inception, other educational products are now available including a great astronomy activity book called Rainy Day Astronomy. Does your planetarium, museum or science center have a gift shop? Check out our line of pens, pencils, erasers, and key tags, plus other advertising specialty items you can use to increase YOUR company, planetarium, museum, or science center's visibility.