


Challenge
Nikola Tesla was far from an ordinary man. A visionary, unsurpassed genius, creator of the 21st century – these are just some of the epithets that are used to depict the life and work of, probably, the greatest scientist of all time.
Our challenge: Conjure up the personality and work of the greatest scientist of all time and present the story in a manner worthy of the hero, stay true to Tesla’s philosophy and make a step forward from anything seen before.
The Goal
Our goal was to use innovation and introduce the world to the greatest inventor, provide an experience worthy of the personality and work of the man who created the future and give people the opportunity to learn everything about the life and work of Nikola Tesla at first hand.

The Great Idea
Experience Nikola Tesla.
From youth to maturity, from the drawings in his mind to the world-changing patents, from success to painful defeat. The idea is to take each guest to the places where Nikola Tesla lived and worked and allow Tesla himself to be the narrator.
Tesla strove throughout his life to break spatial and temporal boundaries. Therefore, the project is based on VR technology and it does not matter anymore where you are and what time of day it is – this project is available to you in all meridians and at all times.

Journey & Research
Goal is what motivates you, journey is what you enjoy.
Working on this project was not a task, but rather a privilege. The question repeated throughout the journey was: Is there any greater challenge than reviving the character and work of Nikola Tesla? Every step of the process was filled with awe and striving for perfection.
Books, articles, writings, notes, interviews, interpretations, photos, museum staff and archives, admirers of the personality and work of Nikola Tesla – all these sources were used to portray the great scientist as authentically as possible. The team behind Experience Tesla project invested hundreds of hours of research and work and had to experience and live Tesla throughout the journey in order to fully accomplish the goal.

Innovations
A new way of presenting historical figures.
Working in VR environment has brought great opportunities, but also unexpected challenges. It took a completely new approach to recreating a 3D character through narration and cinematography in order to provide visitors with an immersive experience of meeting Tesla. We used state-of- the-art technology in special effects, like face and body motion capture, and invested months in developing subtle details using, for example, inverse kinematics, which enables Tesla to look you in the eye while you move freely around the room.
After meeting Tesla, visitors will be confident that this is the new way of reviving historical figures.





Character of Nikola Tesla
Ten versions of Tesla.
Creating five different characters of the great scientist was a great challenge. The stories are set in different time periods, and the personality and appearance of each character has to reflect Tesla’s attitude and age.
Unfortunately, visual records are unreliable – photos of Tesla are scarce, and the sculptures are not consistent. Not even Tesla’s death mask is a credible portrayal of his features. This required further research but also allowed artistic freedom.
The acting part was quite demanding. To ensure Tesla looked realistic in all the scenes, two actors lent their voices and recreated his expressions and personality while the third performed Tesla’s body movements.

Initiative
A symbiosis of vision and initiative by Direct Media and Digital Mind, created a step forward in implementation of new technology in education, and created the first Virtual Reality museum exhibition. Direct Media has recognized the idea from Vitomir Jevremović, to resurrect the greatest scientist of all time using new technologies, as a donation to the Museum of Nikola Tesla in the year when this company celebrates it's 15th birthday and the world celebrates 160 years since the scientist was born.


Find out more about the project
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