Next time you drop into the Sunriver Lodge, take a left turn down the stairs and check out the new three-section video screen opposite the Sunriver Realty desk.
This new venture pairs the progressive thinking of SRR principal broker John Fettig with the ingenuity of Michael Gough, co-owner of Sisters-based Fluid Images and the film production company’s creative director.
“The Sunriver Lodge is the busiest location in Sunriver and one of the busiest in Central Oregon for visitors,” Fettig noted. “Although we’ve had an office in that building for many, many years, we felt it was not as inviting and interesting to the public as it should be.”
Fettig had become intrigued by Fluid Images’ unique three-screen technology. The company has prominent kiosks in both the Redmond and Palm Springs airports — three separate screens, side by side, that comprise a 12-foot-wide video screen. It uses them to promote the destinations and local real estate. “We called Michael and asked him to do something similar at the lodge,” Fettig said.
“I think it’s very exciting,” responded Gough, whose company developed the world’s largest camera crane … a product that has been used in more than 1,200 video productions, including such movies as Titanic and Spiderman. “What John was interested in, in this competitive time, was taking the company to the next level: to move forward.”
Fluid Images, Gough explained, shoots with three cameras from its crane at the same time. “It’s different than just a panoramic view,” he said. “We can get as close as we want to. What you’re seeing on that 12-foot-wide screen basically tricks the mind.
“We pan across the beauty shots to keep people watching. In between, we built templates for agents to produce presentations to sell specific homes. These 30- to 60-second presentations go on the three screens, too. This is something we’ve designed just for Sunriver Realty. It doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
To accommodate the triple screen, Fettig said, SRR remodeled its space in the lodge. “Now it’s a much more inviting space,” he said. “We see visitors looking at the loop, and an agent is there to answer any questions they may have.”
Fluid Images got its start in 1990; Gough joined founders Rick, Rob and Bob Johnson in 1996. In 2004, the company won first place in an American resort-development awards competition for a video on the Pronghorn Resort. Two years ago it founded Captive Media Solutions, which has developed the proprietary three-system film technology.