Dravska priča: from a river’s course to life in the shallows

From a beak to a story about the river

Selecting a beak beside the “Tko to tamo mulja?” exhibit brings a bird into the picture. It enters the shallows and searches for food, before the view moves closer to its beak and what is happening in the mud. The shape a visitor has chosen becomes meaningful through movement and feeding behaviour.

This is one of the themes we worked on for the Dravska priča Visitor Centre in Noskovci. Across seven related content areas, we produced animation, graphics and audiovisual material ranging from changes in the river’s course to the life cycles of aquatic organisms.

Showing processes that are difficult to see together

The centre interprets the natural heritage of the Mura, Drava and Danube region. Its multimedia exhibition brings the river landscape together with plants, animals and the lives of people beside the water.

The production task involved very different subjects and scales. A meander calls for a view of the landscape; a feeding bird needs a close-up; life in a drop of water opens up another world altogether. Each subject needed its own visual approach and a relationship with the place where visitors encounter it.

We developed the material with Smart AudioVisual, alongside content and specialist reviews by the client and project team. Our contribution covered seven themes within the wider exhibition.

A river shaping its landscape

In “Dynamic Processes of the Drava”, animated views connect the river’s course with side channels, meanders, steep banks and river bars. The content also covers channelisation, dams and hydroelectric plants. At an interactive table, visitors can select a topic and connect a river form with its explanation.

We prepared animation and graphics for these views. The river, markers, text and reference images had to work together on the equipment used in the exhibition.

“Drava, Then and Now” offers another perspective. Photographs of people, boats and life along the water connect the natural setting with the ways people use it. The story of a changing landscape continues through the relationship between the river and its communities.

Seven beaks, seven ways of feeding

For “Tko to tamo mulja?”—an exhibit about birds feeding in the mud—we created seven separate animated films. The cast includes a black-winged stilt, little ringed plover, Eurasian spoonbill and Eurasian curlew. Each enters the same riverside setting and demonstrates a different way of finding food.

Physical beak forms beside the exhibit provide the starting point for selecting a species. The screen then connects the bird’s appearance and movement with a close view of its beak in the mud. A shared background helps visitors compare the feeding behaviours.

Proportions and scale within the frame required particular care. Specialist references distinguished a bird’s measured length from tail to beak from its dimensions when standing. That small distinction has direct consequences for modelling and composition. Reviews also covered species names, text and the length of the animations.

Below the surface: from an aquarium to a life cycle

“Endemic Species of the Danube Basin” takes the form of an interactive aquarium. An animated aquatic scene introduces the animals, and selecting one opens information about it. We prepared models, animation and graphic screens to be connected within the application.

“Life in Water and Beyond” follows another kind of transformation: organisms whose lives begin underwater and continue on land or in the air. Frogs, dragonflies, caddisflies, mosquitoes and mayflies appear through animated life stages and movements.

The “What Is Hidden in a Drop of Water?” exhibit shows small aquatic organisms on a screen. For the area devoted to sand martins, we also created an animated loop of a flock in flight. These scenes bring different rhythms to the visit, from pausing over a detail to following the movement of an entire flock.

Content shaped for an exhibition

Production continued beyond the first animations. Final screen formats had to be agreed, static graphics separated from animated elements, and Croatian and English versions prepared.

Brojka produced audiovisual and interactive content as a subcontractor to Smart AudioVisual. The physical equipment and the centre’s overall design belonged to the wider project. Domagoj Gračan programmed the interactive aquarium, “Dynamic Processes of the Drava” and “Life in Water and Beyond”. Connecting content, specialist review and technical implementation is what turns an individual animation into part of a visit.

Project contributors

• Audiovisual and interactive content, animation and graphics for the seven named themes: BROJKA.
• Production and technical partner: Smart AudioVisual.
• Bird 3D and compositing: Woosh studio.
• Fabrication of the physical beaks: Smart AV.
• Programming of the interactive aquarium, “Dynamic Processes of the Drava” and “Life in Water and Beyond”: Domagoj Gračan.
• Centre: Dravska priča Visitor Centre in Noskovci, the public institution responsible for protected natural areas and the ecological network of Virovitica-Podravina County.

Main production took place in 2020, with presentation and reference material from 2021. Exhibition photographs: institutional archive / Dravska priča Visitor Centre.

Related projects: Dynamic Processes of the Drava · Birds feeding in the mud · Endemic Species of the Danube Basin · Drava, Then and Now · Life in Water and Beyond · Sand Martins · What Is Hidden in a Drop of Water?

If you are developing an interpretation space, we can help define what visitors observe, what they choose and how animation explains the subject. Get in touch.

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