3D Virtual Tour Example: Art of Intimidation, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (via Mused)

Let’s round out our exploration of 3D storytelling platforms with a look at Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East’s Art of Intimidation exhibition.

This is one of the more recent Mused.com productions, offering a few exciting new storytelling tools to review. One such addition is an animated Assyrian who acts as both the narrator and your guide within the ancient palace. There is a prescribed linear pathway in place. While you can navigate to other points of interest, the narration remains fixed in sequence. 

Storytelling Infrastructure

As you listen to the Assyrian guide, the silicon molds of ancient reliefs are animated with an Augmented Reality (AR) tool. As the Assyrian tells you stories about the King, the animations and exhibit space offer lighting and color sensations. There is also ambient sound to accompany scenes, such as the sound of horse hooves on a hard surface or celebratory music.  

Overall, the exhibit design creates an immersive story experience. The virtual tour includes oral, written, and visual storytelling performance types, as well as sensory triggers via lighting, color, sound, and texture.   

• Online Exhibit: Art of Intimidation, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East  
• Digital Publishing Platform: Mused  
• Story Path: Linear Pathway (Guided) 
• Storytelling Performance Types: Oral, Written, Visual  
• Sensory Setting: Lighting, Color, Sound, Texture 

A still photo from “Art of Intimidation, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.” Source: Mused, https://mused.com/tours/964/assyrian-stele-harvard-museum-of-the-ancient-near-east/. This image displays the landing page image for the Art of Intimidation online exhibit.

Tool: Tour Guide/Narrator

The tour guide is introduced at the beginning of the exhibit and sets the story scene by explaining that you have arrived at the King’s Palace in Nineveh and are waiting for an audience with the King. While you wait, the Assyrian guide takes you on a tour of the mounted reliefs along the outside wall. At each stop, the Assyrian shares the small sub-story depicted in the relief—about the King or his ancestors.

The narration is provided as text and sound, which offers improved accessibility while also catering to audiences with different sensory input preferences. The sub-stories are brief and only introduce a few new pieces of information—all contributing to the bigger story about your anticipated visit with the King.   

A still photo from “Art of Intimidation, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.” Source: Mused, https://mused.com/tours/964/assyrian-stele-harvard-museum-of-the-ancient-near-east/. This image displays the Assyrian tour guide next to two animated reliefs.

Tool: Animation Through Augmented Reality

While the Assyrian tour guide is charming, it’s the exhibit’s AR animations that really steal the show. Using scholarship to inform the color and information from the reliefs themselves, animations were created to show the activity depicted in the relief. The sub-stories, as well as the accompanying sounds and music, were all informed by scholarship. From the viewer’s perspective, the animations are projected onto the reliefs once the tour guide begins to narrate the story.    

A Meaningful Experience

The new storytelling elements introduced with the tour guide and the animated reliefs are exciting. Although there are fewer self-directed engagement opportunities, the passive engagement offered by the tour guide and animations is incredibly strong. The tour is not overly long, which helps maintain interest, and the stories shared by the guide are age-appropriate for a broad audience. While there are some high-tech elements with this tour, it helps to demonstrate that the content does not need to be overly complex or verbose to deliver a meaningful story experience.