BUSINESS PROFILE
Q MEDIA PRODUCTIONS :
MOBILE MEDIA STORYTELLERS
Brett Dault
Many of you have likely experienced an audio tour while visiting a museum or exhibit , listening to a narrator convey the details and facts of whichever particular subject you happened to be observing . One award-winning local Winter Garden company , Q Media Productions , takes the audio tour to an entirely new level with its enriched mobile storytelling .
Local residents and Q Media founders Stasha Boyd and Mike Lutz have always been “ museum people ,” and spent the early part of their relationship visiting all kinds of places showcasing things from military history , airplanes , and even the largest ball of yarn . Both avid history buffs , they enjoyed learning the details of the exhibit and the story conveyed by the audio tours .
Coming from a theater and performance background , Stasha paid special attention to the narration and how the story is conveyed , while Mike , an audio engineer and musician , listened for technical aspects : the music , sound effects , and production values . Much of the time at that point , audio tours were incredibly factual and had little entertainment value . So back in 2000 , Mike & Stasha decided they wanted to combine their talents and their passions and create audio storytelling experiences which immerse and involve the user , rather than simply droning out facts .
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE A LIVING MEMORIAL : MOUNT RUSHMORE
When they first started out , neither had any business experience , so they partnered with Wil Wisler , a mentor from the Service Core of Retired Executives ( SCORE ). Wil presented them with the notion of incorporating video into their wheelhouse , which in turn led to the opportunity to create a short video for a company ’ s orientation sessions . The next year , they exhibited at the Florida Attractions Association ’ s annual conference with this film in their portfolio , which led to their producing audio tours for the Flint Institute of Arts , the Key West Art and Historical Society , and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens ( Delray Beach ). Working on these projects together with another organization , they learned a lot of techniques that they wanted to employ at Q Media .
Q Media landed their first major gig in 2006 , when they produced A Living Memorial : Mount Rushmore Audio and Mobile Media Tour as an offering for visitors to the National Park in Keystone , South Dakota . The tour was produced in English , Spanish , German , and Lakota , and went on to receive many awards from the National Association for Interpretation as well as being honored with the National Park Service Director ’ s Award for Excellence .
As the technology and devices used with their mobile media tours evolved , so has Q Media . They now expertly use all sorts of media : audio , video , images , augmented reality ( AR ), virtual reality , games — and whatever comes
38 | WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE | JUNE 2018