Todd van Hulzen visualizes, designs, manages and builds environments and attributes for the Film, Television, and Musuem industries. Todd has also done work in interior design, themed entertainment, retail display, monuments, restoration, urbanism and fine art.
RECENT ACTIVITY (continued)
Queen to attend official opening of Museum Broekerveiling.
(October 16, 2009)
Design: Todd van Hulzen, Concept: Museumstudio
The visitors' center at the Museum Broekerveiling is open, albeit unofficially. The official opening in 2010 will be attended by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix. The Queen attended the first opening of the Museum Broekerveiling —an historic waterborne farmers' produce auction supplied solely by barge— when she was still a princess in 1979.
The introductory installation in the visitor's center is what it's all about. Here we created a magical installation of 4 living, mechanical models. These animated maquettes are filmed with video cameras, and as their mechanical parts whir and grind and small cut-out puppets move, the footage is fed in real-time to a projector which casts the image large on the wall of the exhibition space. Even though the models are purposely primitive, the projection seems like an enchanted film, come to life through music, narration and light and shadow. PAGE LINK>>
*******
Opening of "How's it going in Uruzgan?" at the Royal Marine Corps Museum in Rotterdam.
(November 03, 2009)
Design: Todd van Hulzen, Concept: Museumstudio
What's it like to not know your friends from your enemies? Intense personal situations in Afghanistan are central to the new exhibit at the Royal Marine Corps Museum. The personal experiences of the marines are told through everyday communication, such as email, twitter and home movies. In a staged living room in the exhibition space, representing the safe banality of the home front, the soldier's experience in Afghanistan is viewed through the lens of the media alongside the colorful personal documents. What do the Marines do in a given 24 hours? How does it feel and sound to be in a nighttime ambush. What do soldiers miss the most. Their experiences are portrayed in films of 24 minutes.
December 4, 2009 until April 2010. PAGE LINK>>
*******
Work begun on "NewtonMania", an exhibit about Isaac Newton's influence in the Netherlands.
(Museum Boerhaave, Leiden)
(June 25, 2009)
Latest project: Museum Boerhaave is the museum of the history of science and medicine in the Dutch university town of Leiden. Todd is now working on designs for an exhibit there exploring Isaac Newton's relationships and legacy within the Dutch Repulic in the 18th century. The exhibit will 
touch on subjects such as the cult of personality which erupted after his death, his followers and disseminators in the Netherlands ('s Gravesande, Boerhaave, etc), local scientific advancements owing to his laws and theories, and the influence of his detractors, e.g. Huygens. The exhibit will open in early 2010. PAGE LINK>>
*******
Museum at the Floating Dutch Auction House
(June 25, 2009)
The Broekerveiling is a 19th century waterborne auction house at Broek op Langedijk in the Dutch province of North Holland. For the new regional museum being built on the premises Todd is creating, in conjuction with TWV Media, a permanent exhibit for the visitors' introduction hall. It consists of a series of live action maquettes and an audiovisual presentation. The exhibit is set to open in September 2009.
*******
The Royal Dutch Army Museum: "Brave Beasts"
(July 20, 2008)
On July 17 the Royal Dutch Army Museum opened its new exhibit "Dappere Dieren" or "Brave Beasts". This family exhibit explores the relationship between humans and animals in the armed forces throughout the centuries and puts the spotlight on 5 heroes: Sorus the Elephant, CherAmi the carrier pigeon, Chetak the war horse, Stubby the dog and Tacoma the Dolphin.
Todd was responsible for the design, concept and execution of the exhibit while TWV Media directed the interactive, educational and audio-visual elements. The greatest challenge was to make it into a friendly experience for the whole family, and at the same time to navigate the sensitive terrain between the frivolous and the grave. See the photos and designs here.
******
Storyboards for "the Dutch Hamlet"
(April 25, 2008)
Todd has been working as an advisor for Sigma Pictures helping to develop a treatment for the Visual Effects and the Set Design for Gijsbreght van Aemstel an upcoming historical drama set in Holland in the Middle Ages. As such, he's 
been developing storyboards and computer models for the scenes taking place around the medieval city walls of Amsterdam. Although not normally a storyboard artist, this approach helps Todd and the producer better analyze how each individual shot effects the balance between cinematic ambition and a restricted budget. Enter the magic of Computer Generated set extensions..
******
Vanhulzen.com Gets a Facelift
(January 19, 2008)
For the new year www.vanhulzen.com has received a radical makeover. As a bit of shameless self-promotion, it should be more visually stimulating and easily navigable. Any feedback would be really appreciated (particularly browser-specific problems.. that's for you Safari folks out there.) Enjoy!
******
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
(January 3, 2008)
The last project in 2007 was in London. Directed by the American cineast, Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Darjeeling Limited) The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a stop-motion animated feature based on a Roald Dahl story about a resourceful, well-dressed fox. Fox battles with three vengeful farmers as he tries to put dinner on the table.
Even for the miniature film sets required to accommodate the articulated puppets of a stop-motion project, a thorough design process is required. This includes months of concept visualization, research and fine tuning of the story-boards. It is too early now to publish any designs from this project. Animation begins in 2008.
******
2007: The Year of Sanctuary
(January 3, 2008)
Todd passed much of 2006 and 2007 doing the production design for the Gothic/Sci-fi series Sanctuary. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, the series was directed by Martin Wood (Stargate) and so far has proven to be the one of 2007's biggest hypes in the sci-fi entertainment world. Sanctuary was conceived as the first cinema-caliber sci-fi/fantasy series to be broadcast exclusively on the web. But the project was so hot that it's likely to soon be broadcast on television as well.
Approximately 85% of the footage was filmed on a visual effects stage with a green screen. Hence, 85% of the series' backgrounds have been generated digitally. This includes not only traditional digital mattes, but also entire 3D environments, among which are secret labs, gothic cathedrals, wood-paneled parlors, and futuristic cities. The art direction for the live action sequences and the digital sequences had to mesh seamlessly, both visually and in terms of the pipeline, which required broad oversight over two separate crews.
******
Monastic Handwork
(October 15, 2007)
Designed and crafted pages of an illuminated Manuscript, representing the rudimentary distilling process of the Middle-Ages. It was for an in-house promotional film cast with various monks in a cloister. 
It was a great opportunity to get reacquainted with medieval iconography and painting, even though I didn't have to break out the painters smock; it was all done in photoshop. Times have changed. Client: Nolet Distillers(Ketel 1 Vodka)
********
Monument De Keyser's Stock Exchange
(January 6, 2009)
The first project of the new year is a design proposal for a monument for the city of Amsterdam commemorating the 400 year anniversary of the opening of the first Stock Exchange in 1611. Not only was this first bourse significant historically, it was also one of the great landmarks of the city until it was demolished in the 19th century. Designed by Hendrick de Keyser, the signature architect of Amsterdam, the bourse was the seat of Dutch trade in the 17th and 18th centuries as well as an architectural milepole of the Dutch Renaissance. See Images on the Real World Designwork page.
The proposal invisions a bronze "portrait" of the building supported by piles and vaults, suspende
d in or above a fountain on the exact place where the exchange stood 400 years ago. This space, formerly a parking lot on the Rokin adjacent to the Dam, has now been freed up by the construction of the new Metro line, and will become part of a public promenade tracing the old trajectory of the --now dammed-- River Amstel. Go to the project website to see the PDF proposal.