When We Went In. The D-Day Experience in Light and Sound (D-Day 80th Anniversary)
History brought to life
The Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology partnered with the National D-Day Memorial Foundation to create When We Went In: The D-Day Experience in Light and Sound, an immersive nighttime presentation held at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, as part of the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day in June 2024. On the evenings of June 7 and 8, the Memorial’s grounds were transformed into a multi-media sensory display, with projection-mapped visuals and spatial audio enveloping the audience as darkness fell. This 25-minute outdoor show retold the story of the Normandy invasion through first-hand accounts of the men and women who lived through June 6, 1944. Archival photographs, wartime illustrations, and authentic film footage were carefully assembled, animated, and projection-mapped onto the Memorial’s structures, using the memorial itself as a dramatic backdrop for the narrative. The accompanying soundscape was equally immersive – from the roar of aircraft and gunfire to moments of solemn silence – delivered via a spatialized, surround-sound system that made viewers feel as if they were “inside” the historical moment. The combined light-and-sound storytelling approach created a vivid re-enactment of D-Day’s pivotal events, aiming to educate and emotionally engage the audience with the experiences of those who were there.
The historical narrative for When We Went In was crafted to be authentic and poignant. Notably, the show’s title itself comes from the first line of Omaha Beach, a poem by World War II veteran Peter Thomas. Thomas’s poetic account of landing at Omaha Beach served as a creative inspiration for the project, acting as a thread connecting the entire narrative experience. Throughout the presentation, the words of D-Day participants – drawn from letters, oral histories, and diaries – were incorporated to give voice to the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and nurses of D-Day. These personal accounts guided the artistic direction, ensuring the spectacle remained grounded in true stories and memories rather than fictional dramatization. The result was an artfully animated narrative that unfolded as if D-Day were happening in real time – audiences watched troop landings and battlefield scenes projected across the Memorial’s surfaces while hearing the recollections of those who experienced it. This approach – blending historical testimony with cutting-edge audiovisual effects – created a truly immersive experience, one that enveloped the audience while educating viewers about the harrowing hours of the Normandy landings in a visceral, emotionally resonant way. Overall, the presentation balanced reverence with innovation, using technology to deepen understanding of D-Day’s significance rather than simply to entertain.
Interdisciplinary collaboration
This ambitious production was developed over more than a year, and brought together a transdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students from ICAT, leveraging expertise in digital media, animation, audio engineering, and history. According to ICAT executive director Ben Knapp, the Memorial engaged ICAT because they “had the creativity and talent to make our vision a reality,” assembling a “uniquely transdisciplinary team of students and faculty” to design a compelling narrative with a “multimodal array of lighting, projection-mapped visuals, and immersive audio”
A core team of six from Virginia Tech led the content creation, including ICAT multimedia designer David Franusich who co-directed the project with ICAT immersive audio engineer Tanner Upthegrove. Motion graphics specialist Ethan Candelario served as the “wizard” behind the animated archival imagery, School of Performing Arts undergraduate student Carter Roberts created the original music composition and sound design, Creative Technologies MFA candidate Harshal Pilania contributed technical and artistic support behind the scenes, and ICAT facilities and production coordinator Gustavo Araoz made sure all the logistics worked.
The National D-Day Memorial’s own staff collaborated on the script and selection of first-person accounts, ensuring the content was historically accurate and in line with the Memorial’s educational mission. This close collaboration between content experts and creative technologists was key to the project’s development.
A technological feat
From a production standpoint, creating a projection show on an actual monument required significant technical preparation. The team’s first step was to capture the entire Memorial in detail using drone photogrammetry, generating a precise 3D digital model of the site. This model allowed the designers to pre-visualize and test the projection mapping in a studio environment. Using this virtual replica of the Memorial (including features like the Overlord Arch, reflecting pool, and statues), the team engineered how images would be mapped onto the surfaces and how multiple projectors would overlap to create one seamless image across a wide area. They also composed an audio track with spatial sound – essentially designing a soundtrack and then simulating how it would be heard across the outdoor space with speaker arrays, much like designing sound for a theater in the round
Connecting to younger audiences
The primary goal of When We Went In: The D-Day Experience in Light and Sound was to inspire younger generations by instilling the magnitude of the D-Day undertaking—the theme of Future + Heritage emerged during early brainstorming sessions. Using a narrative of individual stories—told in their own words, the team aimed to create an intimate, shared experience that would connect with a modern audience while conveying the hope and fear that the young soldiers felt on D-Day.
The project was novel and exceeded the goals of the Foundation, bringing in larger numbers than anticipated. Families with children of all ages attended, and the project team was approached at the end of each night by audience members of all ages expressing awe and appreciation.
