Illuminating Extinction: Projecting a Snow Leopard on the Empire State Building

[Narrator] For the first time ever, 33 floors

of the Empire State Building were transformed

into a glowing canvas.

Images of the world's most threatened mammals,

insects and sea creatures stood tall

over the concrete jungle for one night only.

Whales, snow leopards and chameleons

were projected in stunning 5K resolution.

But it wasn't an easy feat.

Behind the lens, Obscura Digital,

a San Francisco based company,

stacked forty 20,000 lumen projectors

on the roof of a nearby building.

But why blow one million dollars

on a stunt like this?

Well, to call attention to the

upcoming television release of

Discovery's documentary, Facing Extinction.

The series is directed by Louie Psihoyos,

The Oscar-winning director of The Cove.

In that film, Psihoyos used infrared cameras,

drones and custom software to reveal

the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan.

So it should be no surprise that for the new series

the director has again turned to high-tech

to achieve his message about the role

of humans in the current age of mass extinction.