WASHINGTON — Monday kicks off Shark Week for Discovery Communications’ Discovery Channel, and Discovery has come up with a novel way of reminding commuters coming and going from the Silver Spring Metro station and anyone traveling along Colesville Road.
An eight-story mural made up of 98 red and blue, window-sized pieces of sticky vinyl cover the south facade of Discovery’s Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters along Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue. It is called Fintastic Shark, and it is lit by 240 LED lights between dusk and 1:30 a.m.
The light show features color animations that repeat every four minutes.
Discovery said the vinyl pieces were all cut by hand — a project that took three days. Installation took five hours, with team of about 20 people.
Discovery had a shark mural last year, too, but not one that lit up like Finstastic Shark.
In years past, it has displayed a huge, inflated shark head and fins attached to opposite sides of its headquarters’ upper floors.
This is Shark Week’s 28th year, making it television’s longest running summer event. Shark Week runs through July 3.
For the first time, Discovery also will make Shark Week simultaneously available in virtual reality and 360-degree video through Discovery VR apps for iOS, Android, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.
Shark Week will reach more than 220 countries and territories for the first time this year.
Discovery also turned some heads on Wall Street Monday: Shark Week cinematographer Joe Romeiro rang the opening bell at the Nasdaq Stock Market, accompanied by an actor wearing a full-body shark suit.
You can watch a time-lapse video of Fintastic Shark’s installation below.
