The Haunted Mansion Project II

Welcome to part II of the Haunted Mansion Project. Last time I discussed the general idea of the Haunted attraction and a small part about the location. I have made a small guideline of the subjects you can expect in the upcoming posts:

• Part II: the detailed vision of the HM and what guests can expect.
• Part III: Storytelling, what has happened in the house.
• Part IV - X: The big tour. I will discuss all the seperate rooms as I have them so far.
• Part XI Storytelling, what will you discover in the house.
• Part XII: Theming: the overall style of the building.
• Part XIII: Marketing: How to get attention.

I do not know if I will stick to this outline because I sometimes drift away if I have a new idea but at least it gives you a good idea of what you can expect.

Let’s start with part II, the detailed vision of the HM. As mentioned in the previous post, this is not just a walk through haunted attraction like the ones you find on the fair or professional scare attractions(the darkness). This HM is one big show and you are in it. I love films because a good film can trigger dozens of emotions using right camera angles and music and the HM will also use this. This HM is not just to frighten guests, it is also about laughter, sadness and sympathy. That is also why the story is so important. The basic outline of the story is about a family that lived in the house and that got torn apart under mysterious circumstances and was murdered(more about this in Part III). During the trip in the HM, the guests will hear and see each of the family tell their side of the story. This involves that some family members are malicious and some are pitiable. Guests will hear the story from multiple angles and do not know how it all connects. Slowly it will all make sense and the stories combined will form a story. The big finally will be like “the six sense”, it will blow you out of your seat. Guests will hear the last and most important story that will combine all the angles into one genius plot. A story is important but I also like technique and I know what is possible. The Haunted Mansion will be filled with state-of-the-art Hollywood effects to make the experience as real as possible because I believe that the only way to really feel afraid is to think everything is real. That is also why I would like to avoid animatronics where possible because the technique is not far enough to make them run fluid all the time. There are some parts that will use animatronics but those will be the best in the market and custom made to ensure that the world we create in the mansion will not be undone by sloppy engineering.

If you ever been to a dungeon like the London Dungeon, Amsterdam Dungeon, etc then you know how they work. Guests are moving from one room to the other in groups of 20 persons. In each room they are told a story and then a door opens that will lead to a second room. Between the rooms is a small hallway to get a walk-through effect. This is exactly what I want to use in the HM. Guests will move in groups of 20 - 30 persons through the mansion. Let me make one thing clear: guests may never hear/see/smell anything that should not be in the scene. Audio calls like “attention, the doors will open in your direction” are prohibited in the HM. We will make sure that the doors will open the other direction to avoid this call or make sure that guests can never be trapped between the doors. Another example is that an attraction employee says “Please proceed to the next room.” WRONG, the show elements will make sure that guests want to on the other side of the door. As you may understand, I am very consistent in keeping the experience real. Compare it with this: Would you be impressed by David Copperfield if you knew how he did his tricks?

So what can guests expect? A part of the attraction is walk-through this also includes a maze. Next to that I would like to implement a Madhouse (best madhouse in the world is Villa Volta in De Efteling, click here to see a youtube movie of the attraction, a kind of freefall ride because I have a really good idea how to implement a story in an elevator and perhaps some kind of a roller coaster/ dark ride.

At the moment I am designing the Mansion in 3ds max and Google Sketchup to get a good overview of the shape and room division of the house. I think I will post the first pictures in two days. In the next post I will start with the story, I will only tell one side of the story and that one is the information we will use for the marketing campaign that I designed (Part XII). Later on in part XI I will connect all the rooms with the pieces of story. For now, I hope you like the idea and suggestions are always welcome.

© 2009 Pieter van den Broek