{"id":18450,"date":"2019-08-27T15:02:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T22:02:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/Becomeimmersed.com\/?p=18450"},"modified":"2019-12-11T19:01:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T03:01:27","slug":"designing-immersive-environments-scout-expedition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/designing-immersive-environments-scout-expedition\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing Immersive Environments – A Process By Scout Expedition Co."},"content":{"rendered":"
Below is a creator-focused article on Designing Immersive environments, aimed to educate creators about production design. It is based on Scout Expedition Co’s<\/a> class of the same name at Midsummer Scream<\/a>, but is refracted through the lens of the author, employing many examples from a fan and creator’s experience that is separate from Scout Expedition. Where appropriate, examples Scout discussed are mentioned. Thank you to Lacey Rae for reviving this article, helping draft it, and ensuring that it was released.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n An environment can set the mood, often taking on a life of its own within an immersive experience<\/a>. A well-thought-out aesthetic creates a sense of place and time, even before a narrative begins. Music can bring you to tears, lighting can frighten you, and sets and props can provide authenticity to a given world. Think of The Willows<\/em>\u2019 elegant and historic manor, the groovy and lived-in house of Safehouse \u201877<\/em><\/a>, the minimalism and unknown in the black tarps of Blackout<\/em>, or The Sideshow<\/em><\/a>\u2019s carnival tents and smells. Lighting, sound, props, sets, and costumes all came together to establish beautifully nuanced settings for some of the best immersive experiences in Los Angeles. Where a fleshed-out environment can transport audiences into other worlds, lazy and haphazard environments can either take audiences out of an experience, or hinder them getting into the world at all. Immersed attended a presentation by Scout Expedition Co.<\/a>, another highly impressive immersive theater company whose debut experience, The Nest<\/em><\/a>, wowed audiences with a gorgeous and detailed set design. Creators Jarrett Lantz and Jeff Leinenveber have had long and prosperous professional careers in theme park and scenic design that have led them to create rich environments and tell fun stories all over the world. Their work with the talented teams of Walt Disney Imagineering, Third Rail Projects, Cirque du Soleil, and Delusion<\/a> have provided them with the precise know-how to bring new worlds to life through engaging and unique experiences. Here, they share how to create successful environments \u2013 even minimalistic ones \u2013 that are not only memorable, but that serve the narrative and themes of the piece.<\/p>\n The Nest has gorgeous set design<\/em><\/p>\n There are numerous different ways to design an experience – it’s actually one of my favorite questions to ask in an interview. But Scout Expedition presents a wonderful process that is filled with helpful questions, distinct sections, and a series of interdependencies that only serve to strengthen any experience. These can be applied to a haunted house, an immersive experience, an escape room, or even a theme park. So if you’re just getting started or just strengthening something already designed, let’s dive in.<\/p>\n Scout’s design process is organized into a Design Triangle<\/em><\/strong>. This triangle consists of:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The story consists of the who <\/em>and the why<\/em>, the world is the what<\/em> and where<\/em>, and the constraints is the how<\/em>. These all work together to facilitate the creation of a design, and can help any environment live up to its full transportive potential. Creators can work on all three categories in tandem, as there is no \u201cright\u201d or linear way to approach design; the three aspects push and pull the others at any given time.<\/p>\n Thus, the design must be contained within these three elements. As your narrative ambition grows, it must be checked against the space and budget (constraints) of your experience. But reduce the constraints of your world and your narrative now has more room to breathe. This is clearly reflected in so many experiences being produced out of the comfort of one’s home (ABC Project’s Apartment 8<\/em><\/a>, Screenshot Production’s<\/a> Fear is What We Learned Here<\/em>, HVRTING’s<\/a> How to Summon Santa<\/em><\/a>, and The Speakeasy Society’s The Invitation<\/a><\/em>). Conversely, reduce the constraint of actors, and more energy is devoted to letting sets blossom, much like Scout did with The Nest<\/em><\/a>. The interplay between all aspects must be recognized and balanced so that the experience is achievable, effective, and successful.<\/p>\n HVRTING’s <\/em>Rebirth of the Rabbit took place in a dream-like atmosphere of a normal home<\/em><\/p>\n Story revolves around the who <\/i>and the why <\/em>of a given experience. Creators may already have a story in their head, may have a prop or aesthetic they’ve fallen in love with, or may just have a character design. But whatever exists, the story can be built around it.<\/p>\n Begin assembling pieces of the puzzle and see what fits together. Look through reference imagery to determine time, place, and mood. Determine who are the characters in your story and the major themes that are being portrayed. What dominates the time period, place, or environment of your story – and how does that affect your narrative?<\/p>\n For Scout Expedition, they worked backward from a woman who recently passed away to determine that she grew up in the ’60s. The times and social dynamics of that era informed her strong independence and helped map out the main aspects of her life. From there, the major plot points that needed to be communicated in each scene, on each tape, could be determined – not poetically, but organically and naturally. Ultimately, the three arcs of her life became the three areas of The Nest<\/em>.<\/p>\n The three main story arcs for Josie’s life in <\/em>The Nest.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Once the overarching arc is mapped out, then it is time to dive deeper and draft the story, organically and naturally. Write it, read it, and test it on people unfamiliar to see if they understand all of your bullet points without them knowing what they are beforehand.<\/p>\n Some considerations to ask yourself when working on your story:<\/p>\n As mentioned above, all three design aspects are dependent on each other, so as the story develops, so will the world the narrative fits in. If you get stuck on the narrative, focus on developing the world further, and the characters may naturally find their next steps, a solution to their problem, or their subsequent adventure.<\/p>\n Sockhop on Saturn<\/a> nails an otherworldly alien, ’50s aesthetic.<\/em><\/p>\n World revolves around the what <\/i>and the where <\/i>of your experience. What is the world that your experience lives in?<\/p>\n Haunted houses are wonderful at this. Each haunt you attend usually sticks to a single theme. Phobia Production’s<\/a> Die Laughing<\/em><\/a> was clearly clown-themed and lived within a demented circus from the moment you walked in; The 17th Door<\/a> moved from a nightmarish university in their first two years to an even more hellish prison landscape<\/a> for their next two; and Freakling Bros.’<\/a> Trilogy of Terror<\/em><\/a> has three very clear worlds: Castle Vampyre<\/em>‘s vampire castle, Coven of 13<\/em>‘s witch’s coven, and Gates of Hell<\/em>‘s descent into Hell and beyond. These are chosen because of base fears and the worlds inform the story along with everything else.<\/p>\n But for immersive experiences, these worlds are often more nuanced and layered – transitioning from the fantastical to the grounded. While this does add some constraints, it also provides numerous opportunities. You do not need to create an entire gothic castle for vampires, but rather, you can host an experience in a bar between two strangers; you don’t need to construct an insane asylum for inmates, but rather, you can have an intimate dinner party in your own home; you don’t need to have guests enter Area 51 to fight alien invaders, but rather, you can use a public park for a meeting location.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nDesign Process<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Story<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Big Picture<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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The Details\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Considerations<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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World<\/strong><\/h2>\n