Because of the numerous requests for room ideas in Haunted
Houses -- mostly from groups with no or little budgets, I've
decided to offer some practical guidelines here that will help
you get started. Next year I will be publishing a book (see above)
with more ideas and stories for Haunted Houses, until then you
can start with these principles:
1. The Haunted House is Unique
The Haunted House is unique among entertainment venues, it's
the only form of entertainment where the audience walks through
the set and interacts with the actors and where the plot or story
is of no importance. The Haunted House always takes on the personality
of the producer. There are countless styles of houses, that's
why I won't be giving you specifics -- every time I try, someone
says -- "Well, that's not the kind of house we do."
Besides, I like to get paid for my ideas, not give them away
for free.
2. People want to get Scared
Don't lose sight of this objective. What people really want
is an emotional payoff. Each room in your house must provide
some kind of emotional payoff. Identify what you want to do in
each room and stick to it. Fear is not always the preferred result;
for example you want to payoff with suspense, revulsion, surprise,
humor, physical threat, sensuality, etc., etc.. When you sit
down to brainstorm ideas try to identify how each idea will payoff---
if it doesn't payoff drop the idea. For example, this year a
friend suggested an elaborate "Aliens" scene with a
crashed flying saucer. The problem with this scene is that the
payoff is too weak. How is a crash site a threat to me? I'm not
afraid of dead aliens. On the other hand, suppose I came across
a crashed police van. The back door is open and the prisoners
are gone into the woods, where could they be? Are they watching
us now? This scene creates suspense.
3. Always use Three-Act Structure
You're not writing a play, but the dynamics are the same.
The three acts are the same; 1. Setup 2. Development 3 Climax.
Your house should be set up the same way. This is my suggestion.
1. Setup. This is the time for the audience to become
prepared to enter the house. Do this while they are waiting in
line. Have some of your actors outside and have them work the
line. By the time people enter the house they should be emotionally
ready to get scared.
2. Development. This is the series of rooms that payoff
emotionally every time. A sophisticated room might have its own
three acts. We'll discuss room ideas later.
3. Climax. Simply put, save your very best room for
last. People will remember your show by how it ends. Once you've
given them your best there really isn't much more you can do.
4. The Director and Producer should be two different people.
The Director is the creative part of your team. It's his job
to come up with all the great ideas and how to stage them. Choose
a director whom you know is very creative, don't worry that he
won't know how to do anything, that's the producer's job. The
director should say, " I want this and this and this."
The Producer is the person who gets the job done. He's the
person who says to the Director, "Sorry you can't have that,
or that or that." The Producer worries about the budget
and all the technical stuff. He should be practical and good
with numbers.
I can't go into detail here about the effectiveness of this
kind of arraignment, but trust me, it works.
5. How to get Great Ideas
If you find the right director you will be amazed at how many
ideas this creative person can come up with. But if you can't
here's a great way to get a ton of ideas that will fit your house.
You must organize a brainstorming session; this is how it's done:
First gather five or six very creative people (usually artists,
writers and musicians) and one very intelligent pragmatic type
(he will keep everyone on track) the Pragmatic is the moderator,
he keeps notes and runs the chalk-board.
Step A
Make lists. When you make lists you have two rules. No one
must criticize anyone's idea -- you never know, something silly
may breed a great idea. Rule two is you must travel fast and
hard, ideas should come faster than they can be written down.
This will stimulate more and more ideas -- soon they will start
to gel into better ideas. Right now you want quantity rather
than quality. Don't worry if some ideas stink, just don't get
stuck on only a few ideas -- you need a big source pool to draw
from. The Pragmatic must keep people on track and moving forward.
Your first task is to make a long list of all "Emotional
Payoffs", do this for about twenty minutes.
Next make a long list of all thing that frighten people, again
make a long list.
Now make a long list of room ideas. All the previous items
will blend and melt into a series of good ideas. People will
naturally discuss haunted house rooms they've seen before, but
if you brainstorm properly you won't need to copy that which
has been done before.
Step B
Go home and sleep on it. All the creative types will understand
the importance of this step and won't see this as silly. The
non-creatives will see this as silly -- but then they're not
creative either.
Step C
Meet again and decide your rooms. Everyone will have several
ideas that they are excited about. If they have an idea, put
them in charge of executing it. Chances are that no one would
be able to match their vision and enthusiasm anyway.
That's it. Good Luck.
Steve Biggs
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