Site Specific Blog - Week 16 - Isabelle

I went to the Universal Studios to visit the Halloween Horror Nights. It was a great night with lots of fun and scary moments that were created with a great combination of sound, lighting and actors.

An overall atmosphere was created by hazer and some small lighted spots on walls or spots with a fireplace and witches. I think designers used that to introduce the horror nights in calm way to slowly accustom the participants to the horror nights. I think the designers also wanted that the scale of being frightened can increase within the mazes and different areas. As I already been there for daytime, you could really tell the differences between the dream world of the universal studios and the horror world at nighttime. I was afraid that any moment someone would approach me from behind or from a hidden spot to scare me again. Usually I hate Halloween so I enjoyed the little lighted spots that looked for me really cute and not too scary (especially compared to the actual mazes and areas) but still as a great extra to let you know attending the Halloween horror nights. I think what created that moody, scary atmosphere was especially the dark and some lights from the floor up a building or a bush and the haze. Also, the Halloween music (e.g. Simpsons theme, Halloween version) supported the overall atmosphere. 

 

Another area, people were approaching you with chainsaws or dressed as a scary, bloody rabbits. It was the scare zone to enter the area with the most "unrealistic" mazes like “American Horror Stories".

There was a cold white bright light and haze. This combination was very successful as it was creating a moody atmosphere. It felt like being in a cold night, close to a sea or in the woods. It aso felt like being in a horror movie where you have to run through the dark, foggy woods to get away from some creatures. The light also created a cold mysterious moonlight.

After approaching the areas, lights from above (like street lights) were the only light source which again created the atmosphere of a cold, scary, dark night. Sometimes the light was also yellow/ amber or blue colored, so that it felt like a street light. Both colored lights felt to be really cold and uncomfortable which made this light to be really successful.

As we went on to go to the different mazes we had to cross the “toxic tunnel” to get to another maze area. It was the area with mazes dealing with zombies (“Ash vs. Evils Dead” etc.). The toxic tunnel used flashing light in red and blue that seemed to be a like an alarm system. It felt like you are walking slowly and that you have a bad reaction, while people dressed like zombies were approaching you from behind, the front and the sides. Between the flashing, there was darkness for maybe one or two seconds so that from one moment to the other someone was standing in front of you.  
The flashing light also reflected on the zombie costumes (e.g. on safety vest) what made them look even more frightening. As the lights were coming from the side, the “monsters” faces were full of shadows, so that you barely could see them and just in a red or blue colored light. I think in this area, the lighting was more than successful as like I said it was tricking your mind. Also the red supported the dangerous atmosphere, and the blue created a cold atmosphere and a great contrast to the red colored light.
It was great that because it was fun and scary at the same time. For me the tunnel was one of the best parts as the lighting was tricking your mind. There was no music (just sound effects of hammers knocking on metal) that could have supported the lighting and it was still great!

Overall I think the Lighting Designers did a great job to create cold, mysterious and scary atmosphere by combining colors, angles and lighting effects. The lighting of the Halloween Horror Nights was for me very succesful as it had a overall lighting concept that was used everywhere in the Universal Studios (e.g. red and blue colored light) as well as lighting changes and differences for each area. I enjoyed that night a lot!