Category: American Dark Ride

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Experts In Immersive Horror Are Set To Scare At SXSW 2018

Attendees of South by Southwest (SXSW) this year should get ready to be scared as two of the world’s experts in horror expereinces will be there.

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In what is said to be anything but the usual technology showcase, Directors, producers and virtual reality (VR) creators Jon Schnitzer and Joel Zika will be sharing their stories of horrifying haunts, dark rides and VR from around the world. The two are responsible for scaring countless people around the world thanks to their engaging and cutting edge simulations. In a one-hour talk the pair will be exploring where it all began, the controversies facing interactive horror artists today and what they think will be the next wave of immersive entertainment.

Guests of the talk can expect to gave an insight into what makes these two creators tick along with why people love to be scared and horror attractions are among some of the most popular. The talk will also explore the evolution of immersive entertain and how far is too far when scaring people.

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Jon Schnitzer is the co-owner of The Brain Factory, and has been involved in creating horror attractions and immersive projects for Tim Burton, YouTube RED Studios and even produced 3D ghost illusions for President Obama’s first Halloween party at the White House. He also created a feature film documentary title Haunters: The Art of the Scare which is available now.

Joel Zika is a senior Academic at Deakin University and the only professor specialising in haunted attractions. He has spent his career exploring the long-lost art of the American dark ride and is using Virtual Reality to save them. His VR project captures the oldest Ghost Trains, Mill Rides and Haunted Houses at amusement parks all over the world. His Dark Ride Project is among one of the most popular VR projects in the world of scares, offering a full 360 scare experience.

The talk, titled Immersive Horror Experiences, will be taking place on 14th March at 12:30pm (CST) until 1:30pm (CST) in room 6AB at the Austin convention center.

In other SXSW news, Read Player One will be taking over the Brazos Hall to create a two-story experience. This will include plenty of Ready Player One themed attractions including a VR experience powered by HTC Vive. The Ready Player One Experience at SXSW will be open from Friday, 9th March until Sunday, 11th March. The SXSW conference will continue on until the 18th March, 2018.

For more stories like this and updates on VR content, keep reading VRFocus.

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Exploring America’s Ghost Trains in VR Documentary

The Ghost Train amusement park ride concept has existed for decades, with a huge number of variants existing all over the world, and spawning its own amusement park sub-genre of the ‘dark ride’. Documentary filmmaker Joel Zika is creating a virtual reality (VR) documentary showing his experiences with rides in this genre.

The VR documentary has been structured as a TV show, going by the title American Dark Ride. The project was funded by enthusiastic supporters who previously clubbed together to create a VR archive of Dark Rides. A production team from Entertainment One have also been recruited to bring the project to a larger audience.

Stitched Panorama

There will be sixteen VR episodes to accompany the ten 21-min HD episodes. There will also be on-ride footage, and interviews with amusement park enthusiasts and ride creators. The show will cover a range of rides from some of the oldest in America to some brand-new takes on the concept.

“Every time a ride shuts down we lose a generation of memories, this show helps us share these experiences with the world and create a record for future generations.” Said Zika.

Stephan Grambart, the first VR director to win an Emmy said of the project “Joel’s use of 360 video to capture this vanishing piece of theme park history presents an ideal use case for this technology. As access to these rides becomes a rarity, the best means of capturing the full experience is through virtual reality.”

The team behind the project, including Joel Zika, plan to showcase the first episode of American Dark Ride, in both HD and VR formats, at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in 2018, where Zika will be discussing not only the VR project but also the history and impact of haunted rides on new media storytelling.

A trailer for American Dark Ride is available to view below.

VRFocus will bring you further news on American Dark Ride as it becomes available.