Interview with creators of unique haunt - The Machine
Since first appearing on the net in 2010, the video of the home haunt "The Machine" by brothers - Jason and Gavin Fox, has been seen by thousands of scare fans.
We had originally thought this was a one off event, but the team from Les Enfants Terribles and Stella Artois,recently commissioned the guys to bring the time machine back for one more trip into the past. The new show was amazing (to read our review of the Time Portal then check out this link), and after the show we sat down with Gavin and Jason to find out more about their creations.
Little did we know we would get an exclusive announcement of their new show which will be bringing something big to an abandoned house in London in November 2016. Rest assured that ScareTOUR will have all the details when we are allowed to release them!
But in the mean time, Check out the interview with the boys below
ST: So how did you and your brother get into the whole home haunt business?
It started back in 2003 when we were we putting on a fireworks party and noticed the nearest weekend to the night was also pretty much Halloween. As a last minute idea we threw up a few old fence panels in our garage, put some black lights up, played some spooky noises, hid a drill in a metal box that made an awful noise when we turned it on... and we had a haunt. The following years we did the same but upped our game every year doing shows in our garage based on themes like voodoo, circus, sci-fi, surrealism, and finally steampunk.
ST: So where did the idea for the 2010 Fangoria come from ?
We actually started with the idea of doing a Jack the Ripper show, we loved the idea of recreating the mood of old London town and doing our take on such a well known character. But then we always like to have a good introduction story into the show, and the only way to do that was to build a time machine. The time machine element then got way more interesting than just an intro and the whole show revolved (literally) around that concept, allowing us to take people to some really varied scenes really quickly.
ST: What have you done since then – your videos seem to show more traditional home haunt walkthroughs?
Since 2010, we actually started working in experiential entertainment such as Secret Cinema and VR, which has helped us move forward in doing this kind of thing. So our home haunts have become more traditional haunts out the front of house for the local kids to enjoy while trick-or-treating. We try to change the concept for them each year. It's great to see how our whole town has got into it as well as we now see many home haunts all over the town on Halloween night with hundreds of costumed kids walking the streets. We got over 500 kids go through our haunt last year, and managed to raise over £300 for Cancer Research.
ST: Are you aware that your video is one of the most watched home haunt videos on Youtube?
That's weird isn't it? We made that video just for ourselves so we have a keep sake of what the show was like before rip it all down and turn it back into a garage for the rest of the year. We never intended it to go so crazy. It's amazing to see so many people liking and commenting on it. It's really helped us along getting into this kind of work as we've actually met quite a few people from the comments and popularity of it. As an example, before 2010 we were web designers doing haunts as a hobby, and now we're designing theme park rides and theater shows for real! It's been great!
ST: What difficulties did you have creating the whole experience in your garage
It's actually more interesting working in a small space and thinking of cool ways to make it feel bigger than it is by having moving walls and changeable sets during the show. But the most challenging aspect is probably planning exactly how we built the sets as the more we build, the less space we have in the garage to build anything. It gets very claustrophobic in there quite quickly.
ST: How did you get involved with Stella Artois and how does the Time Portal story differ to your own experience
We now work at a place called Framestore, who traditionally specialise in visual effects for film and commercials, but our role is to work with this technical and creative knowledge into new areas such as VR, theme park rides and immersive experiences. One of Framestore's clients, an advertising agency called Mother, wanted to create a theatrical experience around a campaign they were doing to celebrate Stella Artois' sponsorship of the Wimbledon tournament, and had the idea of creating a time machine that took people back to the first ever Wimbledon in 1877. It just so happens that 2 of the creatives working on the project actually came to our show back on 2010 so they looked us up and asked us to write and direct it. We gladly said "yes please!".
The Time Portal was a much bigger show, with thousands of people going through it over the 5 days it ran. The time machine was purely an introduction and the bulk of the experience happened in a series of linked warehouse spaces that took you on an adventure through old London town mashing together fact and fiction with characters like Scrooge, Queen Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, Fagin and of course Jack the Ripper all playing a part.
ST: What was it like working with the talented Les Enfants Terribles production company?
Les Enfants Terribles were amazing to work with. Very collaborative and supporting of our ideas and at the same time bringing so much more to the performers and experience ideas that we wouldn't have thought of. Also they're just a fun bunch of creative folk who really want to put on great shows. We'd love to work with them again.
ST: What’s next for you guys? Have you thought of actually doing something more commercial? The appetite for scare attractions in the UK is huge now – we are sure your ideas would be really appreciated
Well, we are actually in production right now of a new horror show all of our own that we've not told any about yet. We cant go into many details, but it will be running in November in an abandoned house somewhere in London and it's going to be pretty damn scary. We've recruited a great team to help us make it a reality and will be sure to let you know when we have more to share and when tickets go on sale. We're really excited about it.
ST: Finally – can we come visit you this Halloween?
Sure, bring your best costumes and let us know what the rest of the town are doing, we don't have time to go and visit them.
ST: Thanks for meeting with us guys, keep us posted if you plan anything new!
For more information about The Machine, check out the walk through video, behind the scenes video and production pictures below:
We had originally thought this was a one off event, but the team from Les Enfants Terribles and Stella Artois,recently commissioned the guys to bring the time machine back for one more trip into the past. The new show was amazing (to read our review of the Time Portal then check out this link), and after the show we sat down with Gavin and Jason to find out more about their creations.
Little did we know we would get an exclusive announcement of their new show which will be bringing something big to an abandoned house in London in November 2016. Rest assured that ScareTOUR will have all the details when we are allowed to release them!
But in the mean time, Check out the interview with the boys below
ST: So how did you and your brother get into the whole home haunt business?
It started back in 2003 when we were we putting on a fireworks party and noticed the nearest weekend to the night was also pretty much Halloween. As a last minute idea we threw up a few old fence panels in our garage, put some black lights up, played some spooky noises, hid a drill in a metal box that made an awful noise when we turned it on... and we had a haunt. The following years we did the same but upped our game every year doing shows in our garage based on themes like voodoo, circus, sci-fi, surrealism, and finally steampunk.
ST: So where did the idea for the 2010 Fangoria come from ?
We actually started with the idea of doing a Jack the Ripper show, we loved the idea of recreating the mood of old London town and doing our take on such a well known character. But then we always like to have a good introduction story into the show, and the only way to do that was to build a time machine. The time machine element then got way more interesting than just an intro and the whole show revolved (literally) around that concept, allowing us to take people to some really varied scenes really quickly.
ST: What have you done since then – your videos seem to show more traditional home haunt walkthroughs?
Since 2010, we actually started working in experiential entertainment such as Secret Cinema and VR, which has helped us move forward in doing this kind of thing. So our home haunts have become more traditional haunts out the front of house for the local kids to enjoy while trick-or-treating. We try to change the concept for them each year. It's great to see how our whole town has got into it as well as we now see many home haunts all over the town on Halloween night with hundreds of costumed kids walking the streets. We got over 500 kids go through our haunt last year, and managed to raise over £300 for Cancer Research.
ST: Are you aware that your video is one of the most watched home haunt videos on Youtube?
That's weird isn't it? We made that video just for ourselves so we have a keep sake of what the show was like before rip it all down and turn it back into a garage for the rest of the year. We never intended it to go so crazy. It's amazing to see so many people liking and commenting on it. It's really helped us along getting into this kind of work as we've actually met quite a few people from the comments and popularity of it. As an example, before 2010 we were web designers doing haunts as a hobby, and now we're designing theme park rides and theater shows for real! It's been great!
ST: What difficulties did you have creating the whole experience in your garage
It's actually more interesting working in a small space and thinking of cool ways to make it feel bigger than it is by having moving walls and changeable sets during the show. But the most challenging aspect is probably planning exactly how we built the sets as the more we build, the less space we have in the garage to build anything. It gets very claustrophobic in there quite quickly.
ST: How did you get involved with Stella Artois and how does the Time Portal story differ to your own experience
We now work at a place called Framestore, who traditionally specialise in visual effects for film and commercials, but our role is to work with this technical and creative knowledge into new areas such as VR, theme park rides and immersive experiences. One of Framestore's clients, an advertising agency called Mother, wanted to create a theatrical experience around a campaign they were doing to celebrate Stella Artois' sponsorship of the Wimbledon tournament, and had the idea of creating a time machine that took people back to the first ever Wimbledon in 1877. It just so happens that 2 of the creatives working on the project actually came to our show back on 2010 so they looked us up and asked us to write and direct it. We gladly said "yes please!".
The Time Portal was a much bigger show, with thousands of people going through it over the 5 days it ran. The time machine was purely an introduction and the bulk of the experience happened in a series of linked warehouse spaces that took you on an adventure through old London town mashing together fact and fiction with characters like Scrooge, Queen Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, Fagin and of course Jack the Ripper all playing a part.
ST: What was it like working with the talented Les Enfants Terribles production company?
Les Enfants Terribles were amazing to work with. Very collaborative and supporting of our ideas and at the same time bringing so much more to the performers and experience ideas that we wouldn't have thought of. Also they're just a fun bunch of creative folk who really want to put on great shows. We'd love to work with them again.
ST: What’s next for you guys? Have you thought of actually doing something more commercial? The appetite for scare attractions in the UK is huge now – we are sure your ideas would be really appreciated
Well, we are actually in production right now of a new horror show all of our own that we've not told any about yet. We cant go into many details, but it will be running in November in an abandoned house somewhere in London and it's going to be pretty damn scary. We've recruited a great team to help us make it a reality and will be sure to let you know when we have more to share and when tickets go on sale. We're really excited about it.
ST: Finally – can we come visit you this Halloween?
Sure, bring your best costumes and let us know what the rest of the town are doing, we don't have time to go and visit them.
ST: Thanks for meeting with us guys, keep us posted if you plan anything new!
For more information about The Machine, check out the walk through video, behind the scenes video and production pictures below:
Links:
Check out a load of construction pics of the main show https://www.flickr.com/photos/flippers/albums/72157626385631725
The original "Machine" video
Behind the Scenes of "The Machine"
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