Haunted House Experience

Art, Cartoons 3 Minutes
The exhibition’s title card.

From September 2023 to October 2023, I was at the Young Animators Club doing projected animations for use in a walkthrough exhibition named Haunted House Experience. Using Adobe After Effects, Photoshop and ProCreate, I produced Grincha Lisa, in which Lisa del Giocondo (the Mona Lisa) does a Grinch smile for a few seconds after sporting her usual calm expression; a William Kentridge-style stop motion chalk animation of a shadowy, Tasmanian Devil-like monster, known as the Psyclone Ghoul, who grows and leaps out at the viewer before disappearing; a dancing stop motion Irish spider and a brown claymation spider, the confused ghost of Boris Johnson (a satirical symbolisation of the end of his position as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom), and spiders, skulls, ghosts (voiced by pitch-shifted archive recordings of Miranda Richardson as the mummy from the audiobook version of Horrid Henry and the Mummy’s Curse) and Johnson bursting through the doors, accompanied with smoke and lightning and followed by the claws of a growling werewolf. I also made a golden decorated picture frame using cardboard, spray paint, cutouts and small objects, and produced an advert for the exhibition in which someone approaches Block 67 as lightning flashes and thunderclaps are heard, and waits outside the doors before the werewolf’s claws appear.

Grincha Lisa. Image © Leonardo da Vinci. Edit © mysuperendeavour@WordPress.
In-progress Psyclone Ghoul drawing.
Behind-the-scenes work on the Psyclone Ghoul.
My Psyclone Ghoul emerges from behind the Grincha Lisa.
My dancing stop motion Irish spider puppet.
Concept art for my ghost, skull and spider decorations for my picture frame.
In-progress decorated picture frame.
Nearly completed decorated picture frame.
Finished decorated picture frame.
In-progress claymation spider.
Finished claymotion spider.
Boris Johnson rises from his grave outside Block 67, confused about his ghostly appearance, how he died and how he ended up here.
A person approaches Block 67 during a dark, stormy night…
…and is greeted by the hairy, razor-sharp claws of a werewolf!
Projection test with four spiders entering the haunted house.
Seven spiders, a chattering skull, two wailing ghosts and Boris Johnson make their smoky entrance in the haunted house…
…followed by the ferocious werewolf!

I attended the exhibition today between 2pm and 6pm. There I saw most of my animations, except my Psyclone Ghoul and claymation spider and Grincha Lisa, due to time and problems with setting up the laptops and projectors.

A white-outlined ghost with magic powers pokes his head round the door.
A green, hostile ghost appears, lunging towards the attendees.
A chilling message, ‘You will be terminated,’ flashes on the doors.
A hand washes the blood on the floor away with a hose.
A tall, swirling ghost floats around for the attendees.
The spiders and wailing ghosts emerge from the doors…
…followed by the chattering skull and Boris Johnson.
The werewolf snarls and shows his claws from behind the door.
A red-eyed mummy pokes his head round the door before vanishing.
A creepy, green owl with black, bleeding eyes gives a disturbing message on the television, “Hola, mi chicos. Beg for your life in Spanish.” Image © Harry Markwell.
Luigi appears in the darkness, holding his hands on his cheeks in horror. Luigi © Nintendo Company, Limited.
A fallen wardrobe distracts Luigi (with a blue-and-green color scheme), before a ghost laughs (like the Skull Kid) and captures him, dragging the screaming plumber away. Luigi © Nintendo Company, Limited.
Projected haunted painting animation of American Gothic in my decorated picture frame. Image © Grant Wood.
Projected haunted painting animation of Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (before).
Projected haunted painting animation of Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange with a creepy smile (after).
Projected haunted painting animation of Juan de Pareja (before).
Projected haunted painting animation of Juan de Pareja with no face (after).
Pepper’s ghost projection of Boris Johnson.
The Mouth, as viewed from a peephole. Image © Oliver (different person).
A peephole jumpscare from a vampire rat.
Black and brown spiders scuttle across the floor.
More spiders emerge from the shadows to join in.
Three spiders dance around in a circle, while a red spider arrives on the scene.

Published by ollybm

I am passionate about cartoons, drawing, films, books, video games, theme parks and my family. I hope to share some insight into some of my passion with you. Next year, I will be studying Creative Digital Media in the near future, and I hope to share my journey with you as well.

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