The Imaginarium - Competition Thread [Complete]

JokersWild

JokersWild

Well-Known Member
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Overnight, six dingy phone booths appeared all across Universal Studios Orlando - two in Universal Studios, two in Islands of Adventure, one in CityWalk, and one at Cabana Bay. Each rather conspicuous in their placement, appearing out of place at best, and woefully out of time and medium at worst. Precisely every two hours, the phones ring simultaneously. Curious guests who answer the call may be greeted by a strange yet oddly familiar voice.

"Have you ever had a dream that you seemed so sure was real? If you were unable to wake up from that dream, would you be able to tell the difference between the dream world and the real world? It's time to wake up. I have a new world to show you. A world without rules, logic, or boundaries. A world where you can reach your true potential and fight for all of us. Now, you have a choice. You can hang up this phone and come to Beyond Neon Arcade at Universal Studios and see just how far this rabbit hole goes. Or, you can hang up, pretend this call never occurred, and continue your with your life the same its always been. The choice is yours."

THE CHOICE IS YOURS​
 
PerGron

PerGron

Well-Known Member
TEAM INNOVATORS

PRESENTS

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Coming to Universal Studios Orlando this fall is the highly anticipated replacement for Terminator 2: 3-D, The Studio Suspects. While this new show opens in 2021, the story itself will take guests back to the 1940’s and one whale of a party at Interdimensional Studios. The only problem is someone won’t live long enough to enjoy it in this lively Hollywood murder mystery. Guests will get the chance to not only follow along with the zany cast of characters, but put their sleuthing hats on to help figure out whodunnit.


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Queue
Guests walk through the studio lot for Interdimensional Studios. This fictional studio, a parody of Universal themselves, is one of the top studios in all of Hollywood. Guests walk past offices of executives and directors alike, passing by labeled doors and movie posters for films like “Ghost of the Playhouse” and “Mouthferatu” and other parodies of popular early Universal movies. You then pass into the preshow area as you pass by police tape, hear sirens, and see flashing red and blue lights.

Meet the Cast of Characters​
  • Chuck Malohney - A Rival Director
  • Chef Boyd Ardee - The Studio Chef
  • April Acres - The Starlett
  • Tipps Fedora - The Studio Head of Security
  • Martin Mayven - A Studio Executive
  • Tony Ravioli - The Mob Boss
  • Brody Bochey - Resident A-Lister
  • Jennifer Henn - The Director's Wife
  • Denny Dymes - The Agent
  • Fay Foyle - Fay Foyle


Pre-Show
Guests are funneled into a preshow room where a video of a 1940s police officer is waiting for you. He introduces himself as Sergeant Ralph A. Brunderburger and says he has brought in these new recruits to help determine the culprit of the murder of famous Hollywood director Ronald Fritz at the after party to the premiere of the new movie “Hollywood Knights.” After the mysterious death, a collection of suspects have been brought in for questioning and Brunderburger has brought you in to hear the stories and alibis of all of the suspects to determine who the killer is

Theater
Guests entering the theater will notice the biggest physical change to the space from its predecessor T2. While the theater capacity will remain around the same at 700 guests, the seating and stage set up will be drastically different. Taking inspiration from Carnival Cruise Line’s Edge Theater, the newly designed space brings guests closer to the action, and still introduces a bit of tech in keeping the technical aspects of the prior and other potentially planned shows that got the ax. Vintage 1940’s theater seating (don’t worry, they are comfortable) and decor fills the space in keeping with the shows’ story.

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On the lower level, the main stage remains, but with a new extension out into some of the former crowd space, creating a nearly 360-degree front stage for the cast and guests alike. With seating surrounding and fanning out from this new stage space, the theater experience becomes a bit more immersive and gives the cast the opportunity to really work the crowd. While the bulk of the technical aspects of the show are more a part of the main stage, this new space does still offer the opportunity for lighting, small low-level effects and rigging from the ceiling as needed.

The main stage that runs the length of theater facing guests is highlighted by several large, curved, floor to ceiling projection screens. The screens can be slid back and forth creating the ability to slide any set pieces in and out for background scenery changes but also digitally change as the scenes change as needed. The screens also are utilized for character bios/details as the mystery unfolds. Above the lower level, a new smaller 2nd level seating area has been added to help keep the capacity high, but also keep guests close to the action.

The Show

Guests enter the theater that is marked off by police tape and body tape showcasing where all the players in the murder were the night of. As the show begins, officers bring out the culprits as buttons light up on the arms of the seats that guests are sitting in. The officers explain that each culprit is going to recount their stories of the events during the night for the audience and the audience will then select, using the buttons on the arms of their seats, who they think “dunnit.” The culprit who the most guests vote for will then be arrested and charged with murder.

While the cast of this show is extensive, not every culprit is in every show. Out of the ten suspects that are a part of the show, only about six are selected for each individual presentation, making it a unique experience every time you view. The six characters selected will then come onto stage in a police lineup. One will step up out of the lineup and introduce themself. The officer will state their motive and the character will then go into a recreation of the events from their point of view.

The character will begin from the time they arrive at the party to the time the police arrive, establishing parts of the story for guests to notice as they continue throughout. For instance, the chef, Boyd Ardee, had blood on his apron. He claims it is from the steak tartare he was preparing, but another character may notice they were never offered steak tartare and also state that the chef’s clothes did not have blood stains when they saw him a few minutes after he claimed to prepare the dish.

These details will be present for guests to notice and discuss, picking apart a character’s story and alibi until the culprit is caught. All six culprits will recount the events and each character will interact with each other at least once, allowing for those moments to be noticed by eagle-eyed viewers. Once all six stories are shared through actor reenactment, the six will return to their lineup and guests will be asked to vote for who the culprit is.

The police officer will then get the results from another officer who hurries on stage with it and reads the reveal. If the audience gets it, the murderer will confess and explain why they murdered the director. However, if the culprit is not picked, the person picked will plead their innocence as the police drag them away. Once the police are gone, in a Keyser Soze reveal, the murderer will reveal themself and guests are shown to have lost.

As they exit, guests will see digital scoreboards to showcase how each showing that day has done to determine how many times in a day the right culprit is chosen.​
 
Lizzy May Bee

Lizzy May Bee

Well-Known Member
“Have You Ever Had A Dream? That The Funny Woman Would Return To The Site And Then Make A Pointless Stupid Review”



Honey Bee here, back at it again with a review thrown together live, let’s begin



Very cool little hub site there. While a cool edition that really gives that project it’s edge ( & I’m sure you spent a lot of time on it @MickeyWaffleCo. ), I don’t know if it’s cool enough to bring together the whole project, but I suppose I’ll have to see if the project needs bringing together won’t I?



This is the second project I’ve reviewed in my guest judge career on this site that has a faded out neon sign & three different queue rooms including an arcade room ( @Pi on my Cake ). Besides just talking about another project the only thing I can really say is that it doesn’t stimulate my brain much, like it could use a piece of art attached.



Now the pre-show is more like it, good work! Though I have two problems with it, 1. Maybe I’m missing something here, but how would you “enter the construct”? 2. I can’t take something serious if it refers to someone as a “female”



The wire effect is incredibly cool, a truly genius idea.



I like the line where they explain why the other characters who I definitely know about aren’t here, very subtle haha. Why is this person eating grapes like that, also minor spelling mistake which as we know definitely matters haha.



Well it’s conclusion time: 1. I think you discussed Gremlins during brainstorming (I hope that’s not the other team), & I much would’ve preferred that personally 2. I know you wanted to make the project accessible to non-Matrix fans, & as a non-Matrix fan I must say sadly you didn’t do that for me & 3. I listened to Crazy Frog (Axel F) & remixes of it so for the sake of pointless comparison this sure was a “Crazy Frog - Axel F (Live Remix)” in my opinion.
 
Lizzy May Bee

Lizzy May Bee

Well-Known Member
THERE’S BEEN A MURDER!

Already I find that introduction charming, I guess I just have a soft spot for murder mysteries.

The map schematic is nice.

The fake movie titles are a nice touch.

Time to listen to 11 minutes of Tiki doing funny voices haha.

Tiki saying “You don’t even want to know where his hands have been” in a country girl voice will haunt my dreams.

The fedora tip.

That was both horrible and amazing, but either way it already makes the project, great work Tiki!

I find the idea of the audience voting for the culprit really fun! Especially given that they could possibly lose.

The idea of having the suspects alternate is cool.

In Conclusion: No offense to the other team since they did good but I much prefer this one, & would personally give it the win, in fact I’d even say it’s a “Axel F (Crazy Frog) - Epic Piano Remix”, but it doesn’t matter what I think, does it?
 
tcool123

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Challenge Two Reviews

The Studio Suspects by Team Innovators
Right off the bat I really enjoyed the concept of a mysterious show being introduced as neither Disney nor Universal has any type of show like that. I think the route of going original is bold given Universal seldom going original, but I think that the concept fits the Hollywood land theme better than say Bourne or Terminator. The queue while simple is effective in placemaking and just like how the Hello Kitty Universal Posters and Simpsons Disney parody posters are popular I can see these spoofs becoming popular with the theme park crowd as well. The is able to get guests quickly into the world of the murder mystery in a simplistic manner so great job!

I really enjoyed the characters that were created for this show, and Tiki's unique video presentation aids in selling the personalities of every character. Meanwhile the preshow is brief yet informative allowing for guests to be caught up to speed in a format that's simple and digestible. It places the show in a mental footprint that should be familiar to guests, and begins to amp up the mystery of who did the deed. I think the theater setup is rather unique, and allows for guests to be more enveloped in the action. The implementation of screens was done smartly in a way that supplements the show, and doesn't take a way. Meanwhile the second story seating was a logical move in order to keep the capacity of the show up and high enough for Universal to keep around.

I won't lie when I saw the huge cast list I was concerned as ten characters may be too many for guests to keep track of, but those concerns were quickly addressed by the fact that it's a rotating cast. I think the combo of the rotating cast alongside the audience participation will keep this show fresh something that has been hard for many long running shows that unfortunately get the can at Universal. With all that taken into account I still worry if six may be too much for guests to keep track of, and to be successfully pulled off in a rather short theme park show window. Keeping that in mind I do think that the rest of the show was really neat with everything really thought out.

Overall while this project wasn't flashy it was still really strong, and at the end of the day that's what we look for in the Imaginarium. The core of this project was unique, really well done, and honestly something I don't think I've seen done before on the forums or in the parks. In addition it makes sense that there isn't a script shown to us here as it's honestly hard to craft a script with so many possible scenarios that I think it served the proposal better to be as simple as it is now.

The Matrix Restaged by Team Imaginators

While Team Innovators kept their project simple, Team Imaginators went above and beyond to flesh out many different aspects of their project. They had an intricate marketing scheme that would be sure to rise eyebrows, although I must ask why is Cabana Bay the only hotel that received a phone booth? With that taken into account wow! The message from Morpheus is a great way to drum up excitement for those at the phone booths, and the website is insanely cool. The fact that you can choose a pill to either go to the team project or head to the universal website honestly reminds me a bit of @englanddg and the work he was able to do with his team's presentations for the Sorcerer's Apprentice Season 2.

While I appreciate the usage of gifs on the website, I personally find it a bit distracting and bothersome to my eyes as I try to read and navigate the site. The façade and queue is a welcome break from the traditional treatment that the theater typically gets as it tends to stay pretty much the same as it changes from IP to IP. However I'm not sure if changing the façade will aid Universal with its problems that some of its buildings don't fit into the land represented, and there may be a disconnect from an abandoned arcade to the rest of Hollywood. With all that the queue is pretty immersive, and slowly eases guests into the tech heavy world of The Matrix.

I think the preshow was handled in a smart way for an older IP, not everyone is super familiar with the Matrix beyond a few references such as the blue and red pill alongside that cool dodging the bullet scene. However the preshow was able to catch guests up to speed fairly easy, and is able to plant the basis of what the concept of the Matrix is in a digestible way. Whereas Team Innovator kept their project simple, y'all really came in bats swinging pitching a large form show that is on par for tech with Bourne Stuntacular. I do have a few nitpicks with the over abundance of 3D attractions at Universal it would have been nice to see a show not implement it as well as it may be a cool addition may feel a bit tiresome after experiencing three or four other attractions all in 3D. On the flipside the approach to the bullettime effects was very clever, and is likely to be a hit with guests as they watch.

The show itself is technologically advanced while plot wise it is rather simple with time taken out to further introduce the characters and setting of the story. I do have concerns about how quick the quick changes will be as the characters seem to flip between rags and ideal selves rather quickly. At times while the show does sound action packed, it is hard to tell what is just on screen versus what is with the actors versus what's a hybrid scene. Other times it's more direct, and explicitly states that is in fact an in person effect; I just wish this was done with stronger demarcations on what is what. Throughout the show I enjoy how what the characters on stage can effect the audience from the sentinels clanging above, to the floor moving alongside explosions it's truly wonderful.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the project. I think the proposed show would have plenty of great wow moments thanks to the tech and the incredible stunts performed. The story remains relatively simple in terms of the Matrix, and it seems to vibe pretty well with other attractions in the park (albeit the use of 3D is a bit sad to see even if it is a show).
​


Challenge Results

Both teams did great during this challenge, and I want to start by saying I'm really proud of what was put out by both teams. I think both projects stand on their own really well, and it is honestly a tough call to make here. With that said after much internal debate I think I have come to a winner.



The winners for this round are...

Team Innovators with The Studio Suspects! They prove that you don't always need the flashiest project to win; many times to win you just need a strong core concept. I believe that their concept was solid as a murder mystery show hasn't really been done at the parks, and the various elements to make it random and interactive aid in making this show a must do every time for guess. It was a huge gamble not using an IP, but I think in the end it paid off big time for y'all! Congratulations!

This means that the losers are unfortunately...

The losers for this round are...

Team Imaginators. I want to start by saying that just because you lost does not mean this was a poor project, quit the contrary really! Both teams submitted really strong concepts, and you should all be proud of what you did. The love and care for your projects shone through in the Matrix, but the elements that the other team introduced to ensure the show fresh rather it be your first time or your 100th time watching was a great way to shake up what a theme park show could be.
​
 
tcool123

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Chapter 2: The Mechanical Menace

The teams of imagineers emerge out of the Universal portal where a cheery looking Orange Bird was patiently sitting, awaiting their return! He quickly pipes up "It's so great that you're all back! I missed you all; we saw all of your amazing and imaginative concepts great job." The Orange Bird looks around for the Timekeeper, but looks a bit sad that he doesn't see his new friend. "Where is the Timekeeper" asks @Brer Panther , and to which Orange Bird quickly answers "I'm not sure, he went off complaining about some random nuts and bolts".

The imagineers look at each other in confusion, was there beloved friend, The Timekeeper, falling apart? Out of the corner of @Shannoninthemagic 's eye they notice the Timekeeper rushing into view. "IMAGINEERS LOOK AT THIS" yells The Timekeeper as he opens his hand revealing an assortment of screws and nuts.

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"I think they might have come from you, seem to be off to me" snidely replies @JokersWild . "No, no I'm perfectly fine! These nuts and screws were here right before the Imaginarium entered into calamity ten years ago; when you were all last here. I have reason to believe that this mechanical menace is to blame for all the chaos here at the Imaginarium" states the Timekeeper. The Orange Bird jumps and tries to flap his wings to get a better view of Timekeeper's hand. "Timekeeper, have we checked futuristic places like Tomorrowland? He may be taking refuge there when we're not looking" suggests the Orange Bird. "Great idea! Imagineer hurry to Tomorrowland!" announces the Timekeeper.
​

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A strange temporal shift has been set off in our universe...it seems that the rosters of the teams has been effected by this mysterious malicious mechanical menace of the darkness.

Team Imaginators please welcome @TheOriginalTiki to your roster of imagineers!

Team Innovators please welcome @D Hulk to your roster of imagineers!

Whatever this mysterious force beyond may be, we know that it is definitely malicious! Keep an eye out teams you never know where danger may lurk.​
 
tcool123

tcool123

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
- Chapter Two: The Mechanical Menace -
Challenge Three: The Troubles of Tomorrow

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Welcome to the third challenge of The Imaginarium in this chapter we leave behind the world of entertainment and focus more on the realms of sci-fi and the future. This challenge sees teams travelling back in time to 1993 to replace Mission to Mars at the Magic Kingdom. In our universe ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter opened up in this attraction footprint, but due the mechanical menace causing a mess in the Imaginarium you all must pitch a new concept as the blueprints for ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter have gone missing.

Teams must create a whole attraction to replace Mission to Mars at Disney's Magic Kigndom with an opening year of 1995 in mind.

Make sure to utilize of time management skills alongside the delegation of tasks and teamwork! Teams are welcome to do any type of attraction, but are confined by the space. Below inside the pink outline teams can find the space avaialble to them.

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Guest Judges & More
@Outbound
@Disney Warrior
@Orange Cat 2
@DinoInstitute
@mickeyfan5534 - the Mentor
@spacemt354 - the Observer
@Pi on my Cake - the Pi on the Wall

Team Innovator's Chief Imagineer
@Shannoninthemagic

Team Imaginator's Chief Imagineer
@MickeyWaffleCo.

Challenge Three: The Troubles of Tomorrow is due on Sunday, September 26th at 10 PM EST.​
 

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