North Kingdom's "American Horror Story" VR Experience Hyped Scares Without Reveals

The storyline behind the sixth season of FX’s “American Horror Story” was kept tightly under wraps for months leading up to its premier Weds., September 14th.    All promotions for season six hid the story line, providing subtle clues but no major reveals.   Charged with developing a fan experience void of spoilers that would excite returning devotes and entice new viewers, FX Networks VP of Integrated Promotions Kenya Hardaway turned to VR technology.   After reviewing bids dense with the iconography from the past five seasons, her team landed on a concept presented by Swedish/American design company North Kingdom.

“They understood the spirit of what we were looking for,” said Hardaway.

Under the leadership of Executive Creative Director Daniel Ilic,  North Kingdom’s design married common phobias - masked faces, vertigo, claustrophobia – in a series of segments that introduced characters or settings culled from the entities five seasons.   With a premier run at Comic-Con, the experience had to accommodate many anxious viewers simultaneously. Ilic’s team used the communal experience as a creative touch point, working the viewing unity into the content’s design.  The experience revolved around five individuals experiencing it simultaneously.  The VR experience, therefore, began the moment each viewer entered the room, noting the other participants who were joining them.  Placeholders for the individuals to the right and left of each participant were featured in the commencement of the VR experience.

“The challenge became an advantage,” said Ilic. “VR in general is an individual experience.  We were able to build connectivity into our creative.”

The presentation of the room was the first realized design element.  A series of five black “beds” were positioned in a pentagon.  Each participant was asked to lie down and place a sheet over them, masking any identifiable feature – an asset that played into the creation of two “bodies” that appeared on either side of the viewer once the experience started.   A natural submissive position that heightened the fear factor, reclining also helped maintain viewer’s focus in the 360 VR environment.

With the introduction of the experience in place, Ilic and his team turned their attention to the VR capture style.   While live action was considered, they opted for a photo-realistic presentation, where aspects of the series’ award winning production design, such as a medical laboratory or hotel corridor, were integrated into CG settings.  For the introduction of iconic characters such as “Twisty the Clown” and the nun from “Coven”, actors were dressed in the authentic costumes of those characters and captured in a full 3D scan.  The 3D scans were converted into models and animated within the CG environments.    Sound design was the final navigational element added to the VR journey.

Throughout the creation of the VR experience, Ilic and his team tracked test subjects as they interacted with the CG environment, allowing them to make real-time adjustments to everything from color palette to visual cues that helped direct viewer’s attention to key focal points.  While incorporating 4D elements was discussed, the effectiveness of utilizing common phobias was enough to trick participants into experiencing sensory stimulous such as falling or the heat off flames.

“That’s the beauty of VR; everything takes precedence in the mind,” said Ilic.

To learn more about North Kingdom, please visit: http://www.northkingdom.com/

To learn more about "American Horror Story", please visit: http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/american-horror-story/episodes