For this assignment we were tasked to make an Efteling attraction focused on 25-30 year olds. We each got a fairytale and a 20m X 20m scale that we had to work with. My fairytale was Sleeping Beauty.
The fairy tale in short is about a princess who is cursed to die at 16 by pricking her finger on a spinning wheel spindle. Instead, when pricking her finger she falls into a deep sleep. Later, she gets awoken by a prince with a kiss and they live happily ever after.
I immediately took inspiration from the film but was also a bit torn between the two aspects of the Maleficent thriller and the romantic Aurora. So I made a few moodboards to practice both ideas, as seen below.
So I had an idea: a dark ride focused on two paths. One that goes up, on search of Aurora, and one that goes down to face Maleficent. At the end of the trip the carts are sent back to the beginning, traveling over roller coaster rails. I gave each path 3 stories, each with a different theme and vibe. Another asset I wanted to use was that of AR glasses. A product that adds a visual virtual layer to the experience.
Another aspect we were told to focus on was senses. How are our senses triggered during a theme park attraction? In my ride, I focussed mostly on the visuals and the sound. I also wanted to experiment with smell and touch a bit. For each layer there are different visuals, noises, smells and touches to discover. I listed these beneath each layer in short.
Each layer is highlighted below, included with colors, overview and notes (in Dutch). It starts with Aurora's path.
Senses forest Aurora layer:
-Sight: forest, green, sun.
-Sound: birds chirping, creeking of trees, light airy music.
-Smell: plant and forest smell, wet wood and wet forest floor.
-Touch: warmth from the sun, slight breeze from wind.
-Touch: warmth from the sun, slight breeze from wind.
Senses castle Aurora layer:
-Sight: castle entrance, inner square castle.
-Sight: castle entrance, inner square castle.
-Sound: mostly silent because people sleeping from curse.
-Smell: freshly baked bread, market smell.
Senses Aurora layer:
-Sight: Aurora sleeping on bed, royal castle inside, roses on walls.
-Sound: light snoring from Aurora, light magical music.
-Smell: roses and freshly washed sheets.
-Sound: light snoring from Aurora, light magical music.
-Smell: roses and freshly washed sheets.
Senses forest Maleficent layer:
-Sight: dark misty forest, flashes of shadow Maleficent through AR.
-Sound: slow and darker music, crow cawing, trees creeking.
-Smell: wet forest.
-Touch: light breeze, cold.
Senses castle Maleficent layer:
-Sight: old castle ruins emerging from forest, inside castle ruins.
-Sound: cracking stone and rumbeling, before heading down a low roar from dragon.
-Smell: wet brick, rain, smoke.
-Touch: cold.
Senses dragon Maleficent layer:
-Sight: dragon emerging from ground, caslte ruins.
-Sound: dragon roaring, intense music.
-Smell: fire and smoke, faintly roses.
-Touch: wind from roar, warmth from spitting fire.
-Touch: wind from roar, warmth from spitting fire.
After realising the building and layers itself, I went and modeled the carts using Blender. The blue, red and green one (inspired by the fairy's of the movie) take Aurora's path and leave at the same time, so it's a more communal experience. The black one visits Maleficent all alone. I wanted to highlight the feeling of loneliness and dread this way.
Below I have the proces of getting to this idea, again all with notes (in Dutch) and colors. We were originally tasked as well to come up with three concepts, and to work one of those out into a realisation. As you can see, I chose my second concept.
After we were done with our visualisation, we moved on to branding. We had to come up with a name and logo for our attraction. The logo I used at the top is the final product of the proces below. I looked for certain elements I wanted to return from the ride itself. The two paths is something essential I wanted to translate. Eventually I settled on a crow holding a rose. The crow representing Maleficent and the rose representing Aurora.
We then were tasked to make the versions cleaner but also to figure out ways to use different variations for things like posters or shirts. I then also settled on the name Zwarte Roos, which translates to Black Rose.
After some trial and error, I landed on the three below. On the left I have the final official logo, and the other two are visual variations of this logo.
Using the variations I made a few mockups of a banner and t-shirts to promote the ride to any and all visitors of the Efteling.
All in all I am satisfied with the concept I created. I wish I could have visualised it just a bit better and cleaner but time management is something I know I need to work on. It was however definitely a fun project to work on.
