Quick Update

Morning, just a quick update before we head out on the road again.

Yesterday was a very interesting afternoon, a site visit at Wellington Park, the idea to create two new attractions that can run for both the daytime visitors and some crossover into the evening. The plan for them is to go live on the 27th October so watch this space for updates on that.

Tulleys Shocktober Fest is being reconstructed with some very new twists this year, and the Funfear crew are well into the build for this, with new ideas, lighting and a few Twisted Technician surprises to come. The regular visitors of the park will be very surprised with the changes, which will offer a very different feel over previous years.

Changes to the Hayride, two brand new mazes, Twisted and Trail of Terror, a few little tweaks in other places too. I will say no more at the moment, except there is a lot to do before the first live night on 6th October..!!

The 2012 official trailer.



Xtreme fright nights, Twinlakes Park. There is so much to say about this one. we have installed, built, modified to suit this project, still lots to do before opening night on the 13th October. So many great ideas, it was almost a shame to have to cap the limit of the attractions we could of built here. But work has been going on for a while now and lots of progress has been made. With existing spaces being converted, reconstructed, and modified as well as some new space to create the attraction Q lines, the attractions and tech rooms.

With Chaos and Dungeon pretty much completed, we have started work on the Pie factory...!
Power is in throughout the attraction, both low voltage radials and mains, an emergency shutdown system installed and the whole attraction completely wired for sound.
Lighting and theming is the plan for this week as is installation of a sound system into Punishment and if we get time this week a small peppers ghost trick using Hallowindow.

Have a look at their website,

www.xtremefrightnights.com

The FunFear Update; Twinlakes and beyond...!!

Good afternoon, it has been a long time since my last posting I know. However , this has been due to the long hours and miles that have been put in over the past weeks and months traveling up and down the country for consultation meetings, projects and installations.

It could be said that the summer of 2012 has been one of madness with so much going on within the scare attractions industry, huge projects being planned and those that have come to fruition.

It is easy to see the reasons why this is one of the fastest growing industries within the UK.


There have been some new attractions from AtmosFear group, including Horror Camp Live, Overfarm's Panic attraction and G N G entertainments Project Fear
to name just a few to wet the appetite for the forthcoming Halloween season. I do apologize for not listing them all.



The launch of the Scare Network which brings together so many aspects of this industry also occurred this summer, which is an operator lead network providing all sorts of information from reviews to service suppliers. If you wish to read more please check out www.scarenetwork.co.uk



Funfear are currently working on the Twinlakes Xtreme Fright Nights project, providing ideas, technical knowhow and an excellent crew to carry out the installations.
We are installing brand new products as well as some tried and tested favorites. FunFear have also designed and built safety systems which provide quick attraction evacuation in the event of incident, with instant house lights coming on and audio warning to notify all guests.

This build has given FunFear the opportunity to consult with Twinlakes and try and offer both cost effective products, which provide years of service and low running costs, but with the potential to create great effects and open up a new set of attractions to a new audience in the Midlands.

With new attractions still to build and some complete facelifts of existing attractions, Twinlakes Park are certainly going to provide a family orientated theme park with a complete new feel for both the day and nightime.

With so much to offer this year, I do believe Twinlakes will ensure that there will be something for everyone throughout the month of October, with some of the changes providing a refreshing feel to their all year round attractions.

Cellar Visitors

Good Morning, just a short post on the events of yesterday. Our visitors arrived in West Sussex to be greeted by both sunshine and Stuart Beare.

Coffee and refreshments coupled with a very relaxed opportunity for questions and quizzing was to be followed by a guided tour of the haunts that we have at Tulleys Farm and an explanation of the infrastructure and layout.

Imagination is clearly required at this time of the year, as there is very little that is intact and running. Firstly the hayride, with the sun beating down it was a pleasant walk around the route, we explained the designs and bared our souls to some of the tricks that are used throughout this attraction at Halloween. The field of Screams was going to take a lot more imagination though, with the whole field still in its earthen colour it is hard to picture the terror that will ensue in a few months time. the concept was explained and the containers that house some of the permanent fixtures stood rank and file visible to inspect.
Curtains again impossible to recreate at this time of year, but is a concept simple enough in design and location.

The Cellar was waiting though, with a call from our resident makeup artist and creature tamer, it was ready to go. Lights, sound and the gaggle of cellar creatures, we led our guests to a fully functioning attraction. With safety explained and everyone having removed sunglasses and other items that could get lost they set off....

It is a very strange experience, standing listening to the screams from within whilst enjoying the sunshine, this is not a normal thing, it is usually dark, occasionally raining and there is very seldom the luxury of just standing still whilst we are live in October.

The actors were excellent, they were ensuring there was no escape, luckily our acting crew for yesterday were all familiar with the space and used it to the best of their ability and gave a great insight to the intensity that is "The Cellar"

A lights on tour was given and some explanation in to the safety features and procedures that we employ in this attraction, being able to evacuate, quickly and efficiently in any circumstance is of paramount importance.

So what was left, well creepy cottage, not at its best, but Hell-Ements was something that is easy to explain, demonstrate and create some of the experience even at this time of year, clearly it is not the full show, but by introducing the hoods that became so famous last season, a little bit of the show can be recreated.

The reception was excellent and a real pleasure to have the opportunity to showcase with a no pressure atmosphere, a great day. Well done once again to our resident cellar creatures, James Lawson, Sam Jarrett, Harry Bright, Samuel Chamberlain, Anthony James Foruria and makeup artist Alex Vlcek

The Cellar

Good afternoon, a busy couple of days with our twisted technician Hippy. The brief was to bring "The Cellar" back to running order for a visit from our friends at Twinlakes Park in Melton Mowbray....could it be done in a weekend..?? Well the answer was a resounding "Yes"
It is officially fully functioning, however progress was hindered somewhat by the noticeable damage caused by some rodents and possible a few other creatures that have taken up residence over the winter months...!!
The copious amounts of rain that we have had recently has also taken its toll and repairs were necessary to a few of the major operating components, our safety panel that allows for a full evacuation has started to show some signs of wear with the damp air that it lives in, no matter though, with new contactors and switches installed, we fired up......all good....well i say all good, electricity was going where it should, time to find the other issues. Transformers, a few lamps and some swearing and there was light everywhere there should be.

So sound next, this should be the easy part as all the equipment had been removed and serviced over winter, a simple case of re-installing the amp rack, sound card readers a bit of patching and all good to go yeah......because these things always work just like that dont they...??

To be fair it was a fairly straight forward installation and it wasnt long before sound was being delivered to all the relevant zones, we did however experience a slight failing in one of the sound card readers...we both believed this to be unlikely and a few substitutions of different cards found that the Golding Audio system was not the failing at all. Some quick interrogation of the data and command text revealed a coding error, quickly rectified and the success was sweet.

A great installation, and a quick reminder of why we all love this crazy industry so much, Halloween in May....bring it on.!

So it leaves one question to ask....Is "The Cellar" officially the first Halloween attraction to go ready to go live in 2012.? What we need now is a gaggle of zombies...cellar creatures and some thrill seekers..

Drama in Belguim

Good morning, i had to share this with everyone after being shown it yesterday. i think it is an excellent concept and does show that eventually curiosity just has to win..!! enjoy.

London Town...Where Culture and Candy Collide.

Good afternoon to everyone. I thought i would take the chance to give a little rundown on the last week or so. With Easter creating the opportunity to get stuck into a couple of very nice projects the feeling of the season starting was definitely upon us. Two small stage productions and the new show down at Tulleys Farm was certainly a nice way to start the spring time. With equipment being dusted off and tested, some repairs that have been put off were finally completed. Delivered, installed and operated and all with out to many dramas.

So with everything running and my wife's birthday treat looming i was having a day off....!! A rare thing but to be honest thoroughly enjoyable. I had arranged transport and tickets to Phantom of the Opera for her.

A day away from chaos....hardly, but to be fair London was not too busy and we enjoyed some culture in the National Gallery, an excellent meal followed by some craziness in M&M's world...!!

Apparently the largest candy store in the world..!! and then on to the theatre for the evening performance.

It has been some five years since i was in Her Majesty's Theatre, and it was a pleasure to be back. With a cast that i had not seen before there is always the fear of comparison, this however was not to be the case. Although this classic has stood the test of time for so many reasons it was an absolute pleasure to watch the audience being drawn in to the story and being amazed by the use of both modern and some of the oldest theatrical tricks. An excellent performance to be fair, i would recommend this timeless show even with some of the competition that is currently in the west end, it provides a superb evenings entertainment, it is captivating, clever, humorous at times but i think most of all performed with such love and passion for the art.

The rest of the week still had a lot in store for FunFear and was going to prove to be a lot more chaotic than i had first thought.

Ian

Screamies 2011 Results

Good afternoon, the long awaited results of the screamie awards are in. To be fair a pleasure to see them. As I mentioned in the previous entry, the introduction of additional catogories has opened up the opportunity for some excellent new venues and attractions to compete in such a rapidly growing industry that involves both the home haunting passion and corporate expenditure.

FunFear is very much involved with the business at The Tulleys Farm Shocktober fest and help to create the effects and illusion that realise the ingenuity of people like Stuart Beare, the combination of engineers from so many backgrounds create the magic that is Shocktober Fest.

The Screamies reinforce the recognition for the hours, planning, pain and effort that are required to create that magic....! That goes for all involved in this ever growing industry.

The new format of the Screamies have shown that these efforts can be recognised at all levels. Attractions like The Fear Horror House in Copthorne who clearly are working with much lesser budgets than many of the major players can be awarded for their passion and amazing belief in what they are creating.

This is progressive and appreciated by all of the crew at FunFear.

What will the future hold for 2012.....only time will tell..!!

The results list can be seen at the screamie awards page here www.screamieawards.co.uk