INDUSTRY ICONS
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I try to find the core of the IP and attempt to meet the fans’ expectations – but then overdeliver with a twist or something different
Batman Unmasked may be IP, but Carvalho and the team could still get creative with the interactive elements of the exhibition
One of the biggest breakthroughs across multiple forms of live events have been LED screens. The fact you can use these with no size restrictions – and a great level of fidelity – is incredible. This project I’m currently working on involves a Pepper’s ghost technique, but in a way that hasn’t been used in a while. I still don’t know if we are going to do LED or projection because the sidelines are so strict – that’s going to come down to development. Projection mapping has also come incredibly far and enables us to do a lot of very cool stuff that we weren’t able to do before. 3D engines such as Unreal allow us to build entire worlds, then enable us to manipulate content live. Something that used to take hours can be done in half an hour thanks to the advancements in these technologies. Do you have a preference for working on IP-based immersive experiences, or non-IP-based? There are pros and cons to working on a non-IP experience. I’d say the biggest advantage is that you are free to come up with your creative – you’re not tied into something that already exists. You don’t have to go through licensing; you don’t have to adhere to guidelines; you can create the whole world yourself, which can be fascinating. But if I were to put my commercial hat on, non-IPs are quite a lot harder to sell. IPs tap into an existing audience – be it for a brand, movie or character – and our
job is to deliver that emotion or product that people expect to be associated with the particular IP. But my personal approach is to try and find the core of that IP – find out what people coming to the experience actually want from it. I then attempt to meet those expectations – but then overdeliver, either with a twist or the use of something completely different. With Batman , it could have just been an exhibition with props. But instead, we decided to have some fun with it and create some infinity rooms and mazes – which is something people weren’t expecting. Does fan expectation of IPs weigh heavily on creative decisions? You do have to be both aware of and 100% embrace the fans. I know that, with some previous shows, mistakes have been made in trying to completely reinvent the wheel and not even engage with them. One of the first things we did when developing this current show, that has a massive fanbase, was set up an informal meeting with one of the fanbase’s London groups and ask for feedback. They gave us loads of ideas and got really involved with the show. Having said that, we need to be careful not to do a show just for the fans. That’s when experiences can go wrong, when they are only looking at the fan perspective and not thinking about the commercial one, and end up making it unappealing to mainstream audiences or new
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