Hello.
I'm BEE, a planner from the 🌽Incon Team, which plans interactive content in Realworld.
Everyone, have you heard of 'immersive'?
Immersive means dipping something into liquid. It refers to theater that immerses the audience! It's a new theatrical format where actors speak to the audience or the audience changes the story of the play.
The content our planners experienced this time is the <Darkfield> trilogy, which expresses immersive horror.
https://youtu.be/E0QOLL4gK7w
On this day, 4 excited planners headed to LG Arts Center Seoul in Gangseo-gu, thrilled about their legitimate corporate card usage.
"They'll just make it dark and play some sounds, right?"
"Isn't it going to be too boring?"
I remember us underestimating it like that. If I could go back, I'd love to laugh at myself. (Bring diapers... you scaredy-cat.)
"How wonderful... to feel nothing at all, yet receive full credit for being alive."
Kurt Vonnegut, <Slaughterhouse-Five>
A space that seemed to fulfill my romantic dreams of a sleeper train greeted me.
A bed barely big enough for one person, headphones, and pills.
'Following the announcement to swallow the white pill, I swallowed it while suppressing some fear. The lights gradually dimmed and the bed rustled. Finally, the lights went out and darkness arrived. A voice counting down from 10. Then slowly, the sound of something walking through the corridor began.'
To be honest, it felt like sleep paralysis.
A cold breeze suddenly blew from somewhere, tickling my cheeks, the smell of disinfectant stung my nose, and eerie sounds came through the headphones. It truly felt like being in a coma, unable to move my body!
Just when I thought I couldn't bear it anymore, the lights came back on. Was 30 minutes... really this long?
"The most important thing in this world is to destroy superstition.
Superstition interferes with human happiness and is like a terrible viper that injects poison into the human heart. As long as I live, I will do whatever I can to eliminate this monster."
Bert Green Ingersoll, 1886
COMA was just a preview.
Following the guidance, I put on the headphones like before,
kept my feet on the ground and hands on the desk while waiting for it to begin.
Suddenly, I heard a door closing from the entrance and was turning my head when an even louder 'BANG!' thundered from the opposite side of the headphones, and the show began. (The direction was so frighteningly effective;;; I almost left;;;;)
'People boarding the ship with their own purposes.
To meet their beloved lovers and families again, they perform a forbidden ritual...!'
The direction of someone seemingly walking on the table and the echo bouncing off the ship felt so realistic. When the man summoning spirits came right next to me asking whether I 'believe or not' and pressuring people, I instinctively curled up. The terror you feel when a voice that was far away suddenly comes to your side and whispers in your ear!
I thought the narrow and long container interior made it feel more eerie and scary.
I didn't notice when I was there, but the interior wallpaper looked like that!
(This shows how scared I was - couldn't even look around...)
+) I heard another planner tried to grab my hand as a joke... If they had done that, I might not be in this world anymore. (Heart attack)
"Dear passengers, we sincerely welcome you aboard.
Before takeoff, our aircraft will play the in-flight safety announcement, so please pay attention. In case of sudden cabin pressure increase during flight, alternative scenarios will be provided. Wherever you may be going, we inform you that our aircraft cannot guarantee your final destination."
FLIGHT in-flight announcement
FLIGHT had the most philosophical concept.
(Planner ONZE: I need to analyze this right away! It reminds me of Schrödinger's cat!)
(Planner BEE: ???? So scary ㅎㄷㄷ Save me, mom)
'In one world, 'I' safely get off the plane and go home, but in another world, 'I' die in a plane crash. Which way will your luck go?'
The 4 planners all received tickets for seats D or E, but when we actually entered, there were no separate ABC seats - only half the cabin existed. Before we could think it was strange, the show began, and during the flickering blackout moment, we saw the blue curtains change to red and then into mirrors.
Yes! So the remaining ABC seats were DEF seats reflected in the mirror! (The director is a genius)
I was curious how they'd create an airplane in a narrow container, but it was such a clever choice.
Beyond that, on one side the captain would broadcast reassuring messages like 'we're going safely' while on the other side, voices would whisper in your ear saying 'you're unlucky, you're going to die soon,' amplifying the fear.
I was lucky to sit in 10E with people on both sides. Did that make it less scary? Would it have?
For some reason, I kept feeling like everyone else would leave and I'd be left alone. It's a secret that when the announcement said to hold the person next to you's hand, I almost reached out instinctively.
My overall impression is... stop the music
1. Human Resource Utilization
There were only guides, and all performances proceeded using only 3D sound and devices stimulating smell and touch.
In other words, there were no people, but it provided the effect as if there were.
2. Technology Usage
Sound: The 3D sound was absolutely outstanding. I thought it might be awkward in Korean, but the voice actors were so good that it made me more immersed.
Lighting: They utilized flickering lights effectively to create a barely-visible effect. (ex. lightning effects in Flight, seat indicator lights)
Video: It was impressive how real actors appeared at the beginning of Flight to show how the two worlds differed. (In one world, a normal safety video; in the other, a bizarrely altered video)
3. Symmetrical Space
Coma had 3-tier beds densely arranged left and right to accommodate multiple people, and Ghost Ship and Flight also faced each other or used mirrors to appear wider while amplifying anxiety.
4. Props Utilization
The pills by the bedside in Coma, warning signs on Ghost Ship seats, Flight's safety cards
-> Though they seemed minor, they were devices that further maximized the immersive experience.
It was a time when I realized 'Wow, just limiting vision can be this scary!'
Actually, when I think of immersive (audience participation) theater, I always imagined grand and flashy shows, but experiencing the <Darkfield> trilogy made me think that perhaps what makes people most immersed might be 'limitation.'
Rather than stepping back and observing the play as an audience member,
the immersive theater <Darkfield> makes you anxious, scared, and unfamiliar, so you're unconsciously drawn into the play!
Someday we might be able to see immersive theater in Realworld too, so I should work hard to find other insights.
See you next time with another insight-filled legitimate corporate card usage story~
Take care!