This is a concept and beat sheet for a collaborative project that I worked on for the TEA@UCSD Haunted House Design Competition. I was the show writer for this project, so I developed our concept and characters, as well as wrote our beat sheet in its entirety.
Team Members:
Eve Katz- Show Writer
Nicolette Culver- Concept Artist
Bailey Griffin- Graphic Fabrication Designer
Sammie Hardy- Financial Analyst
Art by Bailey Griffin.
The Bleeding Hearts Concert
High Concept
Guests attend a concert and are invited backstage to meet different members of The Bleeding Hearts. Their night is disrupted by sinister forces hidden behind the bright and bubbly facade.
The three members of The Bleeding Hearts have captured the hearts of their fans in more ways than one. The band holds a concert with an exclusive backstage experience that will grant guests the opportunity to meet one of the three girls. Guests receive a backstage pass designed to look like a tarot card. They can receive the Sun, Star, or Moon card, each one representing a band member. With their card assigned, they’re ready to come face to face with Cyra, the lead singer, Vega, the lead guitarist, or Mira, the drummer. The girls aren’t just a band, however, they’re a coven. Granted elemental magic by their manager, Mother, they hunt down the guests in hopes of consuming their souls and growing stronger as, in turn, Mother feeds on their power.
Guests must attempt to escape from Cyra’s fire magic, Vega’s control of wind, or Mira’s mysterious abilities with water. That isn’t all, however. After going through their chosen backstage experience, all of the guests will meet the coven’s Supreme: Mother, a powerful witch with powers inspired by the earth and strengthened by the surrounding woods.
Punk concerts are always a little rowdy, but this is an entirely different story. Can guests escape the clutches of The Bleeding Hearts?
Beats
Synopsis: We’re happy to introduce you to The Bleeding Hearts. For this experience, guests will be attending the concert of punk band The Bleeding Hearts. The members are colorful and charismatic, but something dark is lingering beneath the surface. The band’s manager, cryptically referred to as Mother, is a demonic presence the members are in service to. All of them are hungry for souls, and the guests are their newest targets.
1. Facade Entrance: The facade is of a 1920’s style theatre, where they receive backstage passes to The Bleeding Hearts’ concert. They look like tarot cards, each differing depending upon their band member. Cyra has the Sun card, which is associated with the element of fire. Vega has the Star card, which is associated with the element of air. Lastly, Mira has the Moon card, which is associated with water. Once inside the experience and within the virtual queue room, guests use the cards to interact with merch stations to learn more about the band members.
Designed by Nicolette Culver.
2. Virtual Queue Area: Band groupies mill about the area, using the interactive videos at each girl’s respective station to understand more about them. Cyra is shown to be the narcissistic and temperamental lead singer of the band, easily spurned into fits by lack of attention. Vega is the volatile and rage-filled guitar player. Mira is the eerily calm drummer. She is the beat of silence before a big scare, ready to flip on a dime. All of the girls’ personalities are based on the meaning of the reverse version of their tarot card.
Maze Splits into Three Paths, each labeled with a symbol, guests follow the one that matches their tarot card backstage pass.
Art by Bailey Griffin.
3. Concert Stage: It’s time for the concert to begin, and The Bleeding Hearts are ready to put on the performance of a lifetime. Lights are blown out, the crowd rages, and when it’s over, the fun will really begin. The girls are ready to meet guests backstage. This is when the experience will split into three different paths, guests will follow the one that matches their tarot card.
4. Backstage Room - Cyra (Sun): Cyra’s path starts off pink and delicate, her dressing room covered in pink chiffon and photos of herself. The space starts to get more sinister, as the photos are cut up, with other faces scratched out and Cyra’s appearance distorted. Soon, guests encounter Cyra herself. She is starving for souls, her body decaying, and she is infuriated by the guests seeing her in such a state. As they try to escape her, they see previous victims of Cyra, burned by her fire magic.
Art by Bailey Griffin.
5. Backstage Room - Vega (Star): Vega’s backstage path is covered in graffiti and broken furniture. Bashed-in speakers blare static and Vega’s laughter can be heard as she suddenly strums her guitar. She too is decayed and hungry for souls, and her victims look suffocated by her air magic. The guests must escape Vega’s glee for violence.
6. Backstage Room - Mira (Moon): Mira’s path is filled with ominous reminders of her dark past in an orphanage. Water damage colors the walls and guests pass victims whose features have been erased like rocks that have been smoothed by running water, and with skin that has a rotted quality. Mira herself is in her zombie-like state and stalks the guests as they navigate her claustrophobia-inducing path.
Art by Bailey Griffin.
7. Manager’s Trailer - Mother: When the guests finally escape their band member, it’s time for them to meet Mother inside her trailer. She is an otherworldly figure, multiple stories tall and taunting the guests that she will feed on them soon.
8. Disorienting Path: Even as guests escape Mother’s trailer, her influence is still evident as plant life comes to life around them. The guests’ are disoriented and head into a wooded area.
Art by Nicolette Culver.
9. Forest: Guests spot a sign that says it will lead them back to the main road, but it’s not an easy path by any means. A distorted version of the song from the beginning concert scene plays as they make their way through the possessed woods, where they run into more soulless victims and the members of The Bleeding Hearts. Guests make their way to the end of the path, and Mother’s eyes can be seen above the exit. The guests finally make it out, but are they ever really free from Mother?
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