Last month I worked as part of the art department for
Secret Cinema's production of Lawrence of Arabia, that took place at Alexandra Palace. We worked to create the atmosphere and all round experience of Lawrence of Arabia within the location. In particular, I helped to construct the sets, interior decorations and prop making. Audience members arrived at Alexandra Palace dressed for the occasion, some still unaware of what film they were about to watch. Actors in full costume, some complete with horses and camels, helped to immerse the visitors into the event in preparation for watching the film. (Watch the video for highlights).
It was a really cool project to be involved with, especially as it was the first large scale event / project I have worked on. The rest of the team were also really nice people to work with.
Working on this project also tied in nicely with some personal work that I am doing at the moment. I have been looking at how to add physicality to digital interactions through creating real world experiences, peoples physical reactions to digital stimuli and creating social movements through online social networks. All of Secret Cinema's promotion, hype and communication with audience members happens through digital means. They have a very strong online presence and members of their community are asked to carry out certain tasks before they come to film screenings. For example they are asked to dress up accordingly and bring props, but for this film they were also asked to group themselves into 'tribes' according to where they live in London, which in turn then created online and real world interactions. People displayed their 'tribe markings' on their social network profiles to link with other people who were in the same tribe as them. They were then encouraged to display their tribe markings when traveling to the film screening and group together once at the location. I was impressed by how involved the audience got with the whole experience, but this was probably largely due to all the effort Secret Cinema had put into not only creating the amazing environment at the Alexandra Palace but also the communication they had with the visitors in the lead up to the event. People also seemed really excited at the chance to act out of the normal and be part of this collective 'secret' immersive experience.
