GuardRoom
This months scene study is an in depth study of the "Guard Room" a scene designed for two actors; one strong macho guard type and one gentle helpless type.
Video Two presents this scene visually with actors.
I should begin talking about the scene, I guess. The 'guardroom' was accidentally developed out of another scene that failed to work well. The original scene contained a rack set at 45 degrees and a table with two stools opposite it. The rack had a victim and a torturer; the table had the assistant torturer. The guests had to walk between the table and rack. The victim was being tortured and the assistant was asking for his turn. The assistant would ask for volunteers and talk about how his boss did not understand his need for inflicting pain. The scene did not work.
The following year the rack was moved in with the Pendulum and the 'guardroom' was born. I liked the idea of guests walking between actors. I needed a better show. While I was erecting the castle for the season in a parking lot a really cool guy pulled up in a shiny convertible. He wore a brown derby, long sleeve shirt with vest, dress slacks and shoes so shinny it would have embarrassed my Marine Corp drill sergeant. But what made him stand out even more was the gold chains around his neck, and add to this the prominent gold tooth with a star and you have my cool guy. A happier guy you never met. He asked me if I was hiring actors and I almost tripped over my tongue saying yes and you are hired at the same time.
The state of mind that I was in is difficult to describe. The 'guardroom' was formulating in my mind, it had not coalesced but the elements were coming together. My experiences to date were building and the creation was near. I recalled the reaction to my tall vampire and the idea of guests walking between actors in a controlled situation. The floor plan I was constructing contained the space that would become the 'guardroom' it did not contain the 'guardroom'. The year before I had a dead end room. Guests would walk into a room, the door would close and it became totally dark, they would fumble around and sometimes come back out the door they entered.
The 'guardroom' was in its birth throes. The elements were all there. I was short an eight foot bar section and bar door unit. Once all the pieces were constructed the 'guardroom was born. Its first year proved its worth. It's second year I moved it closer to the end of the haunt where it has stayed all these years.
Scene prep. I use pools of red and green light to paint the walls and illuminate the actors. The victim in the cell is backlit in red; green bathes her from the left and right. The backlight is bright and the sidelights are dark. The guard is cross-illuminated with red and green. From the front red on the left side of his face and green on his right; from behind red on his right and green on his left. The pool is large enough to permit him great movement, not that it is needed. Sound plays an important role in preparing the guests for this treat. The switchback hall leading from the previous scene has high frequency sound as principal sound track; this changes at the entrance to the 'guardroom' to low frequency sound supported by a 100-watt sub woofer.
The cast. Behind the bars we have the thinnest waif of a female that I can find. She is wearing a body suit and a shredded white dress. Sometimes she keeps her right arm behind her back and we place a severed arm on the table. She is attractive. Her makeup is a light white pancake application with hints of bruises and blood on her face.
The first year we had our cool guy as the guard. I changed nothing. He sat as I described him earlier Brown Derby and all playing with a machete or the severed arm.
He would smile and guests would run.
I had the cool guy for two seasons, then the lady in the wheelchair; next I had to settle for an average dude. The room did not work well for the average dude. When all else fails I place a hockey mask over the actors face, but through all this the girl behind bars is always the same. My next guy had more energy than a thermonuclear explosion. He was so wired that I had to move him to the 'wall'. He could not sit down and smile. He felt that he had to jump up on the table and do wild and crazy things. He was more than the room could handle and customers would not begin to try and enter the room let alone cross it to the exit.
What the guests see. Customers enter the room from a dark hallway. Their eyes slowly adjust as their mind adjusts to the sound changes. The sub woofer is aimed at their gut as they enter. Sitting on their left is the guard at a table with a prop (machete or severed arm); to their right behind bars is the female waif. The room is brightly illuminated, no exit is visible, and both actors are quiet and move slowly. The waif is the distraction and eye candy, she quietly pleads for the visitors to help her, the visitors move to her side of the room. They know that they are not out of the reach of the guard. The distance between the bars and the guard is less than four feet. The visitors are not feeling easy about the waif but she is harmless in comparison to what is at the table. One year I changed this up and added a revolving wall to the back of the cell with the waif. While all eyes were glued on the guard the wall would quietly revolve and a werewolf would trade places with the waif. Eventually one of the visitors would look behind them and well, use your imagination. This idea did not work with a curtain as the room did not appear to be as secure to the visitors and they could guess that something more was behind the drape.
Most visitors figured out how to exit the room, others would ask for help and still others would turn around and exit only to be chased back in by an actor or other guests. No matter who was the guard the room played the same. Visitors would enter and stay as far away from the guard as possible. This meant that they would have their backs making physical contact with the bars across from the guard and that if the waif changed into something else they would not be prepared for it. About halfway into the room the guard would make his move, the visitors would scream and the waif would direct them out through the door that seemed to be a wall.
From the time guests enter a haunt to the moment they exit we, the creators, are playing with their mind. It is our job to evoke emotions at their expense.
Using a handicapped actor
Actor Limitations
GuardRoom Floor Plan and Photos
List of Scenes
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