How Halloween Horror Nights Becomes Possible

In a previous post I gave a brief run down of my favorite mazes at this years Halloween Horror Nights. But because of my deep appreciation for this event, I thought that each aspect of H.H.N needed to be given more attention. First off I will explain how the event begins, from the very start. Some of you may believe that this is public knowledge, however, that is not fully accurate. Yes you could find this information on the internet, but unless you have been following the daily social media updates of the Creative Director John Murdy, then you may not be aware of the exact perimeters in which this event comes to be.

Before the previous year even comes to a close, John Murdy receives many offers from executives celebrities, musicians, directors, or producers. These people all want their product to be featured at H.H.N. They realize the high publicity that H.H.N. could provide for their property. As this goes on, Murdy decides what properties he could use at the event, and he trashes the others. He is constantly brainstorming new ideas, and he puts every single one onto a sticky note, that he places on the wall in his office. By December this wall is completely filled with small sticky notes, all containing ideas that could later be translated into full blown mazes.

As time passes, each and every one of these ideas must be addressed, he searches through them all and decides which properties have the potential to translate into a successful maze. This is a daunting task, and there are three main characteristics that he looks for in each property. Are there environments that could be used to fill the rooms of a maze? Are there characters that could be played by scare actors? Is this property recognized by the general public? Without all three of these things, it can not be translated into a maze.

After a very short amount of time, Murdy must take his list of narrowed down properties and finalize which ones he would like to see at the event. In the end he must pick only seven. Imagine trying to pick seven things out of an entire wall of ideas, some of us have trouble trying to find what clothes to wear in the morning, yet alone that large of a task.

Now that all seven mazes are picked out, he must begin the precise explanation of what the maze will look like. This means he must write out every single object, detail, light, smell and decoration that he wants in each room of the maze. That is everything from the lights that shine above you, to where the scare-actor will be located, to the vine that is on the wall. These treatments are extensively long, and are basically the blueprints, or starting guide for every maze.

An American Werwolf In London Facade

Then begins construction, the walls go up, and the main details are laid out. This process takes most of the year, and always ends just short of when the event begins at the end of September. A large team is brought in for each maze, and this becomes their sole task. Near the end of construction for each maze, Murdy comes in and prepares the lighting. Each light must be placed in the correct location, in order to give off the correct effect. He puts specially created smells into each room, in order to fully engross all of your senses. No maze is complete without its signature facade. Outside of every maze is a detailed front. Just like all books have a cover, all mazes have an opening scene.

By this time, all the mazes have been announced and all the fans are dying of anticipation to see what has been created inside the gates of Universal Studios.

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