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00:00I think for a long time people talked about theme parks as like a tourism endeavor you know it's
00:28business operation but I really like to think of theme parks as a work of art theme park creation
00:39is absolutely an art form and incredibly challenging as well between the architecture
00:48and the landscape and the lighting and the music the question is how do you create compelling
00:53places that will give people a sense of belonging people go to theme parks for a lot of reasons they
01:01want to laugh they want to cry they want this sense of surprise and a sense of awe to be put
01:09into that story that captivates their entire being so our job is to create environments in which this
01:19is likely to happen it takes hundreds of disciplines beautiful all right lighting designers concept
01:32designers programmers animators costume designers filmmakers so much more natural already it is a
01:40thing of wonder watching the theme park team build the physical manifestation of what we create in film
01:47we are building upon our legacy of silent films and monster movies and old Hollywood that's where the
01:54universal legacy all begins for me but it's a lot easier to make a movie than it is building a world with
02:02brick and mortar and steel this park the scale of it is just incredible it's a huge task on a scale of 1 to 10
02:17this is a 15 right so there are challenges there will be problems there are things we have to
02:22overcome we're several months away from grand opening one down 200 or so to go at a certain point you cannot
02:29buy time and we're at the point where the last 10% takes 90% of the effort it was in this vice grip oh you
02:40know how to get the pieces to come together but we can't compromise the product otherwise what have we
02:46done it is a big risk what happens if it doesn't pay up the audience is going to tell you every time
02:56whether it's worth their time and money or not when people show up at a theme park they have very high
03:03expectations how we doing folks everybody happy so you you better over deliver
03:16this is fire
03:22can you reach back in your memory and think about
03:46the first story that really meant something to you well you know my father told me stories
03:52stories what was a way you would engage the imagination stories is something you you told
04:02to each other either they were scary true story or they were stories to escape the realities of the
04:12real world and take you into a kind of fantasy realm when I was younger I remember my mother giving me a book
04:23called Ferdinand the Bull growing up in New York City in the 70s there was the necessity to be strong
04:34and I remember that book being a permission slip to be creative
04:44story telling has always been very much part of my upbringing of my childhood I come from Malaysia and we
04:56have a lot of our own folklore about Tarzan learning about the animal kingdom and I think that's very
05:04important to trigger that imagination it sparks off something in us to me story means you go on a feeling
05:15adventure being afraid cracking up bursting into tears it's all about oh you know you feel swept away
05:26we had this idea with epic of transporting you into the story in such a way that you're really convinced you're there epic universe is five unique worlds
05:56around the celestial theme and then there's Super Nintendo world where you are immersed in a video game environment and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Ministry of Magic including 1920s Paris and Fantastic Beasts
06:13next is how to train your dragon Isla Burke an entire world built around the emotional journey of meeting dragons
06:21and finally the dark universe where these classic monsters they're all coming to life
06:27this is the first part ever made exclusively of what we call feature-length immersive stories
06:39okay okay everybody set good okay while we have time uh tell me your name and
06:51what you do here
06:52there hasn't really been an emergency we are definitely an active construction site
07:09I don't know what that sound is I don't know if it's fire they're testing the fire alarms or what but that'll be interesting
07:20Universal Orlando Resort announcing the opening date for its highly anticipated new theme park it's called
07:27Epic Universe it's set to open on May 22nd
07:30hello hey um I'm with Andrew and we're just trying to figure out the plan
07:35the countdown is on for the grand opening of epic universe it's the first major U.S. theme park to open in America in a quarter of a century
07:43okay give me a minute I'll be right down there all right man it's hard to tell what's going to go wrong
07:48you just gotta prepare for anything we're aiming for ridership by next Thursday I need
07:53flat signature otherwise I don't know none of this it's all part of a 750 acre development that will more than double the size of Universal's footprint in Orlando
08:02how's the site looking this morning like we have a lot of work to do still because it's real dangerous to
08:09that's why so it's haunted here
08:14going into the park throughout the entire construction phase you only get to see some of these things in
08:26these states once I tell everybody if you get a chance to do it you're very lucky because it doesn't happen very often we don't build
08:32parks very often no one does
08:39I have a clear memory of day one and that was a sheet of paper and that sheet of paper was blank
08:48our vision is a big one we want to create a level of experience
08:55that frankly forever changes the theme park landscape as you know it today
08:59you must first conceive the map because that is the architecture the foundation of your decision making
09:07but it is only a map until you fill it with emotional design
09:12everything that we're thinking about is what does the future demand that we do
09:27the decision to move to epic was a big decision you're well aware of the competitive nature of this
09:34Orlando marketplace the market has a lot of parks between Disney us SeaWorld Busch Garden over in Tampa
09:42building a new park is an incredible capital investment
09:46it's billions of dollars and you never really understand the full risk of what you're doing
09:53so it's a long-term bet
09:55I just admire their guts
09:57because I know what kind of courage and commitment it takes to build something like that
10:04and I can't wait to see it
10:06I can guarantee you it's going to be epic
10:09and the last I heard a universe is a little bit bigger than a world
10:12so take it for what it is
10:14when you come into the park
10:26the question become okay well where do you go first
10:30the origins of that were really what we built around creating celestial park as the center element
10:40celestial park is brand new we created it from scratch
10:46dispatch
10:47with a lot of our universal properties we bring movies to life
10:52well celestial park is one of those that there is no movie that people can watch
10:57we knew that the intense immersion that was going to happen in our worlds
11:05needed the calming of a natural actual park in the middle of a theme park
11:12and that small nugget of an idea is the design behind all of celestial
11:17so we are very close to starting to install our final speakers in the Rhybe Dome starting next week
11:24how many speakers do we have on the inside here
11:27we have 42 speakers in there so 38 speakers and four subwoofers
11:32I think we should have enough
11:33we might have enough
11:34I think this is the best sounding carousel I've ever worked on actually
11:38everybody thinks that once the designs done and we go into construction that
11:43it's just building it and then we finish
11:45I'm in
11:46I'm in
11:47that real world environments change things
11:53is it behaving Thomas?
11:55come on ride system you can do it
11:58a lot of people have a preconceived notion of what the carousel is
12:15this is the underside of the carousel
12:19most carousels are a single turntable that spins and the horses move up and down
12:24this is the complete reverse of that
12:27there's one massive 70 foot diameter turntable
12:30and then three small turntables can spin independently forwards or backwards
12:34the ride vehicles all can fully rotate around
12:38they all can go six feet in the air
12:41so it's an unprecedented amount of control to be able to really make a show out of it and not just a ride
12:47move move move
12:50make some adjustments
12:52change the timing on the color a little bit
12:58Celestial Park is what we refer to it as the fabric of epic universe
13:04it's what allows guests to go from world to world
13:09you as a guest in this vast epic environment are going to be an explorer
13:22you're the hero of this journey and you're going to navigate via stars
13:28some of the inspiration is from the 1920s
13:32the story behind it is that the residents of Celestial Park
13:38they have figured out a way to harness the energy of the universe
13:43and open up these portals to other worlds
13:47and if you look at the portals it looks like it's a big dial
13:51the premise is that they've been fine-tuned to a certain frequency in the universe that then opens up to these worlds
14:00I'm so excited for the epic universe
14:04because it has these elements inspired by the very work that Carl Lemley did so long ago
14:11I do like to imagine what it must have been like to be here at the turn of the century
14:17there's all of that great innovation going on
14:21where people like Carl Lemley were pioneering different ways of storytelling
14:26different ways of capturing cinema
14:29that's where the universal legacy begins
14:33Carl Lemley started everything
14:36motion picture pioneer Carl Lemley senior was presented by the testimonial scroll
14:40how could one person have accomplished so many things
14:43and basically be forgotten by history
14:57I ask myself a lot why Carl Lemley doesn't get remembered the way other studio heads do
15:02you know he didn't name the studio after himself
15:07my name is Antonia Carlotta
15:09I am the great-grandniece of Carl Lemley
15:11who's the founder of Universal Studios
15:14and I've been on a little bit of a mission to just keep the memory of Carl Lemley alive
15:20Uncle Carl was a German Jewish immigrant
15:27he had moved to the United States away about 50 bucks in his pocket
15:31and didn't know what he was gonna do
15:33he was just in search of the American dream
15:36he worked all sorts of odd jobs
15:40and he decides he wants to go into business for himself in something
15:43but he doesn't know what
15:45so he goes to Chicago
15:48he thinks at first maybe he'll get like a five and ten cent store
15:52and while he's scouting locations
15:57he stumbles on his first Nickelodeon
16:00for many people the Nickelodeon would be the first time they'd seen that images can move
16:09and that whole concept was a magic trick
16:12as an immigrant
16:21Lemley realized that this was something that could communicate to people from wherever they came from
16:27so he leases a store converts it into a theater
16:39and it is such a success that in just a few weeks he's able to open up a second theater
16:44but at some point he realizes there's not a lot of quality control with the film prints that you're getting to your theaters
17:01you might get the same one as last week
17:03you might get a broken worn out print
17:05there's not a lot of surety there that you're gonna be able to keep your business running with the prints coming
17:09Lemley felt that they were getting the bad part of the film
17:13the bad part of the stick
17:15because they had to rent films
17:17from Edison
17:20Thomas Edison as we all know created the light bulb and many other things
17:25product of Thomas A. Edison's invented genius
17:28he also is responsible for really beginning the film industry
17:32Thomas Edison had patents over parts of cameras, parts of projectors
17:37and he combined to create this thing called the trust
17:40so if you wanted to make distribute or exhibit films you would have to pay a membership fee to the trust
17:50and then you'd have to follow all of their rules
17:52and I think sometimes Uncle Carl saw himself as the underdog in a western trying to become the victor
18:02he decides that he's gonna go independent and fight against Thomas Edison
18:14it was a huge risk
18:16but nothing amazing happens in this world no true achievement happens without risk
18:24Carl Lemley produced his first great epic Hiawatha in the wilds of Fort Lee New Jersey
18:34Uncle Carl is trying to produce and put out as much as he could so that he could gather the data
18:40on what worked and what didn't work
18:42so when Uncle Carl is trying to think of a name for this production company
18:48he doesn't know exactly what he wants
18:50he doesn't know exactly what he wants
18:52and while he's looking out a window he sees a truck go by that says
18:54the Universal Pipe Fitting Company
18:56and he has this aha moment
19:00those are the types of movies I want to make
19:02Universal movies that everybody can relate to
19:06so Universal was born
19:16shortly thereafter
19:18a war erupted
19:20with Edison
19:22it was dangerous to go
19:24against Thomas Edison
19:26there were the Edison thugs
19:30hired thugs
19:32with sticks
19:34like baseball bats
19:36they would ruin your sets
19:38and destroy your business
19:40and then Edison
19:42would also bog you down
19:44in the legal system
19:46Thomas Edison sued Carl
19:48only 289 times
19:50hoping that that would just drown him
19:52out of the business entirely
19:54but
19:56Lemley stood his ground
19:58now during this trust fight
20:00Uncle Carl decides
20:02he's going to put as much physical distance
20:04as possible between him and Thomas Edison
20:06so he decides
20:08he's going to go to California
20:14he has heard the weather is better
20:16he's heard there are a lot of landscapes for filming
20:18Carl Lemley
20:20had his ways of thinking bigger
20:22and more comprehensively
20:24he's not just going to do this halfway
20:26he's not just going to do this halfway
20:28but he's going to make
20:30not just a studio
20:32but an entire movie making city
20:34he bought 250 acres
20:38of land in what was then
20:40the country
20:42and now is the center of Los Angeles
20:44he wanted to be
20:46a full service place
20:48where there was the fire department
20:50police and carpenter shops
20:52and everything was there
20:54there were people in California
20:56and in the film business
20:58who thought that
21:00Carl Lemley was crazy for this
21:02that he was just throwing his money away
21:06at the same time
21:08the fight against Thomas Edison
21:10went all the way up to the Supreme Court
21:14and after this fight that went on
21:16for eight or nine years
21:24Uncle Carl won the entire thing
21:34Universal City opens up in 1915
21:40The first of the great studios
21:42in the motion picture industry
21:44was Universal
21:46the creation of Carl Lemley
21:50Carl Lemley was really
21:52this fantastic entrepreneur
21:54which I think kind of kicked things off
21:56ultimately it was about how you
21:58get to the audience
22:00and in this case he figured out
22:02a number of ways to do it
22:04He essentially invents the studio tour
22:06for a quarter
22:08you could go to the back lot
22:10at the time these are silent films
22:12so they would get to watch a movie
22:14be made
22:16This is the beginning
22:18of these amusement parks
22:20and involved with the filmmaking
22:22There was a romantic mystique
22:26about how the magic was made
22:32There's something beautiful
22:34about the collective storytelling experience
22:38that there's nothing like
22:40The studio is a pageant in itself
22:42and it has made a lot of screen history
22:44They were inventing a world
22:46that didn't exist yet
22:48they were trying to figure out
22:49what it looked like
22:50and what it meant
22:52Carl Lemley planted the seed
22:54that's still growing
22:56We were
22:58a movie studio
22:59who grew into
23:00a studio tour
23:02who grew into an attraction
23:03that grew into a theme park
23:04at Universal Studios Florida
23:06It is the spillover effect
23:08of
23:10an idea being launched
23:12and how
23:14it spreads to a whole community
23:16of artists
23:18You win
23:20Oh, that was great
23:21Everyone
23:32We're gonna go to Cat Watson
23:33Alright, let's do it
23:37My name is Gregory Hall
23:38I've been at Universal Creative
23:40for over 15 years
23:42I've worked on several projects
23:44Transformers
23:46The Incredible Hulk Coaster
23:49Hagrid's Magical Creatures
23:51Motorbike Adventure
23:52Jurassic World Velocicoaster
23:57What's up, everybody?
23:58I work with a team of geniuses
24:00that always create new ideas
24:02on a daily basis
24:04We want to make sure
24:06that you are immersed into a story
24:08in this dark universe
24:10universe
24:15When you go to Dark Universe
24:17that environment
24:18is informed greatly
24:20by the work
24:21that was done
24:22at Universal
24:23on the back lot
24:24in the early days
24:25in the early days
24:32I think a lot of people
24:33really just enjoy
24:34you know, that dark
24:35brooding
24:36sort of Gothic horror
24:41Monsters Unchained
24:42The Frankenstein Experiment
24:44what I would say
24:45is our tentpole attraction
24:46and this is where
24:48we get to go into
24:49the Frankenstein Manor
24:50we see all of
24:52Dr. Henry Frankenstein's work
24:55and then we also see
24:56that there's someone new
24:57in the manor
24:59Victoria Frankenstein
25:01Henry's great-great-granddaughter
25:03and she's beginning
25:04to conduct experiments
25:05of her own
25:10This is the most complicated
25:11ride of all time
25:13We're setting up
25:15all these elements
25:17from all these years
25:18of monster movies
25:20His profile right now
25:21you can see
25:22the hands right there
25:23We have 15 animated figures
25:26in the ride alone
25:27The most advanced figures
25:29ever created
25:34What you working on?
25:35The protectors
25:36of the flame effects
25:37We have fire
25:38We have water
25:39electric effects
25:40projection mapping
25:42Everything you could possibly
25:43think of
25:44is in this attraction
25:45This is the fastest
25:47the fastest acceleration
25:48we have on anything
25:49in this building
25:50and it's just shaking
25:52this massive weight
25:53back and forth
25:54There's a lot of
25:55worlds first in this
25:56ride
25:57and it's only going
25:58to be a world first
25:59if everything works
26:00together
26:02Arguably the most dangerous
26:03figure in the ride
26:04Yes
26:05The wolfman
26:06Oh, it's mummy
26:11Oh, it's mummy
26:15Feels a bit more grime
26:16Yeah
26:17You also don't want the
26:18overall scene happening
26:19where the show lighting
26:20flattened the entire
26:21experience
26:24With the Frankenstein monster
26:25you know, Mary Shelley
26:26wrote a book
26:27and she describes
26:28the monster in her book
26:29but it was really
26:30Universal Pictures
26:31that came up
26:32with this iconic look
26:33I mean Frankenstein
26:34with the bolts
26:35out of his neck
26:36That's Universal Pictures
26:38Frankenstein
26:39Same with Dracula
26:40The Kill Man
26:41The Mummy
26:42I think these monsters
26:44are in the collective
26:45consciousness
26:46of everyone
26:47There's a reason
26:48they call them
26:49classic monsters
26:50There was a time
26:51in the history
26:52of Universal Studios
26:53where studios
26:54were struggling a bit
26:55and Carl Emily Jr.
26:57started producing
26:58these monster films
26:59An economic cold wave
27:04has descended upon the land
27:06The nation's sense of security
27:08has been shaken
27:09and is in danger
27:10of being shattered
27:11The depression
27:12was a very precarious time
27:14for everyone
27:15and the industry
27:17just wasn't quite sure
27:18how it was going
27:19to make it through
27:20or what that was going
27:21to look like
27:22At the same time
27:24Carl Lemley's son Jr.
27:27became head of production
27:29as a 21st birthday present
27:32Junior had grown up
27:34on the Universal Studios lot
27:36his whole life
27:37and he's always had
27:38a little bit of a fascination
27:39with the macabre
27:41He loved earlier films
27:42like The Hunchback of Notre Dame
27:44or The Phantom of the Opera
27:46which were Universal's
27:47first dabbling into movies
27:50that might be scarier
27:52So Junior tells his dad
27:54that he wants to start
27:56making more of these monster movies
28:00And Uncle Carl is not so sure
28:04He doesn't know
28:05if horror films
28:06are Universal movies
28:07that everybody's going
28:08to want to see
28:09But Junior really pushes for it
28:12he thinks it's
28:13what's right for the studio
28:18And of course
28:19Carl Lemley Sr.
28:21was always taking risks
28:24Mr. Carl Lemley feels
28:27it would be a little unkind
28:28to present this picture
28:29without just a word
28:30of friendly walking
28:31They make Dracula
28:34I think it will thrill you
28:36It may shock you
28:38It might even horrify you
28:42Followed by Frankenstein
28:44It's alive, it's alive, it's alive
28:49It's alive
28:50It's alive
28:59And that's really the birth
29:00of the Universal Monsters
29:02And it is incredible
29:04Audiences love the films
29:06They do really well
29:09They are often credited
29:12as reviving the film industry
29:14and creating this renewed interest
29:17in movies
29:22After Frankenstein
29:23then we get
29:24The Mummy
29:25The Invisible Man
29:26The Bride of Frankenstein
29:27and the legacy that we have today
29:29These films stopped the bleeding
29:32of the company
29:33Thank goodness
29:34for the monster era
29:35of Universal
29:36It kept the company going
29:37into the modern era
29:38All of Universal's
29:39classic monster movies
29:40I saw on TV
29:42They were truly frightening
29:44I remember the image
29:46of The Mummy
29:48dragging his bandages behind him
29:50but the shot where the camera pans down
29:53you see the bandages
29:55You know, with each jerky step
29:57the mummy took the bandages
29:58and being pulled
29:59That really compelled me
30:03I mean, those are the little things
30:04that I would want to be able
30:05to do myself
30:07And then my earlier little
30:088mm film show
30:10I would use my sisters as mummies
30:12Or they would be cowering in a corner
30:14and I'd cast my mummies
30:16and they'd be cowering in a corner
30:18and I'd cast my mummies
30:19and I'd cast my shadow against the wall
30:21and I'd have my hands coming down
30:25And that was all influenced
30:27by these movies
30:28that I was seeing on television
30:30And they stuck with me my whole life
30:34I think that they actually
30:37were Universal movies after all
30:40because they have these traits
30:43that you can really relate to
30:46If you look at Frankenstein's monster
30:48what is his story?
30:51Frankenstein's monster is an innocent
30:53He was created in a laboratory
30:55He does not have an antagonistic bone in his body
30:58What does Frankenstein's monster want?
31:01You must please excuse me
31:03but I'm blind
31:05He wants to be loved
31:07That's all that he wants
31:08He wants
31:09He wants a friend
31:10He wants a friend
31:14Kurt Siodmak, who wrote The Wolfman
31:17He was from Germany
31:19and when the Nazis came to power
31:21he had to flee
31:22He comes to the United States
31:25and he wrote The Wolfman
31:27essentially about his own story
31:29He once said he was The Wolfman
31:32He had been cursed to this fate
31:35by forces beyond his control
31:37These monsters get to a very primal aspect of people's lives
31:50There's a reason why they're enduring characters
31:54They tap into our id
31:57Most of them are tragic characters
32:00and I think we feel empathy and sympathy for them
32:03while at the same time being terrified
32:07Alright, now can you go the most open aperture
32:10with our brightest setting?
32:11We just want to make sure that this ride feels iconic
32:18Whatever decisions we make in the next few weeks
32:22will last 20 years
32:24and what scares me is not being able to get everything that we have planned in there
32:31With Dark Universe, one of the greatest parts about being universal
32:36is that no one else in the world could build a park
32:40and have a monster land
32:43No one would take that risk
32:44It's pretty much taking what he's currently doing
32:46and trying to push his arms
32:48Trying to push it
32:49so that I think you're feeling a little bit more of them coming down
32:51Oh yeah
32:53It still looks a little conservative
32:55We might as well take it to the next level
32:57See how far we can push it
32:59This is a huge bet
33:01We don't know the demand of what it's going to be
33:04or data or rankings that can tell us what people want
33:07We just have to believe that people love monsters
33:20I think to be an artist
33:23you have to have passion
33:26You have to love it
33:28It can't just be a job
33:30When you make a character come to life
33:34If you don't have that love and care for it, it doesn't grow
33:39If you don't feel it, the audience won't feel it
33:42and they can see
33:43You need to be able to believe with your heart and soul in the project you're working on
33:54When something grabs me by the throat, I go with it
33:59And that's what I've done from film to film
34:02I equally got lost in the excitement, in the kind of drunken state of euphoria
34:12that I can't wait to share this story with everybody
34:15But I have to lose myself first before I expect anybody else to get lost in whatever I'm about to make
34:20Anybody that's involved in this project I feel has a very heightened sense of passion for finding a way to bring about something that nobody's ever seen or experienced before
34:39I'm Maggie Baker
34:41Me and my team, we're in charge of all of the costumes in Epic Universe
34:45I got the shoes dyed this weekend
34:48You got red fingers?
34:49I got red fingers all over
34:50Oh, awesome!
34:51Nice!
34:52Yeah, those look really, really good
34:53Make sure they're cute
34:56Costume design is, you know, the language that speaks without speaking
35:00Because everybody, every day, is telling a story of themselves and what they choose to wear
35:07So we've got a big pile
35:10Of Igor's undershirts
35:12I think maybe what gets misunderstood is how much thought and detail is put into every single choice any designer makes
35:25The best part about being the costume designer is that you get to play every single role
35:31So you really have to think, like, who is this person and why?
35:35How do I bring this person to life?
35:37And so the moment I found costume, I was like, that's it, and I'm done, and that's my medium
35:46We have over 10,000 independent costumes passed through this warehouse
35:51If you come through here, you can see just how many racks deep we are
35:57Part of this here is How to Train Your Dragon show
35:59We've got Dark Universe atmosphere
36:01We have still quite a bit to unbox
36:04Every role you see in the park has at least 8 to 15 people that play that role
36:10Now you multiply that by as many pieces as is on a person
36:14You've got your leotard, you've got your tights, you've got your shoes, you've got your tutu, you've got your cage, you've got your neck piece, arm pieces
36:20Every single one of those pieces multiply by 20 to 40
36:22This is just fur capes, and this is just fur capes for one role
36:30Each land is so unique with such an intense design style
36:35Like in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
36:38Everything is velvet and silk and gorgeous and all that kind of, like, high-end fabric
36:43I encourage all of our creatives to think about
36:49What is the superfan?
36:51What's going to delight the superfan?
36:52What's going to surprise the superfan?
36:58We were lucky enough to collaborate with Warner Brothers
37:02And we together have created something new
37:05How you doing?
37:06Good, good
37:14My entire life I've wanted to design theme parks
37:21And then also the Harry Potter series was something that I was such a big fan of growing up
37:28I attended the midnight releases
37:31I read all the books, my friends and I were comparing notes and where we were in the franchise
37:35What house are you?
37:37I am a Ravenclaw
37:38We know that Harry Potter has a very passionate fan base
37:45Audience expectations for this are huge
37:49And the pressure is high
37:51Good, good
37:52We're making one magic
37:53Yeah? It looks so good
37:54Yeah, it'll be good
37:57We are building full-scale Paris
38:02Magical Paris of the 1920s from the Fantastic Beasts films
38:05We have a form of Wizarding Mass Transit
38:11The Metro Flu is themed after French Metro stations
38:16And as the guests walk through these mantles
38:19That's where they're engulfed in the green flames from the film
38:22And they traverse from Paris to London for the British Ministry of Magic
38:26Hi! How are you?
38:40How are you?
38:42There is also a live show
38:44Good to see you, my dear
38:45Good to see you
38:46She's directing our show here
38:47Down the street is a circus tent for Le Cirque Arcanu
38:50Which is a traveling, wizarding circus from the second Fantastic Beasts film
38:58It's the first time we've ever done a full-scale, indoor show for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
39:03Yeah, I would say if this is the Gwendolyn desk, Steve
39:07This is the one I would be like, not right here, but I would be like to here
39:11Because she has to make room for the Demi guys to get out
39:13Yeah, yeah, okay
39:14My name is Sylvia Hasse
39:16And I'm the creative director for Le Cirque Arcanu
39:18I grew up in Germany in Stuttgart
39:23And I was a dancer
39:25But I was always more curious about the other side than being on stage
39:29It just feels like there's so much going on and there is nothing here
39:32And when I moved here, that was my point where I wanted to really go into production or into theater
39:38Can I pass this to you?
39:39This could go under the cart
39:41Now it's already much better than
39:42I just feel like it's a little bit more organized
39:44I don't think he would be such a slob
39:46Yeah, he definitely wouldn't be wearing this little outfit
39:49So...
39:51Perfect
39:55I love what I do and I think as a leader
39:57I see this show like a beautiful painting
40:01And now it's my job to break this painting into all these different puzzle pieces
40:05All right, we're going to attempt one more time
40:08Thanks, everyone
40:09Some are really big
40:11Some are really small
40:12But each is important
40:16The show has never been done
40:18This is the first time you're staging it
40:21So now we're meeting the cast
40:25It's the first time I really met them
40:27Welcome to your first day of epic
40:30What is an exciting thing which as a creative to come to Universal
40:40And to create an original story based on the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter movies
40:46Is an incredible gift
40:48I look forward to collaborating
40:50Let's get to work
40:51Right now it's a symphony of activity
40:58It makes you happy, excited, proud, uh, nervous
41:02You're a little bit in the very beginning of act two together
41:05We're about to open our gates to the world
41:07And we absolutely feel the clock ticking
41:13Yes, it looks great
41:15Movies are bigger than ever
41:24And so is the Universal Pictures lot
41:26So rapidly is Universal City expanding
41:29That it's spilling over into Los Angeles proper
41:31In the 1960s
41:33There was a big publicity campaign in Universal
41:36That they were reconstituting the tour
41:38The village will offer visitors glimpses into movie making
41:41That haven't been possible before
41:42Their studio space was so big
41:47I mean to walk it is a hike
41:49So basically what they did was they got trams
41:57Universal's approach in the early 60s with its tour was
42:01Let's do it a little bit more historical
42:03Then aboard the studio train
42:05For a swing through the permanent sets
42:07Where one can be in the Midwest
42:09And the next moment in London or Paris
42:12Let's show people the studio, the sound stages
42:16Everyone wants to see how movies are made
42:18So the next stop is the set of...
42:20Maybe you might glimpse a movie star of that era
42:23It was that simple, you know, up until the mid-60s
42:27When this guy, Jay Stein, realized that, uh, they're gonna have to change this thing
42:33If it's gonna be a long-term success
42:35Mr. Jay Stein
42:38Thank you, RJ
42:40You're doing a great job
42:42Jay, he was a visionary
42:44He was kind of the guy that started it all
42:46Jay Stein is a theme park legend
42:49This project has had some world-class ups and downs
42:54He had passion beyond belief
42:57At times I personally felt that I was walking up a gangway and there was no ship
43:03He's a character
43:05You know, he loved an argument, he loved to fight
43:07And if you talk to Jay today in his 90s and you bring up the Walt Disney Company
43:14It'll still ruffle his feathers
43:18What made Universal different than Disney in these days?
43:22Yeah, uh, Disney was the unchallenged leader in, uh, theme parks
43:33To all who come to this happy place, welcome
43:37Disneyland is your land
43:39Dear age relives fond memories of the past
43:42And here is true
43:44But there was a new sheriff in town
43:47My name is Jay Stein
43:53I started my career at Universal in 1959 in the mailroom
44:01Worked my way up in the company to television production
44:07About 1967 they wanted me to become president of my own division
44:14Which was the studio tour
44:18He was given this job to sort of make sure that the studio tour
44:23Didn't interfere with productions
44:25When I was given the job I didn't know anything about the theme park business
44:31Jay really wanted to be in television production
44:36Probably in his mind to some degree got saddled with the responsibility of building up this tour
44:40Over time I think he started to realize there is something that the studio isn't saying that I'm saying
44:49Now the next place we visited was Lana Turner's dressing room
44:54I never seen so many people having so much fun in all of my life
44:59I spent a lot of time listening to customer complaints
45:11And they told us the back lot was dead, dull, too static, too quiet
45:21And that motivated me
45:24Jay Stein realized we're going to have to add some excitement
45:28We're going to have to add some quote unquote theme park like tricks to this tour
45:33I wanted to differentiate from what Disney was doing
45:39And make our rides not only more realistic
45:43But I wanted to kick some butt
45:52He wanted to make a bang
45:57Explosion point of impact in the storytelling
45:58And I don't know if he started saying it or we started saying it
46:00That's a j-bang, that's a j-bang, you know
46:02Do you know the term j-bangs?
46:04I do
46:05A j-bang is a moment that shocks
46:06Look, it's a flash flood!
46:08But that tree can really hurt you, look out!
46:12They put you face to face with a rush of water
46:14They put you face to face with a rushing train
46:18You would feel the heat, you would feel the wind, you would feel the rain, you would feel the water, you would feel the ground shake
46:33It wasn't overdone, but it was enough to catch you off guard
46:46It served two purposes, it was a j-bang and then it provided a thrill
46:51But it wasn't overdone, but it was enough to catch you off guard
46:57It served two purposes, it was a j-bang and then it provided a thrill
47:01But it also provided you with a sense of how movie special effects are done
47:07Red sea open, you ready?
47:16And that is what he did
47:17And that revolutionized Universal
47:19And that revolutionized the tour
47:21And that tour
47:24Led to the creation of what would become Universal Studios Theme Park
47:27I find myself often when I'm standing in the park saying like, I wonder what would Uncle Carl think of this, right?
47:39Could he even conceive of what Universal has become today?
47:45And I think he would be really proud, I think he'd be really excited
47:49I mean, I think his mind would be absolutely blown
47:58I didn't expect that
48:01It's like a bomb
48:02This has been two, three years of a long journey
48:16Also, when you think about it, opening a brand new theme park
48:21And a brand new facility
48:23And a brand new show
48:25Things will have ups and downs, right?
48:28That's right
48:31Now we're actually in production
48:34The team is getting bigger and bigger and bigger
48:38Sylvia
48:39Corey
48:40Nice to meet you
48:41To be honest, I feel the pressure
48:43Nice to meet you
48:44I'm probably as nervous as the cast members
48:47So the whole stilt mechanism can pull away from this hoof
48:49Because with the puppetry
48:51There's gonna be things which are gonna be learning curve after learning curve
48:55So we can make this perfect
49:06So this is the Lucrata character
49:09This costume is unique because, you know, there's a lot of pre-training involved, pre-conditioning
49:13To train the proper muscles to actually be able to perform this character 24 shows a day
49:20They have stilts in front and stilts in their back for their hoofs
49:25So their hoofs can become really beautifully thin and designed
49:31So ultimately you don't go boom, boom, right?
49:34You would do it at the same time
49:36And lean into it, boom
49:38Yes, now I believe you more
49:39So you would never do the hand before your leg
49:45Yes, yes, now I'm getting it, yes
49:49You walk, but it's almost like you walk and you kind of go a little bit more in
49:52It's like, boom, like a pillow, right? Boom
49:55Because it's like such a big beast that it would, it needs to look like, boom, I'm heavy
50:00And I'm walking, right?
50:01Right
50:02But it's the feeling there's this like elk-like animal
50:05It's really about the puppeteers to make this come alive
50:12This is a very complicated show to cast because our cast is mostly doing two skills
50:21They are the dancers, but then they're switching for the menagerie and they're becoming puppeteers
50:26Just think that's the reason you guys are dancers, because this is what you would do naturally
50:31So at some point it's going to become your new body
50:34Is there a way to go any side?
50:36Um, most of us in the shop have found it easiest to kind of climb in backwards
50:41You ever been in a giant cat before?
50:43The Sao Wu is one of the fantastic beasts
50:47Proportionally, it's a giant puppet
50:50So the idea is to have a puppeteer almost like in a cockpit
50:55In the head of the Sao Wu
50:57Watch your head as you go in
51:00And you can play around in there with the head, keep looking around, feeling what you can do with the controls
51:05And then we have two puppeteers on a counterbalance in the back
51:10We're going to go into it, we're going to put all our weight, we're going to try to push it down to the ground
51:13Ready? Go!
51:16And I'll go down right left or something
51:19When we go up in the air, I just want you to push one leg at a time
51:23There we go
51:26Alright
51:35We're opening the room
51:43Friends, welcome, please come in
51:46Is that everyone?
51:48More
51:50Excellent
51:52I am Dr. Victoria Frankenstein
51:54We have two technologies, our projected face and physical face
51:57The reason why we went with projected face for Victoria is because she's a new character
52:03And we have to deliver a lot of emotion
52:07Lower the lights, quickly
52:11We use motion capture on it, we use performance capture, we have an awesome figures animated team
52:17All these came together to come up with a new solution
52:20Our greatest victory is just moving
52:25I think the only small thing is on this side of her face, there's like a little light leak artifact happening
52:31It would be an alignment thing if that's what it is
52:34They are troubleshooting it
52:36The alignment is a concern, but I'm looking to be able to work on it
52:39Yeah, I've seen that issue for a while, so
52:43Don't forget that you can roll your head from side to side as well
52:47We are pushing the limits on the execution
52:49If the idea is really, really hard to accomplish and very challenging
52:54We are pushing because we know it's the right thing
52:57Okay, you have all the weight now
52:59Thank you
53:00Because I want to see it always perfect
53:02It has to be this beautiful, organic movement
53:04Yeah, you want to give us a little bit of eye blink and ear wiggle?
53:08Yeah
53:09Nice
53:10You want to walk around for us up for a little bit?
53:12But of course this show will happen many, many times
53:16And I think the risks are for me that we might not be able to be repeating it for like 20 times a day
53:23Where you go like, this is not reality
53:25And Skender comes in
53:29Nice
53:30Open the doors
53:32Let's go
53:34Our greatest victory
53:36With this ride, we're pushing the boundaries
53:40Please remain seated
53:42We're doing what you think you can't do
53:47These catacombs stretch for a mile
53:51Oh my god, this is so hard
53:53That's not a good start
53:54What?
53:55We want the guests looking at the entire experience feeling immersed into the story
54:04And now if there's anything that's off, it wakes them up
54:07And then they realize that they're in the show
54:10They're looking at a device, and that's something we don't want to do
54:12Hey, audio dropped on this one
54:22Andrew, did you have audio?
54:25We had audio
54:26We had audio
54:27Yeah, ours dropped
54:28Like it didn't turn on until after the organs
54:30So I gotta figure that out
54:32In terms of media, there's still a few that are missing
54:35Something's off with track 8 for sure
54:36Yeah, yeah, yeah
54:37The last screen at 9
54:41I feel like Igor was a little delayed
54:43You thought he was late?
54:44So the system should be triggering them now
54:46If there's issues, we gotta fly
54:48But I do think we need to do a pass of tightening up the mouth
54:51On a number of figures, just because they're slow
54:54Yeah, there's a lot of complicated things we have to figure out
54:58And we're running out of time
55:01It's sort of like Mike Tyson's best quote
55:03Like, everyone always has a plan until you get punched in the face
55:09So right now, we're all getting punched in the face with surprises
55:13It's gonna take some time to get that right
55:15Because we gotta be able to ride to see what we do
55:18We haven't solved it yet
55:20And that's the truth
55:22Best thing I know to do, look what stopped on the
55:25And it's ridiculously scary right now
55:27What motivated you to keep innovating decade after decade?
55:37Fear
55:41We wanted to challenge Disney and their dominance
55:46But when you challenge a company like Disney
55:50It's a battle that you have to win decisively
55:54When they find out that their turnstiles are clicking a few million less people
56:01Because we're here
56:03Welcome to Universal Studios Florida
56:06I think you'll find that we're a very formidable competition
56:07It's a formidable competition
56:37Unaffordance
56:39I think I thought of this...
56:41Oh, definitely
56:43I'm glad to do this
56:45I'm glad to have newHer
56:47We're here
56:49I'm glad to have different people
56:51We're here
56:53We're here
56:55You
56:57We're here
56:59We're here
57:01We're here
57:03We're here
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