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Derren Brown's Ghost Train: Rise of the Demon


Marc

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Interesting stuff released today through email updates from Thorpe themselves about the developer's diary:

 

 

 

From the looks of things, it looks like the new footage will involve more people inside the carriage with you this time as opposed to one person sitting opposite you. The use of a 360 degree camera hints at this.

 

Admittedly, this is looking to be a better experience than last year if it works properly.

 

Still no date though!

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I find it funny how as soon as someone mentions that those who have been DMed are under a form of NDA that it's to "cover their mistakes". Considering they're openly stating they have no date now should be an indicator that what has been asked to be kept quiet is a little more than them "covering their mistakes"! ;) 

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Having a look at both of those videos revealed yesterday in close detail, it could be possible that this year's experience will be entirely different altogether with little to no trace of the scenes used previously. The fact they are using a 360 degree Nokia OZO camera inside the carriage this time implies that what we might see through the headsets will in fact be an acted scene with people sitting opposite you who are also wearing the headsets, alongside props and models used for the creatures. This is making me think could it be that last year's experience offered was only temporary or set in place for just it's opening year?

A theory is during the ride's construction when the park were releasing teaser videos of DBGT in early 2016 around January/February, the train carriages were likely still under construction and Figment Productions were in the middle of creating the VR footage through CGI containing the scenes, characters and creatures we know today. But since they were unable to film inside one of the real carriages at the time due to them still being constructed, they had to develop a 3D rendered version of the carriage instead to make up for this problem. That BBC documentary last year with some behind the scenes footage showed they created a mock version of the carriage with green screens over the sets which all had to be animated. In return, the ride involved everything being generated by computer imagery as opposed to real life footage.

Now that the carriages are obviously built, completed and used, the creative teams now have the opportunity to film scenes inside the carriage itself rather than create a digital and frankly unrealistic version of it through computer software, which to me, makes a whole lot more sense and fits in with the claim "And passengers will be left wondering where perception ends and reality begins." This coupled with some added CGI for effect inside the carriage will stack up against this claim perfectly.

When this ride reopens soon, my prediction is once you put the headsets on, you will see filmed footage inside the carriage itself with people all around you wearing the headsets or 'contamination goggles' to make you think they are in the carriage with you. Once it begins to move, the windows behind them (hence the green screen in the first video) will show scenes and creatures created through computer software to give you the impression you are moving either outside or through an underground tunnel. When things go wrong and a creature breaks into the carriage or something similar, there will be a mix of 3D animated characters and real-life props used this time. The 2nd video hints that costumes or props of the creatures have been created, similar to the one used in that scare prank video Thorpe released during their marketing for this ride back in April 2016. Think of it as VR mixed with AR, like the Microsoft Hololens.

I really, really hope this is all true because if the creative teams are now using real footage as opposed to animated footage for the carriage and characters this year, not only should this hopefully improve the reliability of the headsets but also make everything you see appear much more realistic this time with real props used instead of animated ones. :)

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4 minutes ago, Martin.C said:

Having a look at both of those videos revealed yesterday in close detail, it could be possible that this year's experience will be entirely different altogether with little to no trace of the scenes used previously. The fact they are using a 360 degree Nokia OZO camera inside the carriage this time implies that what we might see through the headsets will in fact be an acted scene with people sitting opposite you who are also wearing the headsets, alongside props and models used for the creatures. This is making me think could it be that last year's experience offered was only temporary or set in place for just it's opening year?

A theory is during the ride's construction when the park were releasing teaser videos of DBGT in early 2016 around January/February, the train carriages were likely still under construction and Figment Productions were in the middle of creating the VR footage through CGI containing the scenes, characters and creatures we know today. But since they were unable to film inside one of the real carriages at the time due to them still being constructed, they had to develop a 3D rendered version of the carriage instead to make up for this problem. That BBC documentary last year with some behind the scenes footage showed they created a mock version of the carriage with green screens over the sets which all had to be animated. In return, the ride involved everything being generated by computer imagery as opposed to real life footage.

Now that the carriages are obviously built, completed and used, the creative teams now have the opportunity to film scenes inside the carriage itself rather than create a digital and frankly unrealistic version of it through computer software, which to me, makes a whole lot more sense and fits in with the claim "And passengers will be left wondering where perception ends and reality begins." This coupled with some added CGI for effect inside the carriage will stack up against this claim perfectly.

When this ride reopens soon, my prediction is once you put the headsets on, you will see filmed footage inside the carriage itself with people all around you wearing the headsets or 'contamination goggles' to make you think they are in the carriage with you. Once it begins to move, the windows behind them (hence the green screen in the first video) will show scenes and creatures created through computer software to give you the impression you are moving either outside or through an underground tunnel. When things go wrong and a creature breaks into the carriage or something similar, there will be a mix of 3D animated characters and real-life props used this time. The 2nd video hints that costumes or props of the creatures have been created, similar to the one used in that scare prank video Thorpe released during their marketing for this ride back in April 2016. Think of it as VR mixed with AR, like the Microsoft Hololens.

I really, really hope this is all true because if the creative teams are now using real footage as opposed to animated footage for the carriage and characters this year, not only should this hopefully improve the reliability of the headsets but also make everything you see appear much more realistic this time with real props used instead of animated ones. :)

 

Not quite sure this will help to increase the reliability of the head sets. Overheating was the main issue last season and this will not change dependant on if a video is animated or actually filmed.

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8 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Not quite sure this will help to increase the reliability of the head sets. Overheating was the main issue last season and this will not change dependant on if a video is animated or actually filmed.


What I mean is that when it was all rendered through animation, it positioned you inside the carriage using the lighthouses situated on the roof. If you shifted your body left or right whilst looking directly ahead for instance, it positioned you accordingly. However, this positional tracking signal sometimes got corrupted which likely explains the random glitches experienced where one second you are looking straight ahead and then the next you are looking up at the ceiling without moving your head.

The overheating issue isn't something I'm expecting them to fix regardless of the content used through the headsets, but using a stationary 360 camera that likely won't require the use of those lighthouses should in theory stop those random glitches from happening again and therefore improve the reliability.

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This shows nothing of the ride at all, so nothing can be inferred about the ride from promotions like this. This is purely PR noise and they're not exactly going to show people sitting there looking bored to advertise their new ride are they!

It will only look promising when they actually show some of the ride itself, or when you're actually there on it. They could have made exactly the same video last year and it would have made no difference.

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12 hours ago, MilesK said:

I'm really hoping that ROTD will be good, however I'm still doubtful.

Well all do, but considering that this new marketing is likely from the same team who claimed just over a year ago that this investment will "completely re-write the rules for what theme parks can do" which is "not suitable for guests with any phycological or neurological disorders", I wouldn't hold out too much! :lol:

In all seriousness though, it's good to finally have a date stamped on it's reopening and I too am looking forward to seeing what's changed and is hopefully improved, just as long as it all works properly this time. If not? Pffft...... 

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21 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:

This shows nothing of the ride at all, so nothing can be inferred about the ride from promotions like this. This is purely PR noise and they're not exactly going to show people sitting there looking bored to advertise their new ride are they!

It will only look promising when they actually show some of the ride itself, or when you're actually there on it. They could have made exactly the same video last year and it would have made no difference.

 

Nothing wrong with people looking forward to the ride!

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