AQUiLA MAGAZINE
THE SPOOKY ISSUE
STEP 2 : Façade and vehicle
On your first sheet , you can design your ghost train ’ s façade and vehicle ! The façade is the front of the building . It is what amusement park guests will see first , so it has to show them what the ride is about . Next , draw a vehicle for your ride . In our example below , we ’ ve made it look like a monster , but you could design it to look like a jungle jeep , a time machine , a boat , whatever fits your sinister story . Here ’ s an example !
STEP 4 : Map out your ghost train
Now that you have your initial ideas , it ’ s time to plot out where everything goes ! You can either use the printed map of a ghost train to draw onto , or you can draw your own . For this part , think carefully about the journey riders will go on . In our example below , where the theme is a haunted house , the journey starts in a hallway . Riders get a glimpse of a hand coming out of a door , and a spooky portrait , but they don ’ t actually see anything supernatural . In the next scene , riders can catch a glimpse of a ghost , but it isn ’ t until the middle of the ride when there ’ s a scare with a skeleton jumping out of a barrel ! Rather than throwing in all the scream moments straight away , the start of the ride is sinister and builds tension , which helps make the scary moments even scarier when they finally arrive .
STEP 3 : Gags
‘ Gag ’ is theme park talk for a trick in a ride . Traditional ghost train gags include portraits with changing faces , vampires coming out of coffins and Pepper ’ s ghost , which is an illusion using reflections to make things look see-through ( AQUILAnauts will remember this from our Charles Dickens issue , December 2018 )! On your second sheet , come up with some gags that can help tell your one-sentence story . Check out some ideas below ! How can you plan your own scenes to take riders through your story in the most effective way ? Think about splitting your ride into these different stages :
BEGINNING : Setting the scene MIDDLE : Something goes wrong !
POLLY WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR GHOST TRAIN DESIGN !
Please send your pictures to us via the AQUILAnauts ’ Pages of the AQUILA website and we ’ ll share as many as we can .
END : The peril continues , leading to a conclusion ( either riders escape , or they end up somewhere bad !)
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AQUILA Magazine Written by Liam R . Findlay