Augmented Reality Experience for FX Networks American Horror Story Comic-con San Diego FXHIBITION

Comic-Con San Diego is the largest convention of its kind in the world, with nearly 400,000 people attending. FX Networks’ goal with its “American Horror Story” activation at San Diego Comic-Con was to scare and excite the series’ fans without revealing spoilers of the upcoming season. What materialized was a mysterious sneak peek of what was to come, fueled by an augmented reality-enabled tour of the “American Horror Story Eccentricities Collection.”

The collection, containing a series of artifacts inspired by the show’s folklore, was experienced through the guidance of actors playing docents—as if presenting a true museum exhibit to interested spectators—and augmented reality technology experienced through iPads.

The American Horror Story Eccentricities Gallery is a collection of art and oddities inspired by AHS lore. The experience is aided by Augmented Reality (AR) technology, which reveals clues to the series’ upcoming installment.

Step Inside the Eccentricities Collection

Every participant who entered the experience received an iPad and put on a pair of headphones to help guide them through the gallery. The iPad became their window into another realm, allowing them to see what is waiting at each exhibit.

Guests were told that they were receiving a first-time view of a strange and unusual collection of objects possessed by unseen forces. As docents guided attendees through the 10-minute experience, eerie secrets behind the installations were revealed. Particularly terrifying was the Judge of Ipswich, a part goat, part man, who came to life with a heaving chest and eyes that continued to follow guests as they moved through the room. Other artifacts included a gilded cage, a chandelier, and a statue of a bust.

Physical and Digital Experience Below are images of the physical object installations and the enhanced digital AR moment when the objects came to life.

Installation Titled – Visitors
The Visitors earned their name because they are the one piece in the collection whose origin is completely unknown. Unlike the rest of the exhibits, they did not come from a collector. This seemingly statuary pair just appeared. And on nights when the wind blows a little too strong, and the light bulbs in your basement flicker in pattern, strange things are said to happen.

Installation Titled – Uber Mortem
Spellbooks from maniacal mystics have been passed down through the centuries, each with a past too dark to speak. The date of this book is unknown, but it is said to have been the creation of one of history’s most notorious warlocks. After he was falsely accused of theft and ridiculed in the town square, he studied the dark arts and summoned evil spirits to seek vengeance in the most violent of ways. And using the skin and hair of his vic9ms, he bound this spell book to place an eternal curse on the families of those who wronged him.

Installation Titled – The Judge of Ipswich
Though taxidermied hybrids were common in the early twentieth century, there was one sadist from Ipswich, Massachusetts, whose name, still sends chills down the spines of locals. The legend goes that he had an affinity for not just animals but also humans. As part of his personal collection, he displayed this ungodly creation in an underground museum and always playfully reminded visitors that the human body was artificial. But gossip will spread, and locals will believe that the town’s missing beggars and vagrants became the work of the Judge… and their tortured souls are still alive in the art.

Physical artifacts came to life in front of guests.

Above, you see one of the “Docents” holding an iPad tablet that would reveal an AR treatment of each of the physical pieces in the exhibit.

Groove Jones designed and fabricated all of the physical exhibit objects in the exhibit and created the digital AR experience.

All told, the activation garnered 695 social posts, amounting to a reach of 783,000 and 956,000 impressions.

Spatial Audio Design

Spatial Audio is a core part of the experience. From the moment they walk through the first doorway, visitors are immersed in the sound surrounding and enveloping them, creating an isolating atmospheric world. Custom SFX is triggered based on the viewer’s position. Sound design was another important part of the experience. The AR animations were married with a soundscape heard through headphones and timed to maximize the scare factor. At the close of the experience, fans swiped their wristbands to receive a photo of them within the activation. Only this photo had an AHS filter that distorted attendees’ faces with burn marks. The horror!

AR Filter Social Takeaway

At the end of the experience, we created an AR filter for every visitor to create a takeaway photo that they could then share on their social channels.

Event Marketer EMS Ex Award – 2019 GOLD Best Use of Technology and Social

The experience won the GOLD at this year’s EMS Awards – https://www.eventmarketer.com/ex-awards-winners-19/?q=winner-176. All told, the activation garnered 695 social posts, amounting to a reach of 783,000 and 956,000 impressions.

Groove Jones worked with FX Networks agency Creative Rift to bring the gallery to life.