Spirit Halloween has again tapped Groove Jones to bring some spooky digital animated magic to their in-store displays. This year, stores were equipped with digital hologram fans, showcasing some fan-favorite characters.
In-Store Animations
Every year, the arrival of Spirit Halloween stores in your local town signals the start of the Halloween season. Families know that in-store displays bring some real thrills to the shopping experience.
Dr. J. Reaper Monster Laboratory Hologram Effects
Step into the Dr. J. Reaper Monster Laboratory, where you walk into the display and discover multiple “hologram” experiences. On the sides of the walls, you can peer through barred windows and look into the laboratory cells, which feature new hologram displays.
The first hologram cell displays Dr. Illume experimenting on the traditional 7-foot Crouchy, the scariest clown in the circus. After injecting him with a potion and activating an electrical charge, we see the transformation of the traditional oversized character into “Young Crouchy,” a 4-foot character that is a new animatronic to the store this year.
The second hologram cell displays another experiment where guests see how a man is transformed into the monster “Nightcrawler.”
The Spirit Testing Lab Display Animations
The second display is a huge structure with multiple windows peering into the laboratory, displaying some ongoing experiments. Each window was fitted with an HD display that played the animated movies we created.
On one side of the structure, the animations show another Spirit character, Dr. Illume, performing experiments.
Dr. Illume is an animatronic sold for the 2022 season. See the image below of the animatronic. The other side of the building features the humorous side of Spirit Halloween. Guests can watch an animated skeleton as he bumbles through the laboratory, causing mischief.
Monster Laboratory Passageway and Cupola Hologram
Inside the Monster Laboratory, guests walk through the display, which includes a vaulted Cupola. At the top of the cupola, the Spirit Halloween creative team integrated a hologram holofan display in which Groove Jones created the animated effect.
The hologram displays a full orange moon as you walk through the space and look up. The view quickly fills with hundreds of bats that fly down, followed by a mysterious dark cloud that transforms into Spirit Halloween’s mascot – Jack Reaper. Jack Reaper swoops down towards the guests as the tower roof doors close. He then reaches out, grabbing the doors before they slam shut.
This was the first time Spirit fans and guests had seen Jack Reaper as a 3D animated character!
Groove Jones was thrilled to take part in the revisualization of Jack.
Our company has a long history in animation. Dale Carman, a co-founder of Groove Jones, has done this for other world-famous company mascots and iconic characters. Dale was the Creative Director behind the transformation of Chuck E. Cheese from 2D to 3D in the early 2000s. Dale also worked with Warner Bros. bringing iconic Looney Tunes characters like Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, and the Road Roader into the world of 3d.
About Spirit Halloween
Stop by the local Spirit Halloween store this year for jump scares and family fun! They have been bringing the Halloween spirit to communities for over 30 years, with more than 1,400 stores across all 50 states and Canada.
