Production Finished

Finished the production of the room so user testing could start. Lots of elements are at play to get the tone aligned with the story. Production design was an excellent place to meet "in the middle" with a creative writing team. The set is practical but needs to convey story without saying anything. Story, tone and theme guided the choices I made and the placement of objects and furniture.

We will start the final result here, and take a look back.

Production design started with the storied world, what may have happened in this moment of the fictional universe, and a broken iPad. I knew the participants would be using an iPad to interact with and having it cracked gave a feeling of disruption.

And now the story starts to take form.

• I now have a space with a one-way mirror as the initial miniature prototype intended. This space was set. Now I started to think, how can meet participants where they are?

• MAIA's world is mystical realism. It is meant to be our world, just with fissures or the arcane occurring. The space is an office in a University so naturally the character must be either a student or professor.

• Turns out there is a professor character in the FAIRYLAND universe. With these element top of mind, the story became clear.

This would be Professor Dupin's office in which he is performing specialized work to uncover the secrets that participants come to discover. I pulled in props already borrowed by partner Flower Power to set the stage. In working with the writer we now knew the

Books that the Professor was using to solve the connection to the beings from the unknown.	A special relic of notes that the professor would have kept. A borrowed item from a previous production with a similar tone.	Desk is coming together. Books, bottles, and other methods of research to fill the world.
With many elements in place I started to setup computer vision, lighting, and audio.	What did the professor discover and evidence of how he did it? He unlocks the way with a Metatron Cube.	Professor Dupin has a red string trail trying to put the pieces together. An old trope, but it works given the short time someone is in the space.

This is the final look with the lighting exposure raised, fish eye lens. The chair was very important part as it sat on a swivel and could have a participant turn around to see MAIA through the looking glass at the appropriate time.