ACTORS V.S. ANIMATRONICS: The ultimate face off

[PanicButton]

In all honesty being an actor myself, Animatronics are kinda like a slap in the face, yeah they are good here and there but I much prefer the customer to come face to face with me, than some rip off from "Its a small world after all" though that would be quite funny to put in a haunt... lol little dead zombie children singing its a dead world after all... :twisted:

Personally, I do not see animatronics as being a slap in the face. I see animatronics simply being another tool that a haunt can use to enhance or bolster themselves. Animatronics make for a nice enhancement to a solid base of actors. If you have too many animatronics then a haunt becomes static and stale. Otherwise, as I am sure it has been stated before you can have animatronics due things and look certain ways that you cannot achieve with an actor.

BTW, I too, am a haunt actor.

[Ben Fox]

Do you mean like the time Mr. Lincoln sprayed out red hydraulic fluid from a broken hose? EWWWWWW.

Exactly....

[deathcharger]

Alright fair enough but that was exactly what i was getting at... there are some haunts based soley on animatronics where actors hardly do any scaring... i think thats a bit lame.. is all i was trying to get across

[NightMareManor]

both

[RickRMortiz]

My 2 cents

I am of the opinion that haunts should be actor driven, but theres no reason why in a few slower areas, for narrative purposes, or for doing something that would be a pain in the butt for an actor(like hanging from a noose all night), animatronics are ok, and fill a needed space.

I've seen animatroics doing entrance speils and narrative in themed shows, where an actor having done it 300 times a night would tire quickly of quoting it. I've also seen animatroics that have done really good startle scares in slow points in a show.

But I've also seen shows where Animatronics have been used as a status symbol (I have more expensive toys than you do) or a replacement for good acting talent and have heard customers go "Well that was cool.. but 'joe bobs' down the road scared the hell out of me lets go there!" and as it turns out the other haunt has no animatronics at all.

But that doesnt mean I dont have a hell of a good time myself playing with peoples expensive toys.. hehehehe

[Snuggles]

Actors are definatly the better here.

However, I have found that Animatronics can be scary and useful in many ways. For instance, in my room, I had a lady laying on a gurney with a large hole in her chest. A snake popped out of this thing and "attacked" the people coming through. The air compressed machine made noises when activated my a motion sensor that allowed me to keep tabs on where people are in my house as to better scare and reset.

They are also useful when circumstances arise in which you have to leave your scene(s) for something, or you are not feeling well and have to go somewhat easier, or whatever. I have always found it useful to learn the sounds of your room and vantage points about the scene you can use to help you become a more efficient scaring machine.

[gridbug]

Unless you have deepdeep pockets, actors are the backbone of a haunt. People are adaptible and can adapt their scare to better match their mark to make the scare better. An animatronic prop can't pick out the screamer in the bunch and focus on them.

Some animatronics make a good compliment to actors, but actors carry the show.

[scarygyrl73]

I think live actors are the key, especially for our fans who love to come on return visits to the park. I work at Howl O Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Florida, ( an upcoming sixth year for me) and the actors really make the scares!!!!

[Xeverity]

I like actors best!! I use animatronics as a diversion which then lets the actor sneak up on them. You have the flexibility to do much better tricks on the people. Whenever I get a group I will get an actor to infiltrate the group and see how long it takes for them to realise 'he is not one of us'.

Of course they need their atttention diverted. I also have actors prep people for the next scene such as a twisted nurse asking for patrons blood type and whether they have their organ donar card with them. This adds humour between scenes and make it interactive.

[aghast]

IMHO...

Animatronics are good for a startle,

but actors are good for a scare.

(Generally speaking, of course)

[Veneficus]

Well, I think they both can be good if used in the correct ways. That one video I saw of the skeleton at the beginning of Raycliff Manor was awesome! That's one of the scenarios when I think it is good to have an animatronic. The only real thing that annoys me about them is the amount of noise they make. But the skeleton at Raycliff Manor was virtually silent (except for the awesome dialogue of course) There was no sound coming from it.

[TenFootReaper]

I like Jim warfield. Atmosphere first


First set the mood dark room, unnerving sets ect, A good actor then an animotronic only if it can come out of nowwhere. but don't depend on them

[jack]

Both is optimum, but if you have to choose one or the other, then I'd go with actors. You can get a lot more variety out of actors than you can out of animatronics. They do what they're designed to do and no more.

[Jim Warfield]

As we were watching an old movie on TV tonight, both I and my wife observed the same thing, the actor reciting his lines spoke and sounded and had even the same mannorisms as our one actor who has worked here for several years!
"Louse" IS Duece Bigalo!

[Empressnightshade]

Before October 2006, I would have been completely in the actor's corner. An animatronic cannot calculate who is the best person to scare in the group and cannot deviate from the time it's been given to activate.

However........

I had sooooo many problems with actors not showing up this past season. It was a nightmare! One night, we had to completely close off our trail, leave the haunt portion open only and reduce the price to half due to actors not showing up. RIDICULOUS! AND for those who did show up, I'd had it up to eyeballs with their complaints about needing water and bathroom trips. Even when we had discussed in several meetings about bringing your own water with you and making that all important trip to the restroom before we opened, they just wouldn't comply. Good grief, we were only open four hours! To add insult to injury, they refused to stay in their designated scenes. I had one actor in particular who refused to stay in the haunt. He kept going out front where others could see him! Needless to say, he's not coming back.
We had one animatronic named Larry. He was great!

I'm not spouting off at the mouth like an uncaring haunt owner because I'm also an actor, too and have been off and on for over 30 years. I know what it's like to have a cubby hole for a boo box and repeatedly do the same scare over and over again until your voice is raw. I know what it's like to be bullied and even slapped by customers. So, what I ask of other actors isn't anything worse than what I've been through. In fact, conditions for my actors are better than any I've ever been involved in before. Which brings me to say this....

After dealing with the actors temperments in 2006, I came to these decisions for 2007:

1. MORE ANIMATRONICS! I have increased our one to five and may add a few more if the budget allows.

2. I'm designing the haunt in a way that one actor will have at least two opportunities to scare. Whether it's two scares in person, one in person plus animatronic activation or two animatronic activations.

This will cut down on my dependability for actors. Last year, I needed 25 actors to pull off the haunt successfully. With the new design and animatronics, I'm hoping to cut that in half. In this way, if an actor does not comply, they will be let go and replaced with someone else.