MWM Immersive Debuts Chained: A Victorian Nightmare in Los Angeles, Combining Location-based VR and Live Theater
MWM Immersive, a division of MWM (Madison Wells Media) and producer of Jon Favreau’s acclaimed Gnomes & Goblins, opens a new immersive experience Friday in Los Angeles for a limited time only. Chained: A Victorian Nightmare combines virtual reality with real world elements to tell a spine-tingling version of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol that places the viewer at the center of the story. Step into Victorian-era London, keep the company of ghosts, and confront your own past, present, and future through a harrowing journey.
Premiering at experiential studio GreatCo (1655 Beverly Blvd) tomorrow, Nov. 30, and running through Jan. 6, 2019, Chained is an experience blending film, gaming, theater, and immersive technology. It includes a fully detailed Victorian-era set, in which one audience member at a time enters and is fitted with a VR headset by a professional actor. In this single-guest experience, individual audience members interact the entire time with live actors (utilizing motion capture) and tactile objects. Unlike the passive experience of most entertainment, Chained allows participants to look, feel, touch and create. A haunting experience that combines physical and virtual worlds, Chained is a journey of self-reflection and visual awe.
Chained is created and directed by Justin Denton, creator of the immersive Legionexperience at San Diego Comic Con 2017, and executive produced by MWM Immersive’s Ethan Stearns, producer of the Academy Award-winning VR project, Carne y Arena. The experience is a co-production of MWM Immersive and Here Be Dragons.
“By combining the best of VR and immersive theater, Chained surpasses the limitations of each medium and lets the audience see, converse with, and even touch the impossible,” said Justin Denton. “I grew up with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol but in my mind’s eye I always imagined the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future as much darker and more intense than most adaptations. Audiences will walk away from Chained as though they have just awoken from a dark and beautiful fever dream full of self discovery, fascination, fear, and wonder.”
“Chained embodies the creative drive and spirit of everyone at MWM Immersive,” MWM Immersive’s Executive Producer Ethan Stearns said. “It’s an experience that uses technology in the service of telling and experiencing a compelling story, not as a gimmick. At MWM Immersive we empower directors and writers to use whatever mediums are necessary to create the narrative experience they want to create and leave audiences delighted and awed.”
Chained is a premium location-based experience that blends unexpected mediums, using a combination of virtual reality and immersive theater, in a way that places the viewer within the story.
Chained received art direction from Aaron Sims, whose Hollywood credits include Transformers, Planet of the Apes, The Thing, and Stranger Things. Aaron Sims Creative (ASC) designed and developed the software behind Chained. The experience received story consultation from video game director Bruce Straley, co-creator and game director of The Last of Us.
Tickets are available now for purchase at Eventbrite.com, with more tickets and showtimes to be released soon. Chained will also be coming to additional cities with dates soon to be announced.
To learn more, visit BecomeChained.com and connect on Twitter, Facebook, Instagramand Tumblr.
