[0:22] Hello, everyone. I'm Jonathan. I'm Crystal. And this is Haunt Weekly, a weekly podcast for the Haunted Attraction Entertainment community, whether you're an actor, owner, or just plain aficionado, we aim to be a podcast for you. We return to you this week to talk about creating a haunt character, a topic we recently had pointed out we had never actually covered so directly. No. We've talked about backstories, we've talked about elements of this, but never really kind of put it in a bow with a ribbon on it and tied it down. So, yes, indeed, we'll be thanking the kind person who suggested that in just a minute. But in the meantime, please do check out the other places you can find us. We're at HauntWeekly.com, HauntWeekly on X, slash Twitter, slash whatever it's called this week. HauntWeekly on Facebook, YouTube.com, slash HauntWeekly on the YouTube channel. A great way to get caught up on any episodes you might have missed. You can also find us on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, basically wherever you get your podcasts from.

[1:20] All right. So this is going to sound odd. Work we did for the haunt, we didn't actually do any work for the haunt, but we did something much more intense than our usual haunt work. Yeah. Which is going to sound crazy, but we completely tore down and rebuilt our bedroom. Yeah. Basically. Basically, yeah. Yeah, that's that's the only way to adequately describe what took place in that amount of time. Yes. And we did it in about three and a half hours. Yeah. Three and a half, almost four hours is what it took. Because basically what happened is we well, you honestly, you got a new bed for us on Amazon. Technically, you got two new beds because you don't know what the little number beside the Amazon cart means, I guess. Yes.

[2:08] So, if anybody needs a king-size metal bed, and you want to come pick it up, please feel free. I don't know what the fuck we're going to do with it. It's not like it's particularly useful for anything else. It's just sitting in our foyer right now. But anyways, you made your two beds for us. We opened one. Yes.

[2:27] And you built the headboard for it, and the headboard was actually very straightforward. Very straightforward. Um built a headboard for it and we were going to replace the bed but we were going to do it.

[2:37] On saturday well we normally have 12 hours yeah we have 12 hours and we can get this you know done at kind of our own luxurious pace and take the time take the breaks that we need and that would have been a pretty good busy day in its own right yeah well thursday we decided wait a minute we need to look at how the old bed was built we didn't build it right we needed to see how it was built to see See if we needed any tools or anything that we didn't have to hand to basically get it working. Basically take it apart. Well, we looked at it. We had all the tools. It was mostly just Phillips head screwdrivers or impact drivers. Things were fine for it. But we noticed the old bed was in much worse condition than we thought. Yeah, we had no idea what was lurking. The mattress is fine. Yeah. The mattress is slash was fine, but the bed had mold on it, which is scary enough. It wasn't the black mold, luckily. But it had mold. The frame was corroded and falling apart.

[3:38] Yeah. It was bad. Yeah. And so we made the somewhat impulsive decision. Well, that in itself, in fact, it was one of those cargo beds where you had a little thing you could raise. Yeah. Look inside it. And when we went to raise the cargo lift, the floor, the bottom of it broke worse. Yeah. And literally just trying to get open and access what was inside. We didn't know all of what was inside it even. No. Because, like I said, it's been impossible to lift for five, six years now.

[4:07] We've had it for six, so it's been broken for about five. Yeah. Almost the day we got it, the little hydraulic lift thingies broke on it. So we put stuff in it and then fuck all forgot.

[4:19] And then when we tried to lift it, it broke. and that was lifting it without the mattress on top of it. We had taken the mattress off of it. The decision was made. We had to move forward. So first thing we did is we literally took out the tools and broke down the bed. Most of it came apart fairly easily, but getting it to the curb was a major exercise. This was a large wooden frame bed. Yeah.

[4:44] So that was a big task. We got it out. And then we had the task. We had planned on applying blackout stuff to the window in there. So it could be a truly black window because we never want to be able to see out that window. We don't want anyone to see in. And the light, because it's north-facing, the light can be really obnoxious. Yeah, and, you know, I had bought some to try. It does work really well. Oh, my God, this is the best blackout stuff I've seen. Yeah. Straight fire. I mean, I'm not kidding. It's a little bit of a dicey to apply. Yeah, but it only covered half the window right now. And we needed exactly double what we ordered. So we've got the other. It just arrived today, actually, for recording this. Yeah. But we're going to wait a few days probably before applying it. It just means that I'm waking up at first light at 630.

[5:32] But then after that, we had to put a new rug down, which we had bought for this, and then put the headboard in place and then assemble the rest of the metal bed and then put the mattress back on top. Now, luckily, the assembly went very smooth. Yeah, it was very quick. It was very quick, even with just the hand tools. Yeah, this is a well-designed to put together bed. And it definitely holds the weight. It is a very impressive, strong bed. I'm not kidding. If you are local and need one of these beds for some reason, it is great, and you do not need a box spring with it. Nope. It is meant to be used without a box spring. Yeah. I'm very happy with this bed. I'm going to, whenever we take the mattress off of it, again, apply WD-40 to a couple of the joints to prevent squeaking. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But other than maybe tighten a few things down a little more. Yeah, I think that when the headboard was moved and... Yeah, some of the screws might have gotten levered. Yeah, that's also possible. But either way, we're going to check some of the screws. But the squeaky's not too bad. No. It's only an issue when someone turns over and only super briefly. Yeah. That seems to be the motion that does it. So, yeah, honestly, we did that. It took four hours to do, and it was very intense. We didn't get pretty much a break that whole time.

[6:51] And we got it done. It was high stress, high pressure. Got it done. And, yeah, we didn't feel like doing anything else all fucking weekend. Sorry. We just didn't. Yeah. We both, like, yeah, we paid our physical work debt for this. I mean, and it's bad because we also kind of have to clean the house.

[7:09] Yeah, a little bit. But anyway, yeah, so that's what we did this weekend. How about you? What did you do this weekend? Jesus Christ. All right. Moving on to the next segment, a question for the audience. Every week we ask a question of the week. Last week we asked, what is your biggest slash favoritest fandom? Roberta McClellan said Battlestar Galactica. I enjoyed it. I feel robbed, though, because I watched with Ellie the entire reboot, which is the main one people are talking about. Right. When I talk about Battlestar Galactica. I really enjoyed it. It was a great series. went back with her to watch the original 70s one we got about halfway through it's not a long run in the original one and then they fucking took it off whatever streaming service we were watching it on so i'm left hanging on that so anyway uh brian gacky said the band ghosts the lore and music is shifts kiss i have heard a lot about ghosts i know nothing about them so yeah maybe Maybe I need to check them out. Yeah.

[8:11] Saburo Pretty. I hope that I did not butcher that completely. Sorry if I did. Shadow Hunters and Supernatural. And Reggie Wood also came in and said Supernatural. So you two are friends now. I don't make the rules. This is just the Haunt Weekly Law. You two please exchange information in the comments. Yeah, it is a very good series. Yes. I've not actually seen Supernatural. I've watched all of it.

[8:34] Sarah Moon Spinek. I think that's how you say it. Spinek. said hell of a boss and has been hotel i did not know that has been hotel had a prequel series neither did i i learned that from this comment so thank you very much sarah that is very interesting i will be checking that out because we enjoyed has been hotel oh yeah we really did we got that big is the energy going yeah so this is something that we'll definitely check out um, And yeah, thank you for the heads up on that. I had no idea. I knew that there had been other stuff by the creators, but I didn't know it was actually in the same universe. Yeah.

[9:14] Shalisha Muehlberger said probably Firefly or Doctor Who. Doctor Who is one we've watched a lot of. I've never actually watched Firefly. Ellie and I have. Okay. I've never watched Firefly because everybody I know is so disappointed it got canceled earlier. Yeah. It deserved a few more seasons. Yeah, and I just, I don't know, man. Every time I hear that a show got canceled early, it's as bad as it getting canceled too late.

[9:41] Anyway, Anthony Ariel Gamondo said, Lord of the Rings, definitely a popular one. And Chris Gay said, Ghostbusters, the creativity and ingenuity of the cosplay community in modding and customizing equipment and their custom Ectomobiles cars is phenomenal. Phenomenal. It's phenomenal. Yeah, I've got to admit, I've not seen any Ghostbusters, modern Ghostbusters stuff. No. And it's nothing for or against it or whatever. It's just I watched Ghostbusters 1 and 2, and I loved the real Ghostbusters animated TV show. Yeah. I just wasn't excited about more Ghostbusters when it came out. I just didn't feel like I needed more. And honestly, I'm like you. I've really loved the cosplay scene. It's great. And you're right, the cosplay of Ghostbusters is just incredible. People really go all out. They're like the Stormtroopers, too. They do that as well. So, yeah, that's one of... So that's... Wow. Anyways. I'm actually a little bit sad that I didn't see Star Trek anywhere in this list. Yeah, or... You didn't see Star Trek or Star Wars. No. These supposed big two sci-fi fandoms were not represented. Which, honestly... I think that's because, like... It's like listing Coke or Pepsi as your favorite drink. So people want to go to the more obscure. Go to the more niche stuff, you know?

[11:04] Oh, Ruby Gloom would have to be on there, though, for me. Oh, for, oh, God, yeah, Ruby Gloom. And if you like Has Been Hotel and haven't heard of Ruby Gloom, you should look it up. Yeah, you should. Now, Ruby Gloom is a kids' show. Yeah. I will warn, it is a children's show, but it is fucking awesome. I will, it's just, just trust me. If you can find it, check it out. It's a great show, especially for haunters. And also, Scaredy Bat is played by Ranger Gord from... Red vs. Green. Red vs. Green. Yeah, the Red vs. Green show, which is weird and wildly inappropriate, but okay. You know, you'll understand when you see the show. All right, so this week's question of the week, what is your favorite haunt character other than your own or the one at your haunt? So from another haunt that you've seen, what is your favorite haunt character? Let us know at all the places we exist, hauntweekly.com, Haunt Weekly on X, slash Twitter, Haunt Weekly on Facebook, and YouTube.com, slash Haunt Weekly.

[12:05] Okay. Now we're getting into the meat of the episode. And first of all, we do need to thank our friend, Micah. Yeah, Micah Arnold. Micah Arnold, who wrote us. Go ahead. Yeah, and pointed out. So basically, they're starting at a new haunt as a haunt after this year, this upcoming season, and wanted some pointers to see, you know, what we had in the way of that. Yeah. And we looked through our episodes, and basically we have episode 15, which is Baby Got Back story, and episode 126, which is Creating a Villain. And some of that stuff is in this episode, but there's different things, too. Yeah, and then, you know, comes the part that it's kind of, this is very us. We never wrote Micah back to tell him the episodes. Instead, we just started working on the show notes for this one. Sorry, Micah. Sorry. I wrote you like a few hours before we published.

[13:06] But you've got to understand, that's like the most us thing ever. We got embedded in the project, and then, oops, how did we get here again? Yeah. So anyways, that's what we're going to talk about this week, is how to create a haunt character, or how to create a compelling character full stop. Not just a villain, not just a backstory for the haunt, how to create a compelling and interesting character that you will enjoy playing, your customers will remember and will enjoy seeing. Yes. And so that end, I would like to remind everyone in the room of a very simple but important fact that everyone who acts in a haunt has a character. I don't care if you're zombie number six in the cemetery scene who was literally given the spirit Halloween costume and the powder makeup.

[13:55] Look pale no oh you have a haunt character the question is do those characters come across to the visitors and if they do are they memorable and enjoyable i won't say likable but enjoyable i said it likable in the notes that was a fuck up for reasons we'll get into, yeah um but yeah basically do they add something to the scene even if it's insignificant or to the show as a whole you know that's the thing you're trying to add to what you're doing with this. And that's why we're teaching, that's why today we're teaching you how to create a haunt character. And once again, thank you, Micah Arnold, for... For the idea. And once again, sorry, we just didn't write you directly and tell you, because we're haunters. I think haunters will understand what we did very well. We just kind of started the build before.

[14:53] Which Which, no, that's a very harder thing to do. Yeah. Kind of hard to deny that, isn't it? Well, I mean, you know, considering we haven't talked about it in so long, you know, it's worth revisiting. Yeah, it makes sense to revisit it and also add a few new points. Yeah. And to add a lot of those new points, we're going to be referencing an article by Destiny Salter at the site Dabble. I'll have a link to it in the show notes. notes because basically um what destiny is talking about in the article is how to create a compelling literary character now there are differences between literary characters and haunt characters and so i'm going to kind of book end um this article and so we're going to have an us content meat sandwich where we'll have the middle and her point and their points will have like the end of beginning and end, right? Yeah. Because they do explain what makes a compelling character, and I really agree with these points. The first, because basically to create a compelling character, to create a character that people find relatable and interesting, you need to make that character four things. First is sympathetic, which is not the same as likable.

[16:11] There are a lot of characters out there that are very sympathetic that are not likable. And that includes, frankly, most villains. Yeah. I, you know, and a good example is from what I've seen, going back to the Walking Dead, Negan. Yeah. Is a good example of this. What he wants, what he says he's trying to do is inherently a thing you agree with. Yeah. His methods. this well i think that almost all of the characters in that show have some element of this of some of, sympatheticness sympathy yeah well i'd agree with that because there's a line that comes up a lot in the show is that they've all done something yeah that they wouldn't have done if they wouldn't weren't in the times of walkers and you know yeah and i think you can all relate to that yeah they've all done things they're not proud of to survive. Yeah, and I think Carol would be another one to really look at for that. Yeah. But yeah, these are characters. This means that you can identify with them and connect with them. You share some kind of bond, whether that bond is you've done similar things, you've been in similar experiences, or you have similar goals in life. You're sympathetic. You understand this character and their emotions and what they're going through. Right. The second thing is that they are nuanced. They're like ogres or onions they have layers donkey.

[17:41] You knew that was coming up. Don't look at me like that. But yes, they have to have some kind of nuance. They can't just be a one-note character. Yeah, one-note characters get boring really fast. Yeah. And you might not think that's super relevant and I haunt. We're going to talk about it a bit. You might only have a few seconds. But a one-note character is also predictable. And you don't want to be predictable. So having a character that can mix it up and do things that are unexpected because they're nuanced, because they have layers, yeah, that makes them much more deep and much more unpredictable. The third thing is they have to be flawed. They have to be not perfect. Now this one for villains is pretty easy. The flaw is they're villains.

[18:31] No shit, right? They're doing horrible things. Things you know for what they might be doing them for what they perceive to be good reasons yeah but they're doing horrible things yeah and that's something that we did mention in crafting a villain that isn't in these notes but it's a good point is that villains don't think that they're the bad guy like most of the time they just are the bad guy they just don't realize it, take your worst villains in history i'm not going to name names no but take the worst villains you can think of in history i can assure you they probably thought every second of the way they were doing the right thing yeah they totally bought into their own bullshit yeah and we'll actually get into um how and why how you develop that toward the very end that comes back in this article that's the other side of the bookend right and the fourth thing is they have to be active they have to go after what they want they have to do shit which i mean that seems obvious but a lot of characters don't seem very active. If you want, you know.

[19:39] If you're trying to quote unquote you know kidnap people or murder people or something and you're just standing around yelling at them yeah that's not very compelling that's not very active it's not you got to do you know if going back to zombie number six in the cemetery yeah um if it is like slow and lumbering around whenever customers are far away but then it starts It just turns and notices them, you know, and then runs towards them or starts shuffling faster towards them. That's going to create fear for the customer. Or you could even do it kind of the opposite way. You could have a zombie that maybe has that little tinge of humanity left. And they have the strong craving to eat human flesh, to eat the brains. But they don't want to because they know on some level it's wrong. So they slam themselves against the wall or whatever. that kind of divert themselves or whatever. They throw themselves out of the way. Something like that could add a lot to a scene. Zombies being tortured by not wanting to be a monster. You could do a lot with this in many different directions. That reminds me of.

[20:51] Well, shit, it just went out of my head. Sorry. It's all right. It's been a day. The scene of eating rats. Yeah. Interview with a vampire. Interview with a vampire. Thank you. Yes. Because he held on for so long of trying not to eat humans. Yes. Even to the point of eating rats in a sewer. Yeah. And you could have your zombies eating rats or dogs or animals. And then not being Satan, throw the rat down after the humans. It's like their will just broke by seeing this tasty group of humans. Exactly. Yeah, you can do that. Exactly. That's a third angle. And this is all for zombie number six in the cemetery scene.

[21:31] These are all ideas. So, yeah, basically, these things are what makes a character relatable and interesting.

[21:39] However, they can be difficult to do in a haunt setting because you don't have a great deal of time. Time that said thinking about those four factors can really help you craft a better character and if you craft a better go ahead and just to go over them again real quick since we took a lot of time in between them yes sympathetic nuanced flawed active yes um yeah so basically though crafting a character around those four things even if you don't get a lot of time will help you make the most of that time so how do we do this in a haunt setting well this is where we get into the stuff we would suggest immediately and first let's start with the character's back story yeah how did your character get here they didn't just pop into existence in the middle of the haunt one day no hopefully not dear god why are they there why are they there what scene are you in what's going on around you why are you the bad guy in this story yeah what trials and tribulations have they had in their life how did they define how did those trials and tribulations define them how would that experience change them alter their behavior um what would their goals be in the present time um you don't have to like craft an entire story that you tell to every customer you probably shouldn't no but it's a but something for you to keep in your head so you can frame the character

[23:03] in your own mind when someone interacts with you know how to respond.

[23:07] You just think, how would a person with this experience respond to that?

[23:11] It gives you something to say back. It's basically the prism through which you consider your actions while you're playing that character. Having that backstory is huge.

[23:23] Because inevitably, because we're going to talk about how you do things sort of customer to customer. Right. But when someone goes off script and they fucking will, you're much better prepared if you have this backstory to fall back on. Yes, and haunters going through your haunt will always throw you off. Even unintentionally. Yeah. Like, I don't mean to fuck with these people. I don't mean to fuck with the other actors. I just kind of do. It's a reflex. It's not like I'm trying. All right. Number two, think about your appearance. As weird as it may seem, your appearance is going to shape a lot about your character. It kind of works the opposite of how a lot of people think it is. And seriously, if you want to try this for yourself, go get some dress to your nines, get in that evening gown, get in that tuxedo, whatever. Whatever, hit the town and see how your behavior changes.

[24:12] Guarantee you it will. I find when I'm dressed nicely, I even talk fucking different. Yeah. I mean, so yeah. What does this character look like? What costume do they have? What props do they have?

[24:25] How do they move? How do they walk? How do they talk? Is he Iron Man? Oh, I know. But yes, basically, think about the appearance and the soundscape of this character. Right and remember what we've talked about before is and i thought it was in this part but maybe not um having a strong silhouette can is your character recognizable just on looks alone from a distance yeah and we do talk about a little more down yeah but yeah that is kind of the goal here is to have something that is so unique so

[24:58] compelling and that you can immediately go oh Oh, that's that character. And hey, you want to see a test of this? Watch the classic Pokemon cartoon. Because they would regularly do, What's this Pokemon? And then show a silhouette of a Pokemon. And some of them, it's like, Well, no shit, that's Pikachu. No shit, what else could that be? But others, it's like, Oh, no.

[25:24] Oh, Voltor. Oh, you dick. You know, you would see that some of the Pokemon have very clear designs. And some of it is exposure, but some of it is also just very, very unique designs that you can clearly see even in just a black and white silhouette. So it's a weird place to check that out, but it is in the original TV series. And even I, as someone that never watched much Pokemon, know this for reasons I'm not 100% sure. I don't know where I picked this information up. But, yeah, but basically, you know, think about how the character looks. You get the backstory, you get the look, and you can combine those things and

[26:06] start fleshing out the details of the character. And the first thing I would think about in creating a haunt character in particular is what is your character's hook? Now, that hook can be anything, but it's one thing that is immediately identifiable with your character and your character alone. Yes. Basically, the unique selling point of your character. Yeah. The one thing that people will go, oh, yeah, that's so-and-so. Mm-hmm. And just a few examples from movie villains, because those are easy to pick up on. Oh, yeah. Pinhead has the fact he is a head full of, well, pens. Yeah. That's pretty straightforward, actually.

[26:49] Freddy has his claws. And his outfit, to a degree. And the outfit. I actually had to sit here and debate, is Freddy's claws or his outfit? What's more recognizable? I think it's the whole claws with the arm. Or the glove in particular. Yeah. I think so, too, because if you show me that, I will know it's immediately not like Wolverine or something like that. It's very different and very, very distinct to Freddy. But if you show me just the striped shirt and hat, it might take me a minute. You know, just out of context, show me the red and green striped shirt with the hat. It's Christmas, Waldo. Exactly. Jason has his hockey mask which I mean that's a duh moment and I guess we could also say Michael Myers has the William Shatner mask that's still one of my favorite pieces of random film trivia yeah.

[27:43] William Shatner is fucking terrifying, is what I have learned. I mean, obviously, but regardless. So basically, what's the one visual or audio cue that will identify you? I'd recommend the visual cue, typically, just because it's much stronger in the memory. Most people, and a lot of people, may not hear you in some situations. But yeah, a visual cue, something that people remember you for. Bernie, in the past six years, has had the bright red jacket with tails and top hat. Yeah. Top hat slash cane. Yeah, and the cane actually makes a noise that is also very identifiable. Yeah. Because some of the ads that we used to do would start with the cane tapping before the hurry, hurry, hurry. Yeah. Yeah, I miss getting the steel tip canes. They don't seem to sell them anymore. No. There used to be hollow bamboo canes, which one problem is hollow bamboo, we discovered, I destroy. Yeah. Like it used to be I would go through five or six canes a season when they were hollow. Yeah. And it's just that they're so weak. You hit them against things, you're bouncing them off things, they just peel like a banana. But now we've found a place to sell solid ones. I haven't broken a cane in two seasons.

[29:08] But they don't have the steel tips, so they don't make the same sound, and I find that frustrating. So I'm tempted to try to find a way to put steel tips on them. I bet that could help you with that. Yeah, I think that might be something to consider, because the noise of a steel tip on a bamboo cane is really eerie sounding. It's surprisingly creepy. And you can also do a good scrape sound and other things with it.

[29:30] It's very freeing in what you can do with it. But anyways, that's neither here nor there. There um but yeah this is where you know I put in the whole are you recognizable in a silhouette yeah um and that's important for haunts you're going to be seen in low light you're going to be seen backlit you're going to be seen in less than ideal conditions you still need to be recognizable.

[29:53] So think about how your character is going to come across in less than ideal circumstances. What happens if someone's running past? What happens if you're backlit and you're in silhouette or shadow? What happens if the room isn't very bright? Think about it. Consider it and then do find something that is truly, uniquely you.

[30:11] All right. Now, this next one is for vocal characters. Well, yeah, because vocal characters need catchphrases. Yeah. Just a few to go through and have so that they're recognizable. Yeah. Basically, you know, come up with a few, just catchphrases. What are things, this character with this backstory, this hook, all this other stuff you put in there, what would they say? What would they say and what would they sound like? As they do it. Yeah. Because do they have an accent? Do they have an accent? Do they have a slur? Do they have a, like, do they hit long pauses between words? Words are they rushed in their speech yeah and things like that so like burning has the four I tend to cycle through and I've just kind of found this on my own it's the hurry hurry hurry hurry.

[31:04] That one and how's it going folks and then you have Bonnie T Baxter's name I have no idea what the t stands for by the way never ever duh Bernie the Baxter it's obvious okay Bernie T Baxter's a name how about you and that's a great one for getting people's names and on the queue line yeah and then of course whenever my favor is whenever someone asks is this your place or something like that that name on the sign I guess the place is mine.

[31:36] And that's just it, because Bernie's always playing kind of an aloof, joking character. Because, you know, he's the barker. He's supposed to be luring people into their doom. No. He's got that job. But yeah, the main reason you come up with a series of phrases is that way no two groups hear the same line back to back. Right. And especially if you're working a small haunt, that the front of house is very close to the inside of the house.

[32:04] You don't want to be repeating the same lines at the very beginning of the house because the people in line don't hear it no and you also want to make sure that like if you're because you don't know how compact groups are going to get necessarily in a regular haunt and so you have to assume that the group before and or the group after has heard at least that line yeah so that way you're pivoting to the next line and then that way they're guaranteed to get something different. They're not going to be hearing you doing the same shtick over and over and over again. And I find that to be a very, very simple thing. Just come up with four good phrases, ways to introduce yourself, ways to introduce, talk about what you want, whatever. Four phrases that you can cycle through. It makes life so much better and it also makes it so much more interesting for you. Because you'll figure out which of the phrases really connect and which don't, and then you can make adjustments over time. It's much easier to do that when you've got four phrases so you can A, B, C, D test versus just one. Yeah. All right.

[33:10] So, yeah. Final, next up, find a way to move in an uncanny valley sort of way that you don't injure yourself. Yeah. Yeah, make sure it's a repeatable motion. Yeah. That's also recognizable. Yeah. Yeah, and it can be as simple as moving very slowly. Yeah. Slowly can be very creepy. Move slowly and very deliberately. That can be very creepy. Also, being absolutely batshit bananas frantic can be creepy too. Yeah. Do you flail about? Do you wave your hands like you just don't care? And doing those things in situations and in scenes that aren't expected for those things makes it also like a running zombie. That would be off-putting for a lot of people. Because they're supposed to be slow. Or what about you're in a mad scientist room, and instead of the mad scientist being serious and crazy, he's waiting around like a wacky Flaming Arm and Flatable 2 person. Yeah. And just going, you know, banana toast crunch crazy. Yeah. No, no, no. Don't touch that. Touch these buttons!

[34:19] That could be fun. Yeah. You know, do you twirl a prop? Do you use a prop to help you walk? Yeah. This is where the cane or that big hammer or the sword or the stick come in. Right. That's actually something that I'm playing around with this season for the first time. Not a prop because I've used a shovel before to drive behind me to make creepy noise, but I'm trying to extend where my elbows look like they are by using crutches. Oh so you get the like that's coming up right that the elbows are longer than they're supposed to be so the the outline of the person yeah giving an alien appearance different like a bug like almost yeah i can see that working yeah but find a way to move that is unnatural but it's something that you can do and repeat without injuring yourself or exhausting yourself um but And also make sure it's something that the customer slash visitor won't see anywhere else other than your haunt. Yeah. Like you can have a theme around, you know, if you've got like a mad scientist thing, the mad scientist patients may all be bug-like, going to your idea.

[35:32] That's fine. So having multiple characters have similar movement in that space makes sense. He was conducting very similar experiments on all these people, right? Yeah. That makes sense. but you don't want it to be that they go to the haunt across town and see the exact same movement style of the kit max accent character. You know, you want it something that's recognizable to you and your haunt.

[35:52] Um, yeah. So then after all that, the thing to do is basically tie it all together. Um, try it on a few people, people who you know will give you honest feedback. Yeah. And that's, that's hard to find people that will not just say, Oh, good job. You're doing so well. Oh, you're doing great. It's wonderful.

[36:14] Yeah. Find someone who can, because here's the thing. I've always found the best feedback you get and give are feedback that makes the praise with the criticism. You've got to say what's going right to say what's going wrong. So feedback that's all critical or all positive is fucking useless. Yeah. And feedback that is negative, that doesn't come with a way to improve, is also useless. Or at least an idea, a direction to head. It may not have the answer, but giving a direction to head to is often enough. So yeah, basically finding someone who can give you good feedback. It's hard to do, especially because, and this is a positive thing about the industry. We are super supportive of each other as actors and trying to do things and growing. We tend to be very supportive. We don't always have the stomach to tell people we love that that idea is kind of dumb. Yeah. It's not going to work long term. You know, yeah, I think it'd be better if you did it at a time like that. And but part of that is also getting good feedback is watching the reactions you're getting and making adjustments, trying and experimenting a little bit, especially early in the season. By midseason, ideally, you should have everything nailed down. But the first few weeks, you may be doing some experimentation. Yeah. And you may be doing it live.

[37:37] Yeah. And, of course, all of this goes with, obviously, follow whatever directions you are given by your haunt. Yeah, by your boss. Yeah. Basically, yeah. Listen to your boss. But know that even when you are zombie number six in the cemetery scene. Yeah. I don't know why I'm picking on poor zombie number six. They didn't do anything to me. but if you're zombie number six you can still bring elements of your character I always thought it'd be funny to be an accountant zombie, Texas.

[38:13] Bringing that and bringing some element of hey I was an accountant once and now I'm a zombie trying to eat you that could be interesting you could do things with that why am I being chased by a fucking accountant, Wait, I've got to catch your soul. I've got to tally it up. Exactly. You could do things with this. You know, well, interest on brains, you know. I think it would be funny to have, like, a zombie that had a very mundane profession, that is now trying to catch and eat your brains. Have that be part of the character. Because also, and this is something else we didn't really discuss, don't be afraid to introduce a little levity and comedy if appropriate. Right. We've talked a lot about comedy and haunting and why it's so good to have comedic elements on it. A, it's more enjoyable, but also it gets people to let their guard down for more scares. Yeah. The few times that I've seen it done well in haunts, I remember it. Yeah. And then I'm always sad when I don't see it the next year because something changes. Yeah, we know exactly who that comment's for. Yeah.

[39:23] No further point needed. but yeah no it's a little bit of levity goes a long way so if you if playing with here and i think one of the greats i've seen do this is actually japes yeah i know we say that all the time but bruce or bonesaw is a great character for mixing comedy and scares yeah and and switching back and forth between the two like on a fucking dime japes is legendary at that and i think a lot of haunters are scared to take his lead on that and mix the two like bernie does but bernie's almost pure comedy bernie's really not trying to scare right because you want them to get into the house yeah i'm the carnival barker i'm supposed to be the one you like and when people come up knowing when the questions they all time i'm not scared of you not supposed to, that's the whole point you know so i get to say that a lot and then they go into the haunt and they get scared. Like, with listen, it's great. It's just wonderful. Shot and bright!

[40:26] Alright, so, yeah, but basically tie it all together. Now, to revisit that post we were talking about at the very beginning about what makes a good character, if you want to dig deeper into making your character, like, completely rounded, maybe you're wanting to just have it for yourself. Maybe you're wanting to do deeper lore, going on, you know, a much deeper dive on this. Whatever the reason, the article recommended several additional things. First was discussing which of the nine avatars your character is. I thought this was really interesting. The nine avatars, by the way, this is actually borrowed from social psychology, according to her. Reformer, one, sorry, one reformer, two helper, three achiever, four individualist, five investigator, six loyalist, seven enthusiast.

[41:17] No, sorry, seven enthusiast, eight challenger, and nine peacemaker. And basically which of these kind of archetypes does your character fit in and that's often very tough to do from a villain standpoint um but i would say like you know for example bernie baxter on this would probably either be an individualist or an achiever he always wanted to be one of the great carny barkers but also does truly value being weird and so i'm trying to decide i think you would also kind of be a helper because this whole shtick is bringing back people so that they can have one more show that's true i guess you could argue that maybe i need to think some it might need to think some more about this for my purpose too but basically you take that and you examine from there what your character's core fear is what are they afraid of.

[42:14] Um and then from that you can obtain their core motivation when you look at the type of character they are what their fear is you can then extrapolate their motivation yeah and once you have their motivation i i love this idea and i've been thinking about it long and hard is um you need to find the lie that your character believes every character every great character is built on at least one lie that they have told themselves whether they told themselves or someone else told it to them it's one lie they've internalized and have based much of their action on. And in Bernie's case, it's that all people are guilty for whatever happened to him when he died, and that's why he's got to come back and get his revenge on people. He believes that. That's a lie, but he believes it.

[43:03] So he's looking to get revenge on people that did him no harm because of that. That's his lie. Yeah. And you can pull that out of just about any character. And when you understand that lie, once again, you've got a deeper sort of psychological profile in your character. What? I was just thinking about poor zombie number six again in the cemetery, believing that he's still alive. Oh, that would be great.

[43:32] That's why i left and he's once again the accountant one's sitting there with a calculator like trying to match the buttons and then flips the table out of frustration or just you know some rando zombie character that's like okay can i go with you guys obviously it sounds like mumbles But internally, that's what they would be saying. Yeah, so... Can you get me out of here? It's cold. But yeah, if you find the lie your character believes, you get a deeper understanding of them. And you can take advantage of that when you're interacting with customers. So yeah, this is a great way to expand the character, either for your benefit directly, or for whatever edit lore you might want to create around them.

[44:23] Okay, but in the end, the truth is this. Most haunt actors only get a few seconds to make an impression. Yeah. So this is why you need the catchphrases, why you need the hook and a solid look that, once again, as you noted, works well in low light and silhouette and other less than ideal conditions, we'll say. Yeah.

[44:43] However, all of those things need to be informed by your backstory and the character nuances. As should any improv that you have to do, and you will have to do improv if you have a vocal character. Right you're going to be tasked with at some point and it's always interesting to see actors who, they have the catchphrases they have the look they have a lot together but when anything remotely off script happens which off script in this case means something other than the customer going and running away if anything off script happens they're lost and that you don't want that so So having that backstory, having all that information there, that's what empowers you to respond and play back. Well, and I think it would be interesting, if your haunt allows it, to develop your backstory and your story in your social media. Put out little tidbits of it. Yeah. So that whenever people come, they know some of the story before they get to you. I definitely think that's a great idea, especially if you have characters that are recurring every night. Yeah.

[45:47] Just remember, the deeper you make your character, the better prepared you are for the time you have with the customer. Time you spend working on this backstory and the elements of your character will pay dividends inside the haunt. It's a thankless job. Somebody's got to do it. It's a thankless job, but it really does pay off, and it does make your character much more engaging inside the haunt, and hopefully helps you have a lot more fun playing that character inside the haunt. Because instead of just being zombie number six in the cemetery, now you actually are acting, you're playing a character, and you're losing yourself in another role. I think that's the goal here. It's also for your enjoyment. So yeah, basically work on that backstory. The better you do with it, the better you'll enjoy it, and the more your customers will get from your performance. I think that about says it.

[46:37] Obviously, this is just an inch-thin cover of a lot of stuff. And we've actually, like you said, we talked about backstory more thoroughly in a previous episode. But, yeah, this is a great time, by the way. We're recording this and publishing it in early August. Right. Now is a great time to be working on this stuff. Yeah, especially if you are a new actor. Yeah. And there are a lot of YouTube videos out there, too, of other people in the industry. Who will help with this as well. Yeah, there's a lot of good information out there. Obviously, I would encourage you to listen to, read, and I'm going to put a link to the article on the... The article on the... on Dabble. I couldn't remember the name of it. I had to scroll back up on Dabble that talks about the various elements of the character and the archetypes and so forth so that you can read that in much more detail than we could go over in the time we had here. Anything else? on that note everyone this has been Haunt Weekly episode 453 How to Create a Haunt Character please check us out at the other places that exist we're at hauntweekly.com, hauntweekly on twitter hauntweekly on facebook and youtube.com slash hauntweekly it's also wherever you get your podcasts from until next time, I'm Jonathan I'm Crystal and we will see you all next week.