Design an Immersive Event Experience?

How do you answer the demand for elevated event experiences?

A Forest Dark’s peculiar project titles already speak volumes. Themes include “Indian Wedding,” “Neon Rainforest,” “Space Erotica,” “Ancient Cambodian Ruins,” and “Garden of Surrealism,” for example.

Their portfolio includes relaunches and corporate events for brands like Don Papa Rum and Toyota, and nightlife productions with organizations like Indo Warehouse, Amaya Society, Cipriani, Arlo Hotel, Paradise Club at Edition Hotel, and Tao Group.

The scope of unique projects varies, which is why A Forest Dark continues to expand its wide array of services. Evidently, clients are looking for a way to make their event memorable, setting them apart from other events. 

”We can take care of the stage design and decor throughout the venue as well as creating immersive art installations, performances including costume design and props for the performers, and branded moments for any sponsors involved,” Vitebsky explains.

Zelin adds that their ultimate goal is always the same no matter which services they deliver. “To make guests feel like they have entered another world, taking them out of their day-to-day. We do this by transforming event spaces into immersive experiences where guests can fully interact with the elements we create,” she says.

How do you bring creative ideas to life?

Vitebsky explains that some clients approach them with a very specific vision, with references to work with, while other meetings involve a bit of brainstorming.

“We have a meeting to shape the vision into a concept and then we create a mood board. Once we get the mood board approved by the client, we do a venue walkthrough and start putting together the budget, which can involve some negotiating.”

Something Zelin noticed is how the cost of DJ bookings has drastically increased since COVID. This often leaves organizers with a smaller budget for the overall production, while still wanting the same impact and quality. 

“Clients will ask for 10 different installations, with a very small budget. So we have to end up saying we can do only three of their favorite ideas, or find ways to reduce costs, by shrinking the ideas into smaller versions of the installations. It’s a give and take, with a lot of rebudgeting.”

“Sometimes, ideas get bigger and even more amazing and inspired. We would exceed the budget simply because we cared about the art so much. So now, as we continue to evolve our business, we’re refining the skill of finding a balance.”

An important detail is that they create all the decor themselves using raw materials in their studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. With multiple projects going on at the same time, it can be quite a juggle working on all the different pieces. Especially during special holiday seasons, such as Halloween for example.

For last year's fall season, they worked on two different Halloween-themed projects; one for Cipriani at nightclub Musica, and another with Amaya Society at the Georgia Room nightclub. The latter is located at the Freehand Hotel, a historical building that’s considered an art-deco-style masterpiece.

This fall season, they worked on three different Halloween-themed projects; one with Amaya Society once again at a secret venue in Chelsea, another at one of the biggest Halloween events in the city called City of Gods, and lastly at the popular Arlo Hotel - formerly known as the Williamsburg Hotel - creating a riveting forest of the dead. 

“We were so inspired by the historical architecture of the Freehand and the Georgia Room with its gorgeous columns and ornaments, that we decided to go for a complete haunted hotel experience with decor and installations throughout every area” Vitebsky says.

Countless bags of cobwebs were ordered for the event, along with numerous candles, chandeliers, frames, fabric, mannequin body parts, fake blood, and knives.

“Body parts came through the windows, with mysterious faces coming through frames on the walls. Bloody spats covered the rooms, while bloodied knives hung from the chandeliers. We also had a hand holding a candle, which appeared to come through a mirror. The venue was transformed into a haunted hotel movie set, especially with the combination of immersive theater” Vitebsky shares.

How do you ensure the experience becomes immersive?

Besides bringing ideas to life through decor and installations, A Forest Dark also masters the art of immersive storytelling. They concoct a complete storyline, brought to life through a whimsical crew of actors and performers.

It’s important to note that their performers are not just playing a role by standing there and performing for people; they are actually interacting and speaking with the guests the entire time.

Sometimes the actors will ask guests to help them find things or solve problems, turning some installations into activities the crowd can partake in.

According to Zelin, they had about 30+ actors and performers spread throughout their Halloween productions in 2022, which they designed costumes for, as well as complete character developments, writing full scripts for how they would interact with the guests. 

At Amaya’s Haunted Hotel, for instance, the actors played the hotel’s residents, of which some were alive and some were ghosts.

One storyline involved a bride and groom who got married in the building hundreds of years ago, but they died at the hotel. Unable to pass on because they love each other so much but can’t find each other, they leave love notes and clues around the hotel.

The party attendees could help them find each other by following trails of rose petals and clues found in love letters scattered around the venue.

There was also a “Bat Sh*t Crazy Lady” who constantly laughed hysterically asking guests to pet the bat on her shoulder. Other characters included an opera singer, a corpse contortionist in a skull room, as well as a nymphomaniac seductress at the bar that guests could spill hot candle wax on if they ordered a drink.

With the amazing decor and all these outrageous characters interacting with you, it doesn’t only look like a movie set, it feels like stepping into a Halloween movie entirely.

How do you deal with production challenges?

Doing build-up in a rush, or dealing with scissor lift machinery failure, Zelin and Vitebsky handle it all. Everything works out in the end, but Vitebsky admits, not always as envisioned.

“When the scissor lift died, we couldn’t complete a huge chandelier activation meant as the room's centerpiece with ribbons spread out across the ceiling. The production manager neglected to charge the scissor lift, so it wasn’t on us but we were so sad. We prepped this chandelier for days for this huge event, and it looked nothing like intended.” 

Figuring out ways to install decor is an art in itself. Some venues don’t mind drilling into the walls, but others such as the historical Freehand Hotel don’t, requesting them to use only contact strips.

After decorating the day before, they found some of their antique frames broken on the floor the next morning. Luckily, they were then permitted to rehang everything with very thin nails as the hotel management saw how cool the decor looked. 

Besides the walls, ensuring decor is ‘foolproof’ in any area is always top priority. Some guests think decor is theirs to take, with the team sometimes catching people dancing with the mannequins or walking out with giant sculptures.

The team learned that some guests just really like to have a small souvenir or memento from events they enjoyed. 

“We play into this by providing things like little bottles of potions, tarot cards, or custom poetry written for guests. At the Hantel Hotel event, guests could take the love letters and roses from the ghost couple home with them” Zelin says.

How do you keep pushing your creativity?

For A Forest Dark, every event is an opportunity to break boundaries and create something extraordinary, but Zelin and Vitebsky already find themselves expanding beyond that.

“We want to start designing fully modular decor pieces, which could be a great option for organizers with a smaller budget. Besides this, we envision A Forest Dark becoming a global brand, so we are preparing operations for international events” Vitebsky says.

Another outrageous project that the ladies thrust themselves into recently was organizing a themed camp at Burning Man 2023 named Looners. As seasoned ‘burners,’ they wanted to bring something unique to this event where nothing is crazy enough.

Vitebsky shares that they not only built a circus-themed camp with an old-world lounge and dance area, but they also offered hot air balloon rides with DJs onboard playing music during sunrise and sunset. “It was a tough challenge because of the harsh weather among other things, but the whole experience was still beyond magical” she adds.

So what’s next? If we leave it up to A Forest Dark, the future promises to be a thrilling enigma.