E.T.'S GREEN PLANET
Every year we have a Halloween Party and we love to include a few photo moments for guests to explore. For 2024 the theme was "Ghouls in Space" and we wanted guests to have the opportunity to meet E.T. and take home a photo souvenir. As you can see, the original plan was much more involved, but due to time and budget constraints, I ended up relying heavily on existing props and moody lighting.
Inspiration
I always loved the glimpse of biological wonders in E.T.'s spaceship. They expanded on it in the E.T. ride at Disneyland, which I learned was based on a sequel (!) book illustrated by David Wiesner. The illustrations are gorgeous and had a very floral, even deco influence. I sourced a few reference images to give me something to begin with.
Installation Space
This window nook was the location of the final installation. Having a strong idea of the space, along with the actual E.T. prop that would be at the center of it was a huge help.
Concept Drawing
An attempt to bridge the imagination of the inspiration with the practicality of building something in a short amount of time, this concept used large tree forms to help disguise the dividers in the windows and brought in small alien plants along with crystals and mushrooms. In the background is a moon based on an existing prop I built a few years ago.
Final Installation
Can you say compromise?! Time was unkind and I ended up dropping all fabrication plans. No rainforest full of mushroom sprouting trees, alien plants, and crystal sprouts. In the end I created the installation using every available plant I could find and lots of colored lighting to build the atmosphere and transport us to a different world. And it worked! I divided the different planes using light - green in the foreground to emphasize the plants, violet and red middle ground to give E.T. a welcoming aura, and a cool blue lit moon to contrast with it all with the vastness of space. Not what I was expecting going in, but the guests loved it. In the end that was the most important part!
