Movie Park Studio Tour

The Studio Tour is Europe's first double-launch indoor coaster: a ride that launches forwards, then backwards, and spins guests through a 360-degree turntable across twelve scenes built to feel like a working film lot. It sits somewhere between coaster and dark ride, carrying guests from a bustling studio backlot into the middle of a blockbuster shoot that takes a humorous turn.

Soon after entering the studio complex, the guests meet Andy and S.A.M., two of the main characters. Andy is the assistant of the renowned director Steven Thrillberg, who unfortunately can't welcome the guests in person, but Andy is more than willing to fill in. For the pre-show, IMAmotion shot the actor in front of a greenscreen, as he is integrated in the scene as a Pepper's Ghost illusion. Before that could happen, the actor was cast and costumed by the team of IMAmotion.

His sidekick S.A.M., on the other hand, is a 3D animated character, based on a slate. His design is geared more towards a younger audience. He's a bit hyperactive and over-motivated and brings just the right amount of craziness to the story.

In the queue line of the ride, the guests pass a lot of studio offices. Be it the writer's room, where the script of the next blockbuster is just a few lines away from being finished, the office of the studio boss, who's always busy and usually in a bad mood, or the office of the quite self-confident storyboard artist.

Later, after boarding the train, the guests pass a few more departments, where the craziest things happen – at least there are not many jobs where you can wear a gorilla costume and call it work.

IMAmotion brought the studio offices and film departments to life with silhouettes, shot with actors in our greenscreen studio. Additional visual effects were added in post-production, to add a little extra to all of them.

The guests meet Steven Thrillberg for the first time in a safety video, where he prepares the guests for their upcoming multidimensional experience. The video was shot with an actor on set at Movie Park Germany. IMAmotion was responsible for the casting of the actor, the set design and the actual shoot.

Close to the middle of the ride, the guests enter a hot set. The film crew was just about to shoot a special effects scene with a tornado destroying a stereotypical US farm. Now the tornado is coming closer fast and the guests need to make it out of the scene as fast as they can.

IMAmotion designed and animated the media content of the scene, split up on multiple screens, one in the front, another one on the left and three huge back projections in the ceiling. The media content is accompanied by a dramatic soundtrack, as well as wind and heat effects.

A lot of graphic content needed to be produced for the Movie Park Studio Tour. Prints and vinyl cutouts can be found all over the area. These can be fictional movie posters, signs and textures, but also up to 20 meter wide and 5 meter high digitally painted bespoke backdrops. All those huge and tiny details help to make the film studio experience as authentic as possible.

Movie Park Germany worked with IMAscore to produce the soundtrack of the attraction. Most of it was again recorded with the Budapest Film Orchestra and Choir. The final scene shows the actual recording and conductor Peter Pejtsik, letting the orchestra play the final part of the ride's soundtrack to wrap it up.