In 2021, I was hired by filmmakers Ben McPherson and Bradley Skaar to work on a project called "Dreamwalk." They had been in the middle of filming their latest project, Black Moon Rising - which is one of the first Native American Sci-Fi films ever made - but were forced to shut down production because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unwilling to abandon their sci-fi dreams, they relocated to Orem, Utah, where they dreamed of opening an interactive sci-fi walkthrough experience. They hired me because of my demonstrated skills in costume and prop production, given my past with MakOne Productions and the LDS Motion Picture Studio. They wanted me to get in on Dreamwalk on the ground floor and help them develop the concept, space, characters, and lore surrounding it.
One of the biggest things going on at Dreamwalk is the production of a stop-motion animated TV series called A Storybook Ending. Much of the work, props, models, and things that I made were for the series, the pilot episode of which was filmed in January 2022 in partnership with Angel Studios - the same studio that produced The Chosen, which is internationally acclaimed.
Click on the photo below to learn more about the premise behind A Storybook Ending.
The idea behind Dreamwalk was inspired by MeowWolf, in terms of format. It’s supposed to be a sci-fi themed interactive walkthrough experience, where guests can interact with the art there, as well as different characters, robots, and environments.
The idea is that these strange portals have opened in the middle of the mall in Orem, Utah. There are a few different portals that you can enter in at the Dreamwalk entrance and walk through, each with a different theme: There’s Steampunk, there’s ice caves, there’s sheer desert rock, etc. You go through a winding cave system until it eventually spits you out on the other side, and you’re suddenly on a different world, millions of light years away from Earth.
Once you emerge from your chosen portal, you’re free to explore the new world you’ve discovered. There is a desert planet area, reminiscent of Star Wars’ Tatooine, and there, you’ll find a bustling marketplace with all manner of vendors and foodstuffs. The centerpiece of this area is the Robot Speakeasy, where guests will be able to interact with robots and such.
On your way out of the desert area, you’ll find yourself in a canyon of sheer rock, which then leads you across a bridge into a world of fire and lava. It’s hot, there. You walk on paths of grates, with steam and lava only inches beneath your feet. And then you go through a cave made of volcanic rock, which eventually shifts into normal rock, and ends in ice. Once you’re through the cave, you find yourself in a world of ice and snow. Creatures abound and are eternally frozen behind walls of ice. There is a giant robot, frozen in place, across from it, are the frozen remains of a giant cyclops yeti. It’s dangerous, here, but it is also fun. For in this ice world, is the Art of War – a game where guests are given high tech water guns filled with paint, and they get to paint the white frozen wasteland with color and vibrancy.
When you leave the ice world, you cross yet another bridge, made of ice, into a forest that looks not unlike the world of Pandora in James Cameron’s Avatar. There are all types of alien flora, including glowing mushrooms over 10 feet tall, there’s a glowing waterfall, a slight breeze rustles the vines and various plants. It’s beautiful. It’s mysterious.
If you’re lucky enough to find the “glitch in the matrix” that exists between the desert area and the mushroom forest, you’ll find yourself in a warm, brightly lit library. This library contains all of the lore and information about Dreamwalk and the planet that you’ve discovered. There are books upon books on the shelves. There are weird, alien specimens and maps on the table. It’s quite remarkable.
After your visit to the library of the mushroom forest, you can either go back to the robot speakeasy market, or you can go back to earth through your portal.
That’s the driving idea behind Dreamwalk. And here, you can see some of the work I've done to bring that idea to life.
3D Models
A Storybook Ending
Creatures
Robots
Other Props
