Students were given a unique work experience opportunity – and a behind the scenes peak – at a scare attraction before it opens its doors today.
The National Forest Adventure Farm, in Burton upon Trent, welcomed students from the University of Derby’s Journalism and Specialist Sports Journalism course to test out their interviewing skills at Screamfest.
The Halloween attraction welcomes over 31,000 visitors every year and this year’s new scare, Hellcatraz, is billed as the most intense one yet.
As part of their feature writing module, the students were given an insight into how farmers Tom and Ivor Robinson create each of the scream-inducing immersive scares, what goes in to preparing over 130 live actors for the night and how they create each of the film style sets.
Joanne Hine, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Derby, said it was a fantastic opportunity for students to get real life experience in interviewing and feature writing to not only test their skills but find themselves immersed into different styles of writing.
She said: “Interviewing actors, event organisers and the founder of Screamfest really enabled our students to get a taste of journalistic life as an exciting future career.
“Developing close relationships with major local businesses in this way also means our students build great contacts to use once they graduate and go on to work within the media across the UK.
“We would like to thank the Screamfest team for their time and hospitality for making this happen for our students.”
Ivor, who regularly travels to America’s largest scream park convention Transworld for ideas, said it was important they were able to offer opportunities for students to develop their skills where possible.
He said: “As a family-run farm attraction, we have always been very passionate about helping to support students and young people to develop their skills.
“Screamfest is an experience like no other, so it is great to be able to share our knowledge and let future generations of journalists get a glimpse into what goes in to creating Halloween fright nights full of fun and shocks each year.
“We are fortunate to have a very knowledgeable and talented team who are very passionate about delivering the very best experience, so it was great to give students the opportunity to test their skills and find out more about what we do.”
The Screamfest attraction, which has been running since 2012, is spread out across the whole park taking in outdoor and indoor mazes, with six different themed scares which feature intricate film style sets and specialist lighting, sound and even smells pumped into the mazes to build the tension.
From zombies and demons to crazed clowns and the living dead, each design is specifically created for the ultimate in fear factor with hundreds of specialist prosthetics painstakingly handcrafted to create anything from boils and scars to deformed facial features, severed fingers, gauged eye sockets, bullet holes and stitches.
The new scare, Hellcatraz, will transport visitors to a place which is “guaranteed to get your heart racing as you are separated, isolated and subjected to the most scream-inducing scare possible.”
It has taken two years to plan and finalise and, for the first year ever, actors will directly interact with visitors in Hellcatraz by reaching out to touch hair, grab a hand or by brushing past.
Screamfest, which is not recommended for under 16s, will run on selected dates until Saturday, 2 November with tickets starting from £32 (plus a £1.50 booking fee). Click here for more information.
