Immersive Easter Experience

Client
Church Collective

Year
2023

Brief
Create an immersive video environment that portrays the Easter story. Project separate videos onto three large screens to create a seamless panorama.

Jesus praying in the garden

A Disciple acts as a guide to visitors, leading them into the room

A Guard stands watch, then arrests Jesus

In 2023, Church Collective wanted to host a memorable Good Friday experience for people in the church and local community during Easter.

I helped develop the concept and created videos to utilise the incredible immersive suite at the Warrington Town Centre campus of the University of Chester. The suite enables video to be projected onto three walls, with surround sound. Actors performed in front of the screens as each scene depicted a key element of the Easter story; the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus on Trial, the Cross at Calvary, and the empty tomb (from Luke 22 and 23 in the Bible).

Guests were welcomed into the room by one of the disciples, and they immediately became immersed in the sights and sounds of a garden. I used individual 3D objects from Envato Elements to create the different scenes and sound effects. The main audio included different members of the church reading from the Bible.

The whole experience in the immersive suite lasted eight minutes, and there was food and a social time in another part of the building while people waited.

This image shows three separate backdrop scenes across. Each scene had a centre screen and two side screens

Top row - The Garden of Gethsemane
In this scene, the actor playing Jesus knelt by the tree as if praying the words from Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Middle row - The Courtyard
To portray Jesus being arrested, a guard walked in as the scene changed and lifted Jesus to his feet, walking him over to the door on the right-hand screen. The words "Crucify him! Crucify him!” were projected onto the screen as many voices were heard shouting.

Bottom row - Calvary
In this scene, the centre screen was left without a cross because the actor playing Jesus stood in front of the central screen with his arms outstretched. As all the screens and the whole room faded to black, Jesus lay face down on the floor. The whole room then lit up with the sight of the tomb stone closing over, sealing him inside the tomb.