I joined the team at Nexus Studios to create Disney’s The Lion King Outernet - a large-scale immersive experience, directed by Hannah Lau-Walker, made in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the iconic West End musical. The installation drew inspiration from the actors, puppeteers, costume designers, and set builders who bring the show to life every night.
Client: Disney Studio: Nexus Studios Director: Hannah Lau-Walker
The installation transformed the Outernet’s 360-degree screens into a dynamic visual experience to celebrate the intricate craft of the show as well as the heroes behind the scenes—from costume design and puppetry to set creation. At the heart of the experience was a family tree, inspired by Rafiki’s Baobab tree, with vibrant collages of behind-the-scenes imagery and animated show elements. These collages showcased the skill of the various teams on and off stage who bring The Lion King to life.
The project involved taking the more traditional techniques of collage and motion design and transplanting them into a state-of-the-art immersive environment. I worked with a team of designers to bring the various collages, blooms and tree adornments covering the Baobab trunk to life using motion. This included developing various methods of animating intricate embroidery and stitching - each of the thousands of stitches had to be individually animated as the collaged blooms settled into position on the tree.
I was also tasked with recreating the iconic ‘sunrise’ moment from the stage show - building the slatted silk-adorned sun and making it rise from the ground, cycling through the various theatrical lighting changes and billowing in the wind as it rises.
All of the individual 2D elements - as well as various 3D elements - were then comp-ed into the main Outernet canvas and timed along to a bespoke soundtrack to complete the immersive experience.
Creating content for this unique canvas involved developing a custom virtual reality environment to simulate the audience experience. Throughout production, the team and I would test the animated sequences in the headset to make sure that the motion and speed of the animations felt right given the sheer scale of the screens involved. Care was also taken to avoid causing motion sickness in the audience.
The installation at Outernet played non-stop from18-20 October 2024 and welcomed thousands of visitors who stopped to take in the experience.
