What's more memorable than a good scare?

Spooky season is here, and we’re looking back at some downright creepy activations we’ve done here at MDRN Activations, just in time for Halloween.

A movie premiere for The Nun II at Toronto’s downtown Cineplex theatre gave us the perfect opportunity to create a terrifying experiential marketing campaign that thrilled and entertained guests.

Working with the film’s PR agency, we created a custom video booth that brought guest's movie experience to life—and sent them running for the hills.

Keep reading to hear all about this ghoulish activation and why you should include a photo or video booth in your next marketing strategy.

We’re big fans of movie premiere activations because of the creative range we can employ in the sets and graphics. With years of experience in the industry, we’ve gotten pretty good at producing an immersive experience yielding high-quality results. Take a look at our Evil Dead Rise photo booth activation to see what we’re talking about.

For The Nun II premiere, we wanted to develop an experience that would entertain guests and give them something fun to post on socials, creating user-generated content for the PR agency’s movie marketing strategy.

We decided on a video booth that would film guests as we strategically instructed them on what moves to make. We then instantly edited the footage with graphics from the movie, and voila, unique video content and a totally interactive movie marketing experience.

The Nun II is the newest movie from The Conjuring Universe—a highly successful American horror franchise distributed by Warner Bros. — so the video outputs and analytics branding had to match that paranormal mood.

Our chosen video effects showed guests in a dark hallway as our Directors told them how to pose and what to do in order to create a realistic effect.

The movie graphics made cranking up the scare factor easy enough—Valak, the titular demon nun, is pretty bone-chilling to look at. We used his image to create a jump scare in the footage, along with creepy instrumentals and the film’s branding at the end. Once the filming was done, the footage was edited, and guests were shown the output.

The best part? We kept guests in the dark about what the final result would be. All they knew was that we had filmed them running away as instructed. They had no idea of the edits we made until we showed them… and we have to admit, their reactions were hilarious to watch.

Check out the results below!

We pride ourselves on our direction when using these types of video effects for an activation. Making sure people get clear instructions instead of leaving them to their own devices is the key to high-quality outputs.

Movie premieres are high-profile events that garner media attention. If you're running a PR agency or handling film distribution, your main goal is to get in touch with the audience and give them an experience they won't forget. That's how you make a movie shine and gain credibility.

Photo and video activations allow your brand to gain attention by associating with the film and tapping into the buzz surrounding it. These activations let you connect with the crowd in a way that sticks— you'll leave a mark they won't forget.

And guess what? Premieres are social media magnets. People love sharing their premiere experiences online. It's free, user-generated advertising that makes your brand known to a broader audience and adds extra oomph to your reputation.

Movie premieres are an event we at MDRN Activations love to be a part of. Contact us today to make your entertainment marketing dreams a reality, and bring your event to the next level.