Mafalda
Immersive Experience Ideas
Quino's Study (Pocket Size People Style):
We could create a fictional version of Quino's study and animate it with Pocket Size People techniques.
As visitors enter this space Quino's sketch book comes to life and Mafalda walks out of the book and into the world. As she and her friends populate the objects within the room they comment on the world around them just like they do in the comic books - the only difference is that the Mafalda characters are as small as in the comic books and the world around them is as big as in the ‘normal’ world.
The animations and interactions with the objects in the room show visitors what Quino saw in his head and where he got his inspiration from. A TV, a radio, a globe, a chess set are objects in this room that come to life with Mafalda's comments as if they were Quino's source of inspiration:
For example, a little comic sized Mafalda sits in front of a normal sized radio listening to the news and commenting on it. Or she meets her dad as he attends to a real world sized house plant on Quino's desk. Or she sits down with Felipe at a real world sized chess game and exchanges her thoughts just like in the comic.
A pinboard with Quino's sketches on the wall could come to life, A little Mafalda character could escape from a picture with her mum and run into a picture with Susanita. A cosmic daydream shown in a sketch of Felipe could seep out of the frame and momentarily populate the ceiling with stars and planets. The money shown in a picture frame with Manolito in his dad’s shop could float out of the frame and into the room…
The beauty about this idea would be that the small Mafalda that everyone is familiar with inhabits the real world of real people and comments on the real life scale objects rather than her small comic book world. It would also show audiences what Quino might have imagined while working in bis study and which objects might have given him inspiration.
In this way visitors might start imagining Mafalda interacting with the objects within their own home and begin to think like Quino. Maybe it would make them imagine Mafalda sitting with them on their sofa commenting on the news shown on TV…
We imagine Mafalda to be a projected 2D character in Quino style and her thoughts and comments to pop up as projected thought/speech bubbles.
Example of how Mafalda scenes could be transformed by using real world objects...
Super Mafalda (Video Game):
We could create a space in which visitors can play a ‘physical’ video game in which a little projected Mafalda character tries to get back into a 2D comic but has to overcome physical real world domestic obstacles. She might have to jump over a real world bowl of soup and fight a real Barbie doll before she can run into a Mafalda picture frame where she is safe...
The game could also be about unlocking the next room. Similar to an escape room experience, only if a visitor (with the help of onlookers) can navigate Mafalda safely to the exit door next room will it open - as a big reveal it could be the Micropolis style room.
Mafalda Micropolis:
We could create a large space with a maquette town made from white or brown card(board) that contains all the locations that Mafalda goes to. Her house, her friend’s houses, her school, her father’s office, Manolito’s dad’s shop etc.
In this miniature world visitors will see the little Felipe sitting on a park bench wondering about the universe, Mafalda’s dad stuck on a commuter train full of people, her mum doing household chores inside her house seen through little windows…
This room could follow Quino's study where Mafalda escapes from one of Quino's sketch books and runs into the adjacent space where visitors see the little town animated with little projected characters. It could also be the last and biggest room of the entire experience. The town would be populated with sound effects but we imagine the Mafalda characters to be 2D Quino style animations with their thoughts/comments popping up in speech bubbles above their heads. We imagine 10 - 15 animated scenes.
Animated Mafalda Murals/Streetart:
We could animate Mafalda street art/murals with projections. This would be a mix of creating actual painted murals (indoors or outdoors at night time) and then bringing some parts of them to life with projections. For example in the mural in which Mafalda holds a gun the projection could show the explosion of flower bullets coming from the gun…
Mafalda Pantomime Show:
Maybe at the end of the experience the little projected Mafalda characters that have escaped from Quino's sketchbook need to be "captured" and put back into the pages of the comic books. In order to do that, a pantomime actor begins to interact with projections of Mafalda and her friends and tries to convince them to jump back into Mafalda books. This could link nicely with a gift shop in the adjacent room where these books are on display...
Mafalda AR:
Mafalda postcards or comics in the gift shop could be brought to life with an AR app using Quino's illustration style in 2D.
Comic Book Room:
A room, maybe the cafe or an "Instagram Room" could be designed to look like a Quino drawing of Mafalda's house.
