Deadwood Valley
The conceptual genesis of Deadwood Valley was a direct response to the massive cultural wave of 2023 that pushed cowboy core and Western aesthetics straight into the mainstream. This trend was prominent across major pop culture moments like Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, and the rising prominence of Orville Peck. Heavily inspired by these macro trends, as well as my own music tastes at the time, specifically Beyoncé and Orville Peck, the inspiration to do an eerie, Old West ghost town was born.
Learning from the production situation of the previous year, where fabrication time was almost entirely consumed by a single hero piece, this project deliberately decentralized the design efforts. The layout was engineered around several medium hero props, a multi-asset approach that allowed for a more even spattering of scenic elements throughout the space. Deadwood Valley stands as my most thoroughly planned and immersive environment yet.
Scenic Elements
Old West Chapel & Graveyard: Serving as the structural anchor of the valley, this weathered church marked our first time fabricating a building facade. Inspired by real historical frontier chapels, the 1/3 scale was a deliberate solution to time and space constraints, resulting in a forced-perspective piece that looks full scale from a distance or in specific photo compositions. Spreading out from its base is the town graveyard, featuring custom-fabricated tombstones inspired directly by authentic old west grave stones. To deepen the environmental storytelling, thin, minimalist markers were crafted to represent the town's poorer, less prominent citizens, while larger, more ornate gravestones marked society's wealthier members.
Sunset Sally’s Saloon Sign & Swinging Saloon Doors: Serving as the primary environmental anchor for the indoor space, this hand-painted sign establishes the saloon's identity right at the threshold. The weathered frontier typography instantly sets a moody, historic tone for the low-lit saloon space inside the house. To make the transition into Sunset Sally's Saloon truly memorable, real, dual-swinging wooden saloon doors were installed at the main entry threshold. This served as a premier activation point, encouraging guests to physically burst through the swinging barriers like an old-school western movie, creating a high-value physical interaction engineered specifically for dynamic video capture.
Full-Sized Wooden Coffin: Positioned amidst the eerie cacti, this rugged, wooden toe-pincher coffin serves as a primary medium hero prop and interactive guest activation. It was built to comfortably accommodate a fully grown adult, using my brother's 6'2" frame as our engineering baseline. The coffin was bolted securely to the perimeter fence line at a slight backward angle. This allowed guests to physically climb inside, lean back into the frame, and suddenly pop back out for perfect interactive social-media moments.
Lighting and Fog Effects: Environmental immersion was achieved using a single-chiller fog system to blanket the space in a moving mist, paired with locally sourced tumbleweeds that added a classic western desert element. The lighting scheme relied heavily on a saturated, bold red and purple color profile. To optimize the atmospheric design durring the event, the fog output was configured to emerge exclusively from the church and graveyard; because the wind normally blows slowly east across the yard, this allowed the natural airflow to perfectly carry the mist across the entire landscape.
Stylized Saguaro Cacti: Inspired by classic moonlit desert silhouettes, I created a collection of eight custom-fabricated saguaro cacti designed with a custom shape language and rough texture to give them an eerie, stylized look. These eight assets were intentionally placed throughout the entire outdoor area to maximize thematic immersion, add distinct vertical scale, and enrich the sightlines. Each cactus features a wooden base, and to completely conceal this structural base plate, we layered jagged, pointed sticks and desert foliage around the bottom.
Wanted Poster: This oversized poster cutout frame features distressed detailing and custom lettering. It serves as an interactive photo-op and guest activation point, allowing attendees to hold the frame and transform from passive viewers into active, living characters within the town's lore for social media video capture.
Fabrication & Process
