Background Scare: who's that behind you?
The best hiding place is already in your photo. A dark doorway behind the family. A gap beside the garden shed. Somewhere a person could stand without being the first thing you notice. Background Scares places an unwelcome guest in the dark corners of your photo to create an eerie version of it, turning an ordinary picture into a tiny horror scene.
Inspired by classic horror movies that make you say, 'OMG, did you see that? ', creating tension in the scene as you watch the character carry on with some normal routine, unaware of the dangers that lurk in their environment.
Halloween (1978): a figure half-hidden by a hedge. Film still via The Carolina Theatre.
The Strangers (2008): someone is standing behind her. Film still via IMDb.
Background Scares uses Visual Intelligence to find a hiding place behind the people in your photo, with room for the figure to emerge.
The garden before the appearance.
A pale face emerges in the shed doorway.
The Porcelain Doll waits behind them.
Pick who shouldn't be there
We created a variety of frightening characters for you to choose from, inspired by classic horror films and the eerie moments we can't shake from our memories.
Burlap Button Eyes
Thin Grinning Clown
Porcelain Doll
Ventriloquist Dummy
Cracked Boy Doll
Wet Woman
Become the Werewolf
The face is where you want to look. In this sample, the jaw pushes forward, teeth crowd into the mouth and fur spreads across the face as the human expression becomes a snarl. The shot stays close enough to watch the change happen.
01The face before the change
02The transformation takes shape
03The finished creature
Swipe through the frames
We wanted the transformation itself to be the part you'd replay. A finished creature portrait gives you one striking image; the film lets you watch the person in the photograph become that creature, with the uncomfortable stages in between.
This is our cinematic Werewolf transformation. It takes its inspiration from the physical transformations we loved in horror films. The sequence above shows the original face, a moment halfway through and the creature at the end. Play the sample to see what happens between them.
For the story behind those stretched features and growing teeth, read how we built the Werewolf transformation.
A birthday wizard. A party zombie.
The candles have just been blown out. Smoke curls up from the cake, gathers around the face and clears to reveal a pointed hat and a long silver beard. The kitchen and the birthday moment are still there. The person at the table has become a wizard.
01Blowing out the candles
02Smoke gathers around the face
03The Wizard emerges
Swipe through the frames
Make-up FX lets you choose the pieces of the costume. For the Wizard, select the crooked felt hat, the silver beard and bushy brows, the warts, or the combination you want. Here's the design sheet behind the look.
The Zombie has its own choices: worn clothing, transformed skin and an origin-story scar. The clothing treatment ages the outfit already in the photo, so your party shirt can survive the transformation looking like it's had a very bad night.
Choose the Wizard pieces: hat; beard and brows; warts.
01The birthday scene
02The face begins to change
03The Zombie reveal
Swipe through the frames
Suit up. Then take off.
For a Halloween power-up, make an entrance with a custom Mech Suit transformation and flight sequence that's straight out of your favourite action film, video game or comic! Pick a frame, finish, and colour, and customize the helmet, power core and glow effects!
Choose your frameAgile, Heavy, Assault or Aerial.
Give the armor its finishPolished Metal, Matte Armor, Brushed Titanium or Crystal Composite.
Find your faceplateSix helmets, from Slit Visor to Crown.
Pick the heart of the suitEight power-core shapes.
Choose how it shinesSix lighting treatments, from Outline to Layered.
From a suit and tie to a suit that flies
Here's one we made: an ordinary photo at the front door becomes a purple-and-gold Mech, with a panoramic helmet, winged shoulders and a glowing circular core. Same person. A very different entrance.
The original photo
Your Custom Mech
01The armor takes shape
02Completed transformation
03Thrusters on. Time to fly.
Swipe through the frames
Press play to watch the armor form around him, the helmet close and the wings unfold. Then the door opens, the Mech floats outside and the thrusters fire. Fourteen seconds from suit and tie to takeoff.
Start with a photo of one person, choose your suit and put yourself in the scene.
Pick the photo. Choose the moment.
For a background scare, look for a scene with room for something unexpected: a doorway, a window or a corner behind you. For a transformation, start with a clear view of the person you want to change. If you're taking new pictures, our Halloween photo ideas include family shots and ways to work with the light at home.
We build the character, the transformation and the camera movement into each Momento. Your part is choosing the photo and the experience you want to put yourself in.
Want a Halloween photo idea you can try with the pictures you already have? Find the hiding place in a family photo, give a birthday portrait a Wizard makeover, or turn a suited-up entrance into a flying Mech. Watch the samples, choose your favorite, and picture yourself in it.
