Attractions: Alive Museum

Attractions: Alive Museum

Hi all, its probably the first time im gonna do a review on a attraction itself, although i actually have a lot of them in storage that needs time to put into writing such as theme parks and zoos or gardens.

Since in Singapore, there recently been a sudden opening of not 1 but two such photo taking attractions called the Trick eye Museum which is in Sentosa, and Alive Museum in Suntec City, it would make sense to do a bit of a review on the one I visited. These museums are the latest in thing that was brought over from Korea which first opened this kind of photo taking museum. The draw of these places are that there are many pictures painted on the floor and walls and you can take pretty artistic real looking pictures. There are some photo spots with other additional props. Heck might as well show you what pictures I took to let you know what I am talking about before I focus on the ratings!

This is the place, or at least the signboard of the place!

This is the place

 Not sure whats the relevance of the dragon little creature!

These are the rates!

 Note that if you pay with certain cards such as for me it was POSB DBS master card, there are discounted prices. Heard you can get the tickets from groupon also. Mine cost me 20 SGD so you can use this as a reference!

So this is the first picture that I took and as you can see, where you stand is important, and also hoping that the shadows from the lights don't screw up your picture. Will give you all a veryveryvery important tip at the end of this review so don't miss it!

So what kind of pictures will you get, here you go! Obviously I did not upload all the pictures, but all the pictures that chose to upload will have a specific reason that I uploaded it. There might be some advices given to help you guys take better pictures there!

Must Cover nudity!! THERE ARE CHILREN HERE!

 First of all, this is not the place for you to bring your kids if you cannot take nudity... even those of the arty farty kind... There is nude bums as well as breasts in this place so don't say i didnt warn you! Of course they are all just pictures but you get what i am saying

Me the king! Muahahah

 There are some more elaborate setups with 3D figures all around to create the scene. But note that when you take the picture try to make sure the edges of the picture are within the scene itself. If you look at the top of the picture you can see the black backdrop that takes away from the immersion

ME and my mama!

 Some pictures are pretty safe like this one here, you have to climb into the belly that pays with perspectives. As long as you take the picture from the prescribed photo points, this picture will look nice. Don't stand at an angle for this picture though. You can also see that this whole picture is within the scene itself. So make sure you zoom in if necessary.

Me and my good bud Michael having a moment

There are some shots that are slightly physically exhausting and you might not be able to hold the pose for a while.. so make sure you are well rested and fit! like me :) with my giant muscles and all that

I'm supposed to be falling somewhere i guess

There are some shots that are pretty hard to take to have the effect shown. Like this one for example, the lighting is very bright which means most likely your faces will be dark. I seen some people just put their feet around and take the photo directly downwards.. Guess that might work...

Hanging over Singapore!!!

There are some pictures that span across the entire room or floor like this one. Only problem is, for this picture, the door is directly behind the pole which means if people keep not cooperating and coming in, you are going to have a nightmare taking the picture.

Me and my trademark 1 finger handstand! Still need
the wall for some support

As you can see, some of the other photos require you to be extremely physically fit... so sorry if you guys can't take the picture like me... but I mean my fruits of training are finally showing... No worries about this picture if you can't take it...

BAD KITTY Why do u catch me instead of delicious mousie

 Some of the exhibits sometimes get angry and might squeeze you a bit too hard. So dun be afraid to scold the naughty little kitty. Also for girls be careful of the cutie mouse over here. Such a darling mousey.. by the way, some pictures will have places to sit on and stuff, so try to make sure you hide them using your body, or the photo angle. Look closely in the picture above and see the box That i was sitting on. It would have disappeared if the photographer was slightly more to the left.

Woops so this is how I did it

Okok the picture 2 pictures above was really taken like this... If you wanted it to look more real however, you can try making your shirt hang down a little bit as if pulled down by gravity... Floor remember... might not be necessarily clean.. So I won't recommend a white shirt or dress for the ladies... Also... SKIRTS!! you may need to lie on the ground so just note this..

NIGHT FEVA NIGHT FEVAAA

There was also this other room that was filled with mirrors and because of that, you may mistakenly take strangers into your pictures like what you can see behind me. Also again here.. SKIRTS! The floor is a mirror in this room and it is lighted so be careful if you are going with "Just friends" and your friend is a guy and you are a girl and you get the idea

DIE ZHANG FEI you are no match for me
I am a true dynasty warrior!

There are some air shots that you need to take so you need to be able to jump high..... Ok fine just kidding. Here is another shot where you need to lie down so make sure you place yourself nicely. For this picture, your legs must definately bend to look like you are jumping. If you keep it straight it will look totally strange..

Finally showing my Olympic talents at table tennis

Ok some learning points in this picture, first, enjoy yourself and exaggerate your pose a bit! only then it looks fine... next you can now see what happens when you dont zoom in enough. You can see the two ugly corners!! So just take note of this when you take your pictures

Besides being immensely strong, I am also
immensely flexible see??

Ok at this point you probably already know that thats not my body, because my body will be a bit more slimmer then that.. but nonetheless, for these pictures try to make sure other parts of your body are not seen such as my shoulder and the blue shirt I was wearing!

AHH The picture is spilling penguins!

Finally, the last thing to take note of when taking pictures, make sure you don't reveal stuff that you are not supposed to reveal.. If you look closely in this picture, you can see that I am actually doing a rather sexy advertisement for Calvin Klein so unless you are as sexy as me, try to double check all this!

I will now do the review and after that summarize all the tips that I got from my visit there!! Being my first attraction review I will also write what are the areas covered!

Fun Factor 3.5/5 (The amount of enjoyment derived by smiles, laughs and happiness)

There is a good amount of sculptures or wall paintings with different styles and methods of taking a good picture. The joy when you get a pretty good picture is pretty good and you will see many people posting the nice pictures online. Overall, it should be enjoyable to most people especially people who are going to this type of museum for the first time.

Family 3/5 (Is this place really suited for family fun inclusive of children)

Kids will be entertained by the pictures, but lets be honest about this, this place is not meant for kids. The pictures are all already painted on and at best you probably only have about 10 pictures that the kids can do something with. Stuff where you will put your heads in will look terribly tiny for kids.

But why not fail on the score department?!?! Because kids don't bother! They like the nice color and they will be happy with whatever pictures you put them in even if they do not turn out nice. So no worries, bring your kids, they will have fun and if that is what makes you happy it will be good enough. Note that you gotta make sure your kids dont go photo bomb other people's picture too

Price Worth 3.5/5 (Cost of ticket versus time spent and fulfillment)

Ok the stated price for an adult is actually 25 dollars, but i paid 20 dollars to go in. 20 dollars easily will give this a 3.5 rating whilst 25 dollars might be a bit too pricy for me and it might just be worth a 3 dollar.

Compared to a movie that will last 2 hours at 13 dollars, this attraction took us about 2 hours to clear and we did it relatively slowly. Of course the results of this attraction can last for a while and I see no reason to return in the next 4 to 5 years its a reasonable price.

Atmosphere 3/5 (Service and overall feel of the attraction)

The atmosphere was ok, the service staff were quick to tell you how long the wait was going to be but of course there are some sad quirks like there is no readmission as well as no toilet within the attraction.

There is too little staff spread across the grounds also and not many were willing to give advise on how some pictures were to be taken. The attraction also feels entirely cramped with some of the photo sets impossible to take. The wolverine claw picture in this place is impossible to take without people behind you or without a person who is thick skinned enough to chase the people away.

Accessibility 3.5/5 (Ease of getting to attraction and getting into attraction)

Being situated in Suntec city means it is extremely easy to get to. There was a short queue however but it was on a Saturaday late afternoon from about 3 to 6 so expect this if you are going at that time.

Spectacle 3.5/5 (How does this place stand out among other similar attractions)

From the results of the picture taken, it seems to be pretty similar to the results from the other attractions such as Trick eye of the one in Korea so a fair score is given here. Even though the pictures were nice however, it was not a fantastic superb experience as there were issues such as lighting and too little backdrop causing u to need to zoom in quite a bit on the cameras. On the other hand, the queue overhere is slightly smaller and it seems like it is a bit more bigger then trick eye museum.

Overall

Fun: 3.5 (It is fun to get a nice pose and also keep the picture as a memory and share it around)
Family: 3 (Kids will enjoy it although not meant for it, there are many pictures for couples too)
Price worth: 3.5 (Reasonably 2 hours spent in this attraction and you probably will only feel the need to go there once in a blue moon like 5 years)
Atmosphere: 3 (Service staff a bit too little, no music or anything to help entertain.)
Accessibility: 3.5 (Central of Singapore, has a queue but not spectacularly long)
Spectacle: 3.5 (Has good picture taking spots with different styles but the overall ease of taking pictures and lighting made it a bit difficult)

Overall: 3.33 (This score is indicative of a place that you should go to at least once in your life, you probably wont need to go back to the same place after that but also make sure you are prepared cause the whole experience probably won't go as well as you planned such as long queues and other inconveniences, its worth the 20 dollars admission but for a even cheaper price, it will help interest people to go back again)


Now for a summary of advice to those who intend to go

1. Check for discounted prices cause there might be discounts even at the counter
2. Try to plan to go on a weekday morning as much as possible as the thinner crowd will allow a better overall experience (more time to take pictures, less need to chase people out of your shot)
3. If you are bringing kids, be prepared that not all exhibits can be fully utilized and control them to not create fuss for others
4. Dress correctly, skirts would require extra care to not allow people to see things they shouldn't and also there will be some lying on the ground 
5. Don't bother bringing tripods, no time for you to set up, be prepared to ask others (even strangers) to help you take pictures cause they won't have enough staff to help you out. Best if you can bribe someone to be your photographer
6. Not all pictures taken from the photo points turn out best
7. Zoom in if needed to make sure you don't take any corners or undesigned walls
8. Remember to go to the toilet first before you enter, there is no toilet (although you could try to convince the guy at the exit to allow reentry)
9. Be creative with the pictures, exaggerate and have fun!
10. Set aside about 2 hours to for the entire experience
11. Bring a professional camera if you want but MOST photos can be done with your normal handphone cam as they already have some lighting
12. Refer to the notes on the walls for ideas on how to pose
13. When taking pictures, make sure shots of your underwear are not seen, unless they are like mine :P

With this advice, I hope you will have a good time at the Alive museum, but one final piece of advice which is the most most most most important!

PLEASE REMOVE THE TIME STAMP FUNCTION ON YOUR CAMERA OR PHONE CAMERA OR ELSE ALL YOUR PICTURES WILL TURN OUT LIKE MINE!