One father is taking Halloween to the next level, combining virtual Zoom meetings with classic, spooky creatures in an epic costume of the year.
Forty-two-year-old Greg Dietzenbach from Marion, Iowa has been crafting unique costumes for his two children every Halloween. With the coronavirus pandemic, Dietzenbach wanted to continue the tradition while respecting these current unprecedented times.
The idea, he says, was inspired by remote learning.
“Social distancing has made my kids Zoom experts. It's how they attended school and see family and friends,” Dietzenbach said to NBC New York in a recent interview.
His 12-year-old daughter, Ada Dietzenbach, loved the idea, and the dynamic duo quickly jumped on the planning process. With an extensive background in graphic design, this father used his Adobe Illustrator skills as a creative director to build individual ‘scream Zoom screens’.
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“Fortunately, I work for a company that builds corporate environments and museums, so I had a large format printer at my disposal,” shared Dietzenbach.
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Recreating the video chat experience, this dad took every scary detail into account.
“I recreated the Zoom interface, adding subtle jokes like 666 Participants. Instead of ‘Share Screen’, it's ‘Share Scream’. I changed ‘End Meeting for All’ to ‘End Life’,” the Dad shared. Every monster on the costume was Ada transformed into character – each taking 1.5 hours to design.
The art was mounted on a foam board. It even includes a live screen using an iPad so everyone can join in the fun.
Click here to check out more of Dietzenbach’s elaborate costume designs, including a “Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Transformer” and “BB-8” from Star Wars.
