Undeniably, for many of us, prank shows are a staple of our Ramadan routines. And although they may have started with simple productions like the late Ibrahim Nasr’s Zakeya Zakareya, they’ve gradually evolved into more complex creations.
Today, we bring you an inside look at one of the rather fresh, daring and innovative shows that emerged this Ramadan: ‘Khorshid’s Patent’ (or براءة اختراع خورشيد in Arabic).
While other prank shows were busy spending loads on conventional ideas that feature celebrities, ‘Khorshid’s Patent’ was knee-deep in pulling off the big magic trick of convincing its unsuspecting subjects that VR experiences can become reality!
We set out to unpack it all…
“I watched an commercial that employed the rapid change of surroundings we use on the show. That, coupled with observing how much Egyptians love idea of a very young inventor, regardless of how much of an inventor they really are, inspired me to conceive the show,” explained Raouf El Sayed, the director and executive producer of Khorshid’s Patent.
Director and Executive Producer Raouf El Sayed (left) on the set of Khorshid’s Patent | Photo via Mostafa Sadek
What the Show is all About From a Participant’s Point of View
If you were merely one of the show’s unsuspecting participants, your experience would begin with being asked to join a live broadcast on the street. It’s titled ‘The Future of Egypt’ (or Masr El Mosta2bal), and on it, you’ll be interviewed by the host, Yara El Gendy. On its set is Khorshid, a 12-year-old Egyptian who claims to be a genius inventor. His invention is a magical VR headset that everyone on set is persuading you to experience.
Should you question Khorshid’s authority or legitimacy, you’ll either be met with loads of unfamiliar but seemingly sophisticated terminology or you might get into trouble with his own personal bodyguard who lurks behind you.
You agree, climb on a square tile as instructed and put the headset. You’re in the middle of the street, what could go wrong? The first thing you see is a recorded message from Khorshid emphasizing that you should never take off the VR headset during the experience for your own safety. Khorshid’s recorded message further adds that if you take off your headset during the experiment, you could get trapped in your own thoughts and imagination. If that occurs, Khorshid asks you say the safe word “Halfe halfe doctor Khorshid.” Here’s a visual demonstration of how that plays out…
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And so the VR experience commences! You’ll find yourself immersed in a high-stake situation that heats up to a point where you feel in danger. The characters within it start looking your direction as they aggressively ask you to take off what you’re wearing on your head. A message inside the headset itself even reads “Take off your headset!” You eventually do and you find that a replica of what you’ve been watching has apparently become your reality…
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How the Magic Trick Works
Apart from disguising on the street as an ordinary live show with a twist, ‘Khorshid’s Patent’ went to great lengths to make sure the prank’s subjects remain clueless. For starters, the sound within the VR headset massively cancelled almost all noises surrounding the participants. This is crucial because as participants are immersed in the experience, a crew is taking on the tiresome task of constructing an entire room around them.
This room is a replica of the final room they’ll get stuck in eventually at the end of the VR video they’ve watched, with each actor dressing and standing almost exactly as they do in the headset. Once they’ve taken off the headset, they’re literally at the heart of the mayhem they’ve just witnessed. “Also, before a participant wears their headset, the room — which is quite near them — is disguised as a storefront. So, it doesn’t look suspicious at all,” elaborated Raouf El Sayed, the director and executive producer of Khorshid’s Patent.
“Because the idea is innovative, the job was more fun but also more challenging,” said Mostafa Sadek, one of the line producers at Khorshid’s Patent. “You’re trying out something new and you don’t really have a reference to how the participants will react.”
Members of the cast and crew of Khorshid’s Patent preparing for a new episode shoot | Photo via Mostafa Sadek
The company behind the show is Roof Productions, which was founded by El Sayed himself. It took care of producing the show and accomplishing their target episodes even though they started the process only two weeks prior to Ramadan.
This accomplishment includes casting, location scouting, shooting and editing the VR videos, constructing and continually changing the room’s decor and the actors’ costumes to fit the depicted situation, shooting the prank with random passers-by, wrapping it all up in post-production and of course directing it all. “We literally had to work around the clock to get the job done, sometimes sleeping for only two hours a day,” recalled Sadek. “We were shooting in Ramadan days and racing against the clock to finish before the curfew, so it was challenging all over for sure,” added El Sayed.
El Sayed’s early hands-on experience in filmmaking included working with the famed director of Transformers, Michael Bay and the director of Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg. Prior to that, he studied directing and theater production at New York Film Academy. His future plans include taking adapting Khorshid’s Patent in different Arab countries and launching a platform set to serve as a directory and a networking platform for filmmakers and everything related to their industry in Egypt and the Middle East.
You can watch Khorshid’s Patent exclusively on Watch It here: https://go.watchit.com/khorsid
