Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Jacqueline Goehner, Jordan Lambert, and Chrissy Lynn discussed fragrance’s role in storytelling Friday at 2:30 PM in Hyatt’s Grand Hall C. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab has been brewing up fragrances in their Los Angeles lair since 2000. Their catalog runs the gamut from room sprays to nail polishes, but their most prominent offering is perfume oils.
Scent is widely known to be deeply linked to memory, activating the hippocampus. Newer research indicates that scent also triggers emotion via the amygdala.
Fragrance oils have been used on the hair and body for millennia, but their applications are not limited to the physical. Fragrance may be used by a dungeon master to build an environment, by a theme park designer to enhance the atmosphere, or by friends to share a memory. The panel noted that sentiments evoked by scents tend to be both specific and widespread; for example, the smell of freshly-baked cookies usually reminds people of domestic comfort. Visuals may have varied interpretations, sounds are subjective, but scent is uniquely universal.
Scent’s role in media is growing thanks to technological advances. The 80s stationery staple scratch-and-sniff sticker is seeing a resurgence with more accurate scents than ever. Films screened in 4DX and MX4D resemble the 4D movie experience previously only available at theme parks but at a feature-length scale. As scenes progress, theaters pump in specific scents such as tar and sweat in order to enhance the moviegoing experience. OVR Technology’s Omara Scent Display recently completed a Kickstarter fundraising run. The Omara uses a 16-scent cassette in order to release aromas during gameplay as players encounter certain in-game objects.
The panelists agreed that perception of scent is often shared via culture, but lived experience and body chemistry make scent ultimately personal. The fragrance a person uses on themselves and their periphery is evocative but also difficult to define in absolutes. This dichotomy allows scent to be enjoyed by both user and bystander–both are “smellers.” To use a Dragon Con-apt example, scent is not just for dungeon crawlers but also the dungeon-master.
