For the first time ever, our Halloween 2008 setup will use some of the LOR controllers that we have for the Christmas light shows. I setup a standard 16 channel sequence that is adaptable to different sites. Consisting of 8 singing pumpkins, 4 flood lights (planned two Green and two Red), and 4 other ‘events’. The other ‘events’ are still being worked on, but as options could be: 4-5 bats on a single channel, two red fire truck rotary beacons, 3-5 strobe lights for a channel, flickering walkway lights, headlights for an accident scene, or something else that we think of doing with a controllable channel.

 

 

 

New for this year for us are DMX controlled spot lights. They are LED Spot lights that have Red, Green, and Blue LED's. They can be controlled to gradate thru all colors of the color spectrum. So basically, any color is possible from these. This allows for greater flexiblity and a wider range of colors to use on the house. They cost a little bit more than a single spot light but not after you factor in the option for mulitple colors. If you purchased a single solid color light per color, compared to the DMX controlled option, it's cheaper for the DMX lights.

 

 

 

We got the 8 singing pumpkins in and added more spot lights to round out the 16 LOR channels. Other 'events' will be built during the summer months in preperation for next year. The candles don't show up too well in the photo, but we used LED tea lights and PVC pipe to create the look of lots of candles. There is also a black light that created a different look at the porch. Next year, we also plan on building on more black light effects around the house. Plus of course, more lights and most likely another 16 channels of computer controlled sequences.

 

 

I used SoundForge to edit the various sound tracks and Halloween haunt sounds for greater production value. With two different outputs (left and right stereo sound) from the computer, we’d planned for just having PC speakers either under the singing pumpkins (left output) and the other speakers spaced around the other side of the yard (right output). This, combined with the ability to adjust the volume level from each speaker, should provide an entire yard full of various sites and sounds. With the pumpkins focused near the door for people to watch, the night time sounds of hauling wind and rain, in the graveyard scene, should proved a variety of sights and sounds within the yard. All plans are subject to modifications as we proceed. Plus, we like making changes, just to keep things different from time to time.

We picked up a DVD from BigScream TV and used many of the ideas from their suggestions. While we may not be innovative in our haunt, we hope that our neighborhood friends and families will enjoy our display. We want to be kid friendly and not go completely freaky scary, but still create an atmosphere for the Halloween flavor. We hope you enjoy our presentation.