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Plan for Halloween 2020

I think Canton Chills has been a great success over the past 5 years. Big crowds formed in front of the house and children and adults alike have been entertained and terrified. The house has earned a reputation for frightening technical excellence.

Dawn and I talk about delivering a more kid-friendly experience every year. I still want it to be entertaining and amazing from a technical perspective. This translates into lots of planning.

Our goal: Provide a family-friendly experience that amazes all age groups.

The "family-friendly" part simply comes from using more comical animations and toning down the sound and special effects so as not to frighten more sensitive children (and parents). Walkways will be well lit, but scene lighting will still be theatrical. Scary sounds will be toned down and fog will be moved away from visitors.

Video projections, sound, and DMX driven lights (both static set lights and color settable floods, including strobe) will all be synchronized. A script that utilizes the entire scene will run through a series of scenes, skits, and songs. Background and ambient animations, lights, music, and sound will support the primary focus and provide an immersive experience.

To leverage existing resources, some projections will run independently of the synchronized show. For example, rats will be projected running along a wall.

Synchronization will be made possible using the dual HDMI ports on Raspberry Pi 4 systems and the OMX player with DBUS remote protocol. Resources will be loaded locally on each Pi (or downloaded from the master system). A script player will be developed that coordinates the execution of video and sound for each video output. Four Pi 4 systems can drive eight projections and eight sound channels. The studio's sound system and floor monitors can be used enhance sound and play the primary act when running. Built-in speakers or external speakers can enhance localized videos.


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