Skip to main content

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.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2020 Halloween Technology Updated

I've been thinking about the technical work required to create a multi-projector synchronized display. A previous post on the 2020 plan outlined some technologies to put together to make it happen. And, it was possible, albeit, time-consuming. I revisited a project that I hadn't looked too closely at before. Actually, until two years ago, it wouldn't have had the features that interested me, but it does now. It's called the Sprite Video Player by MedeaWiz and it's quite remarkable. But basically, you can load it with video and sound files and remotely command it to play a file on demand. It even works with DMX. That got me thinking about other DMX elements in the display, like lights and fog, and how I would conduct the various animations and scenes. The simple answer came from the fact that I already have some DMX components, including a USB-to-DMX connector and DMX lighting controllers. I can use a computer running either Vixen Lights or XLights and programmed seq...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Synchronized Video Produced for 2021

With the plan to use DMX synchronized video projections and lighting controllers, I have been getting busy with the setup for the 2021 Halloween display. This includes making sure the DMX hardware I have actually works and producing video content for the display. I feel that once I confirm the hardware will work, getting the hardware setup should be uneventful. The synchronized videos will require a lot more work, especially since I want to produce an hour long show (in order to not repeat the same scenes too often). I settled on four large video projectors for this season, but I know only where three of them are positioned. Figuring out where the fourth projector goes is eluding me and causing a little angst. I haven't tested the DMX controllers with the media players yet. I'm planning on testing them this weekend. This includes getting a DMX interface from the computer to the universe to work as well as sequencing software. I still have my Lynx USB-to-DMX interface but haven...
Post a Comment
Read more

Will 2022 be the Year for Projection Mapping?

I've wanted to set up a projection mapped Halloween display for years but have been hesitant for a few reasons. First, finding a good projector location will be a challenge. Next, it's hard to tell which projector will work well. And lastly, it will cut off access to the driveway and trick-or-treaters. This last one may not be that big of a deal. Given the way the porch comes out from the house, the projector location would be best over the driveway. But, this assumes that the side of the porch cover located between the porch and the garage would be mapped. This really isn't necessary. Positioning a projector at the midpoint of the house would be the best approach when dealing with a traditional keystone correction. This location, however, blocks part of the house from the projection. Last year I was able to set the garage projector to the left side of the driveway and still provide an approach to the porch. I belive that using this in conjunction with a projection map in t...
Post a Comment
Read more