What do you do between sequences?

[ryebred]

I was wondering what most of you do between sequences in your shows? Do you turn all the lights on and leave them on like a static display? Do you run a looping animation sequence? Do you only leave on some of your lights?

I was planning on having five 10 minute sequences. Each sequence would run once every 30 minutes. So 10 minutes of music sequences and then 20 minutes in between. I am trying to plan out what I want to happen in those 20 minutes in between.

[jerryb721]

I just run my sequences continually, but I have 45 of them so unless you sit outside for a long time you wont see a song again for about 2 hours
One problem with having so many is unless you add elements to display each year no one notices the new songs.

[jimswinder]

ryebred wrote:

. So 10 minutes of music sequences and then 20 minutes in between. I am trying to plan out what I want to happen in those 20 minutes in between.

Me personally, I would only do that if you are also plan on running announcements so your audience knows when the next show(s) will start.

Not knowing when the next family may show up, I also run my shows back to back to back...

[Brad]

I have 18 songs for Christmas. I play two songs then run a radio bumper. The first break welcomes and reminds viewers to not block driveways or play the radio too loud. The remaining bumpers are just funny one liners with the station ID. The last bumper closes the show and reminds everyone to drive careful.


During the radio bumpers the lights go dark, except for the radio sign.

[rwertz]

I used to have a 10 minutes static lights period included in my show. But I saw people driving away without seeing the show. So I took a couple of my slower songs and turned them into pseudo-static sequences. They have ~90% of the lights on with a simple animation running on the trees or arches.

[Greg]

Last year I ran my shows back to back with short annoucements ever 3 or 4 songs. the first half hour is normal the second half of the hour the shows play in random with older songs rotated in. This year I am implementing a request system but the default show will be the same as last with new songs

[hawkeinc]

I pause between every song about 5 seconds with a few static elements on then go right into the next song. I also have an intro that lasts about 15 secs before the list starts over. I only use 4-6 songs each year so they can see them all without backing up the line.

[George Simmons]

I'm basically with Jerry. I have about 60 sequences and I group them into three different shows and run them consecutively during the evening. I run announcements after every third or fourth song. During the announcements the yard, except for the food shelf donation box, is dark. For the few seconds between songs with no announcements, the yard is also dark.

[jem5136]

This year I am planning on one of two things.
1) Play each song continuously and have a voiceover every two-three songs
or 2) Play a group of 4-6 songs, have an announcement and then a small break, maybe a minute or two so traffic can clear out,and then run the same songs again doing the same thing.
It all depends on how many songs you have and how much you want your electric bill to be, if you take short breaks, it may cut the bill by a few dollars.

Just my 2 cents.

Jesse

[jimswinder]

I am going to do pretty much what George does....

Weeknights I will run just Christmas Songs (about 8 or 9) for about 1/2 hour and continuously run those each weeknight.

Then on Friday and Saturday will run 3 or 4 different shows...Christmas Songs (Set 1), Classic Oldies (Set 2), Techno/Dance (Set 3) and repeat those three though the night, with the Techno/Dance only running after the young kids have gone to bed (hopefully) as some of the lyrics might not be appropriate for them.

Then on Christmas Eve I hope to play the "TOP TEN", voted on by the viewers via my website...

[GS]

rwertz wrote:

I used to have a 10 minutes static lights period included in my show. But I saw people driving away without seeing the show. So I took a couple of my slower songs and turned them into pseudo-static sequences. They have ~90% of the lights on with a simple animation running on the trees or arches.

I agree.
I'm a big fan of the slow moving color changes, almost static, rest period. Great for taking pictures and staging the next show. 5 minute slow songs like Canon work well for this.

Glenn

[lightzilla]

I follow Jerry, George, and Jim's idea and run 50 sequences, and after 4 songs an announcement comes on, then run another 4, then the announcement and so on.

I use the mini MP3 player/director unit and have my shows on 2 SD cards.

I also have the shows on 2 other SD cards but in this case I run 5 songs with a 1 minute break (for picture taken) then an announcement, then 5 more sequences play and so on.

So on busy days I run all the sequences, but on those cooler nights where there are not to many visitors I go to plan B.

Plan C is 5 songs, then a 15 minute "All lights on", announcement, 5 songs and so on.

Plan C are for those nights where the temperatures are between -33 to -49 Fahrenheit ., when very few cars show up.

The last 3 years for about 1 week in December there have been no cars do to very cold weather.

[jimswinder]

lightzilla wrote:

The last 3 years for about 1 week in December there have been no cars do to very cold weather.

It's a wonder you guys beat us in hockey with that attitude!!

[Don]

The first few weeks of my first year I was able to run more songs in a row. As the display has become more popular (with amazingly mostly the same songs) each year, I've had to adjust the number of songs and "reminders" in between.

Last year I was running 2-4 songs (in a row) on the weeknights and 1-2 songs (in a row) on the weekends.

[ryebred]

Thanks for the ideas. Sounds like most of you are running your sequences pretty much continuously. And it is a good point that you don't know when people will show up and if the display is static they might lose interest and drive away without seeing the show. The reasons I was thinking of having a break period are....

1.) To allow people to take pictures of the entire display with all lights on.
2.) To give my neighbors a break from the music and flashing lights.
3.) Being my first year, I will only have 10 songs sequenced so continuously playing would mean I would play through them all in 35-40 minutes and then would have to keep looping all night long.


But now you guys have me leaning more toward the continuous play with maybe only a 5 minute break in between for an announcement and pictures. I guess the beauty is I can always change things on the fly depending on how many people come to watch the show each night.

[Brian Mitchell]

I run a pretty complicated show. I have about 12 songs mixed into 8 different 8 minute or so shows. Shows start on each 1/4 hour. In between shows I play more Christmas music and announcements and have a sequence that slowly changes the lights and runs teasers on the elements. The music between shows does not repeat all night.

My wife or I are usually outside every night and we would go crazy with constant flashing lights. We had to do that one night a couple years ago due to a programming goof I had made and it wore us out in a couple hours.

This year I'm going to add in an announcement and a short "all on" for photo ops. I find it tough even for me to get a good photo with most everything on.

If I get enough songs I might go to a 10 on and 5 off format but I'll never go to a constant loop. I'm rotating almost all of my old songs out of the show this year.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

Jimswinder wrote (It's a wonder you guys beat us in hockey with that attitude!! )

that was easy we just tricked you guys, its like doing a christmas display its all in the attitude