jtomason Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 The display has gotten somewhat popular this year, and I'm confronting issues I've never had to confront before. I've seen threads over the years that dealt with some of the issues I'm facing, but I'd like to get a fresh perspective on how to tackle them. So, I'm looking for recommendations on: 1. An alternative to the now-retired Demented Elf for Christmas-themed voiceovers. I've seen Fiver mentioned, but specifically want someone that can do Santa, or an elf, etc. 2. Traffic management. My yard is fenced off, and the people who come to see the show tend to park off the side of the road, keep their parking lights on, and generally act appropriately. However, I've seen all of the following and want to avoid an accident or worse: People stopping in the roadway, people pulling over onto the wrong side of the street (and leaving their headlights on), parents letting kids run around on both sides of and in/across the street - which is unfortunately one of the roads leading into and out of the neighborhood and one in which the 30mph speed limit is too often treated as a mere suggestion to be blatantly ignored. I have tried some text-to-speech products to make voiceovers, but the quality is so-so at best and bad at worst. When we had a half-dozen kids running amok amidst a lot of traffic, I shut the show down completely for 10 minutes - AND NO ONE LEFT. I wound up starting it back up, and fortunately I think the parents may have gotten the idea because they seemed to be under control from that point forward, but still. I think a voiceover might help with much of this ("Please park off the roadway on the proper side of the street and maintain control over your children"). Has anyone had success in this regard? I have also contacted the local police to ask for more targeted speed enforcement and am awaiting a call back. Even when the show is not on, the road is kinda dangerous. Any words of advice are much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a31ford Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 (edited) got something coming at you... hold on.. wrong computer...give me a bit.. Edited December 12, 2018 by a31ford wrong computer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a31ford Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 check LOR Mail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a31ford Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Hope those work well for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpageler Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Unfortuneatly, It's hard to fix "stupid" in manypeople. Being stupid is being clueless to the surronding situation, lack of patiences and to some degree, entitlement. Here's a good traffic management article by John Storm (member) on his ListToOurLights website. Managing Traffice Article Or.... Get FM transmitter with microphone input so you can scold people. That would be interesting to see their reaction. 😏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibblejr Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 (edited) Voice Vox is what I have used for VO’s before I heard of DE. You can choose different voices if you don’t like the way yours sound. VO’s take me longer to do than a singing face sequence. Write it on paper and still can’t get it right. I am a perfectionist though. * disclaimer Sorry i do not do VO’s for anyone. The last time someone asked me to sequence a few VO’s, I agreed thinking they were sending me DEs work to sequence the face. I have done this a lot for forum members. Nope- they sent me an MP3 (their VO) and thought I could do the entire VO and the faces. JR Edited December 13, 2018 by dibblejr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlogan Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 18 hours ago, jtomason said: When we had a half-dozen kids running amok amidst a lot of traffic, I shut the show down completely for 10 minutes - AND NO ONE LEFT. I wound up starting it back up, and fortunately I think the parents may have gotten the idea because they seemed to be under control from that point forward, but still. I think a voiceover might help with much of this ("Please park off the roadway on the proper side of the street and maintain control over your children"). Has anyone had success in this regard? I haven't had this problem with Christmas lights show but had it for outdoor movie night. I used to set up and outdoor theater for the neighborhood and after seeing the way the kids ran around, I picked up roll of yellow caution tape and ran it around the equipment (amp, projector, etc). The FIRST kids to arrive, started running around and one ran up to the tape, lifted it up, ducked under, ran across the front of the equipment, lifted up the tape, ducked under and ran off. It would have been faster to go around! I had to yell at them to NOT cross the tape. Parents didn't seem to care at all. I ran a little announcement before the show saying things like, please turn off your cell phones, no throwing things at the screen, don't poke your sister, sit still, no talking and one kid yells out, "You can't tell me what to do." Needless to say, we don't do outdoor movie nights any longer. Just seems to me that kids just aren't taught how to act in public anymore. And, yeah GET OFF MY LAWN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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