Charles Belcher Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 If any of you saw our 2007 Evolution of Dance then you know that we do a mini-musical display every year rather than a collection of Christmas songs. The theme this year was "Up On The Housetop" and we actually built a 20' x 8' stage on the lower roof of our house where Mr.and Mrs. Santa Claus did a little comedy routine. The stage front was blacked out so the audience did not know it was even there until the Clauses took the stage.Trying to capture video and maintain a true representation of the story line is hard to accomplish because of the length so this year I decided to put together a 2008 Show Sampler. I condensed the 17.5 minute show to 6.5 minutes which hopefully retains the elements of the musical yet still keep the viewers interest.The video includes the following elements of the show:All narration by the talking elvesIntroBig splashy numberBodyTease for main featureMain featureFinale'In the video you will see the 3500 channels at work. The breakdown in channels is as follows:3200 channels of DMX controlling fog, snow, laser (not in the video), automated lighting fixtures in weatherproof enclosures, a LED video grid and LED X-Curtain tube lights on the house eve and roof. There are around 60,000 lights. The video grid and tube lighting on the house eves and roof are LED's. All other lights including the big trees, the three mega trees and mini trees used regular incandescent lights.I also included the video of the entire show song Toy Sack and the WIW video which includes daytime footage of the display components.2008 SHOW SAMPLER: http://vimeo.com/27355462008 TOY SACK: http://vimeo.com/27402542008 WIW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JII0PPYSwgUCharles and Vickie Belcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyfunk Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 WOW! WOW! and WOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsgrfx Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Absolutely WOW. I didn't do a show this year, sold some controllers because I needed the money, time to start building again I guess after seeing this. WOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsea300 Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 AMAZING!!! And that is a understatement!!!! Awesome Job!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Roberson Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I agee with everyone else. Absolutly awsome!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Ouellet Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 That is something else, very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyfunk Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 I loved the Mr.and Mrs. Santa Claus. I'd love to see the program that made them move. My kids loved watching it. You truely did a wonderful job.Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Slonka Jr Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Absolutely Fantastic! Great job!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Mitchell Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Charles,The Mr and Mrs. Claus animatronic puppets were just so lifelike it was amazing.Every year you guys go above and beyond. I'll add a couple more WOWs to all the others. You always have something that noone else is doing. I'd love to see it live someday.Magnifico!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Belcher Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 Brian Mitchell wrote: Charles,The Mr and Mrs. Claus animatronic puppets were just so lifelike it was amazing.Every year you guys go above and beyond. I'll add a couple more WOWs to all the others. You always have something that noone else is doing. I'd love to see it live someday.Magnifico!!Brian,The hardest part about the Santa puppets was hiding up in those trees and pulling the strings.:cool:Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Simmons Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Charles,Please add my series of WOW's to your collection. I couldn't wait to show it to my mate: "See, dear, all we need is another 3360 or so channels and a flat spot on our roof for the puppets..." Amazingly life-like indeed...George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 That looks like soo much fun... fun to watch and fun to "pull those strings". Excellent, EXCELLENT job!!! WOW!!!-Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShowProKevin Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 That was absolutely INcredible. Words cannot describe... I need to see this live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kzaas Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I guess it true! Everything is done bigger in Texas:). That display is totaly amazing. It gives me more inspiration for mine this year keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Belcher Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Wow, two comments out of nowhere in the middle of February! I was totally surprised when I found the notices in my email box.Kevin and kzaas, thank you for the kind words.Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Ancona Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Glad the post got a 'bumb', because I missed it the first time - glad I didn't miss it altogether!really great job - lots of effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Fantastic job Charles. You should be very proud.I have two questions. Did you make the fireworks? How did you weatherproof the light boxes on the roof?Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Belcher Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Robin wrote: Fantastic job Charles. You should be very proud.I have two questions. Did you make the fireworks? How did you weatherproof the light boxes on the roof?Thanks.Robin,Thanks for the compliment.I don't remember where I posted the "how to" on the fireworks, but here is what I did in short form.The fireworks consist of three parts; the "shaft" of light, the "explosions" and the "fallout".The shafts were 10' sticks of 1.5" PVC with four 100 ct. minis wrapped around each one. The explosions were the Storm I and Storm II outdoor versions from Action Lighting. The fallout were red and green strobes from Action as well. I found a pattern on the Storms that I thought would work for this effect and locked the pattern knob on the unit in place, then made sure the time duration on the software didn't allow the fixture to repeat that pattern. It just lit up in a circle from inside to outside one time only as if a shell were exploding. In normal mode the Storm cycles from one pattern to the next.I had 3 groups of 4 sticks of fireworks shafts (12 total) for a total of 48 channels. I had 4 total Storm units on 1 channel and 16 or so red and green strobes on another channel.The whole effect used 50 channels of control, which is a fairly expensive effect for a one or two second shot. I used it three times per show.The four automated lighting fixtures in the video were enclosed in professional weatherproof enclosures designed to do just that. They have both fans and heating elements on board. As you and most others already know, automated fixtures with either moving heads or moving yokes are NOT weatherproof, so something must be done to protect them when used outdoor.Contrary to popular belief programming a moving yoke or moving fixtures is not very hard. I did most of the programming in the "dark" after I mapped out where the beam was at the "home" or default position, and the 10%, 20%, 30% etc. for the pan and tilt.Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Charles,Thanks. I realized the fireworks were from Action after I watched the video a second time. To think that three years ago they had a sale on those for $49.00 each really makes me kick myself. However, I think I have come up with a way to make my own and they seem to be working.I thought the lights on the roof were the light bars and since I have not viewed them in a store was curious on how you weatherproofed them.The moving yokes are very nice and you have the perfect setup for them. I on the other hand have a little issue with 400 wire frames and 100 mini trees and the coro on the house. I don't think it would look good.Now if I had a wife that would dress like Mrs. Claus I would be dancing a jig too. Until then Santa just sets in the chair and has his picture taken with all the kids, young and old (few in between if you get my drift).One more question. How did you mount everything above your roof? I have some ideas but always interested in others.Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Belcher Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Robin wrote: Charles,Thanks. I realized the fireworks were from Action after I watched the video a second time. To think that three years ago they had a sale on those for $49.00 each really makes me kick myself. However, I think I have come up with a way to make my own and they seem to be working.I thought the lights on the roof were the light bars and since I have not viewed them in a store was curious on how you weatherproofed them.The moving yokes are very nice and you have the perfect setup for them. I on the other hand have a little issue with 400 wire frames and 100 mini trees and the coro on the house. I don't think it would look good.Now if I had a wife that would dress like Mrs. Claus I would be dancing a jig too. Until then Santa just sets in the chair and has his picture taken with all the kids, young and old (few in between if you get my drift).One more question. How did you mount everything above your roof? I have some ideas but always interested in others.Thanks again.Robin,Random answers:1) I made a PVC base for the shafts of firework lights that straddled the roof peak and was held in place with sandbags. The 1.5" PVC shafts slid into a 2" PVC base with nuts & bolts for added security.2)The roof peak and house eves were all done with X-Curtain LED tube lights. They have an IP65 weather rating and don't have a problem with rain at all.http://www.acclaimlighting.eu/index.php?id=38&L=13)I think I paid $100.00 for each Storm in early 2007 and I understand they didn't even ship any last year, but I don't know that for a fact.4)Jig dancing is pretty cool. It really personalizes the display.Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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