beeiilll Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I am thinking of making some props for my display to expand on it as well as improve the overall experience for the people who see it.I am torn between whether to make a couple of animated faces and/or animated characters for the display or should I make a video screen with a projector and make that a central focus for things?The projector is certainly a more costly project up front but offers many more options for the shows.The faces or characters would be less costly but then are a pretty much set thing that only have the ability to have the animation changed for different songs.So which one would you think would be a better choice if you had to do one or the other?I would also be interested in the basic costs involved with a projection system if anyone has done one thank you.I have thought that the video screen would be great to use an old 10 foot C band dish for the screen and have it actuated so that it would lay down out of sight till I wanted to use it for portions of the display and then could raise it up to use and then back down when finished. I have a large lawn that can be used for several things and want to come up with some ideas for making props that will give me the ability to make different shows over the years without having to redo everything each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 beeiilll wrote: I am thinking of making some props for my display to expand on it as well as improve the overall experience for the people who see it.I am torn between whether to make a couple of animated faces and/or animated characters for the display or should I make a video screen with a projector and make that a central focus for things?The projector is certainly a more costly project up front but offers many more options for the shows.The faces or characters would be less costly but then are a pretty much set thing that only have the ability to have the animation changed for different songs.So which one would you think would be a better choice if you had to do one or the other?I would also be interested in the basic costs involved with a projection system if anyone has done one thank you.I have thought that the video screen would be great to use an old 10 foot C band dish for the screen and have it actuated so that it would lay down out of sight till I wanted to use it for portions of the display and then could raise it up to use and then back down when finished. I have a large lawn that can be used for several things and want to come up with some ideas for making props that will give me the ability to make different shows over the years without having to redo everything each year.I use all 3.For Halloween I use an animated coro pumpkin face, plus 2 video projectors - one for a large screen (4 by7 ft), another to make a "talking head".For Christmas I have 3 audioanimatronic (mechanical) figures, and use large screen projection with videos sync'd to the display.The younger kids love the mechanical figures, the adults the videos, so I find the variety useful.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 beeiilll wrote: So which one would you think would be a better choice if you had to do one or the other?I am not bashing those who use a video screen (have always wanted to do one myself), but if people wanted to watch a video, they could stay at home....guess it all depends what you are thinking of putting on the video screen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 jimswinder wrote: beeiilll wrote: So which one would you think would be a better choice if you had to do one or the other?I am not bashing those who use a video screen (have always wanted to do one myself), but if people wanted to watch a video, they could stay at home....guess it all depends what you are thinking of putting on the video screen...In my case its Santa conducting the display's music, the original Chipmunks (60's cartoon) singing the Chipmunk song, certain performers (ie A Williams, Carpenters, etc), singing their songs with the display sync'd to all of these. So it's not just watching a video, but a display synchronized one....After doing the video for 2 seasons, I can say it has been a much bigger hit with the public than I ever thought it would be, based on the feedback I have received!Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Greg Young wrote: In my case its Santa conducting the display's music, the original Chipmunks (60's cartoon) singing the Chipmunk song, certain performers (ie A Williams, Carpenters, etc), singing their songs with the display sync'd to all of these. So it's not just watching a video, but a display synchronized one....After doing the video for 2 seasons, I can say it has been a much bigger hit with the public than I ever thought it would be, based on the feedback I have received!I have often wondered about using a music video and projecting that instead of just the audio...but then I think that people will focus on the video instead of the lights... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I use videos in most of my sequences. I also have a singing tree fashioned after Brian Mitchell's tree. I guess it really depends on the age of the audience at any given time but I have gotten more comments on the singing tree and the virtual Santa every year from young and old alike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Thanks for the inputs so far.See I live in a small town that has approx. 900 full time residents and the closest next town is 25 miles away with any town/city of population size (ie greater than say 30,000 is over an hour away). Needless to say, this place is remote and then some.So I end up with maybe 100 people (if I'm lucky) that will see my show during the season.Therefore I want it to be the best I can put on for them. I am also very limited with money as the economy downturn has hurt us bad here with no signs of letting up for another year or two at least. So I have to make due with less just so I can survive and keep my house and things.I think that doing video as Greg said "So it's not just watching a video, but a display synchronized one...." will enhance the overall show and be more adaptable for changes in the future.I'm not against animated faces or characters, it's just that I can't really see the "bang for the buck" from them right now like a video would have? Maybe that is just me but I think video will give me more options and possiblities to do things with?Jim I can see why you would not want to do video. I mean who would want a big screen falling on someone?OH - That was bad huh? Sorry Jim, I just couldn't resist. When you told people on here about the tree crash I never felt so bad for someone and at the same time laughed so hard at how you explained it! That tale will live for a very long, long time.Anyway keep me in mind as to your thoughts.Believe me I can use the input.Just so you know how nuts I can be over this stuff. If you have ever looked at my web site and saw my house you might laugh to think that I had once looked at buying over 1500 feet of 1/4" rod and making my house look like a giant locomotive engine! I still look at it and think that it would be really cool to do but what a job eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 beeiilll wrote: Jim I can see why you would not want to do video. I mean who would want a big screen falling on someone?I don't think this one would hurt...too much anyway... Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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