Lighting Ceremony question

[tmadak]

Hi Everyone,

What do you do for your lighting ceremony? Do you have one or just turn on the lights on a given date? Just wondering, please let me know.

Thanks

Tom

[daniel]

I just turn them on... No-one knows, no neighbors. For my show, I do a personal night, the first show is run with the speakers low, just to test. and the rest I listen to the music through wireless headphones. Durring the next day I crank up the sound to show-level and fine tune the speaker placement. That night I run everything full for the first time. So I get about one night of test, and one night of "final-release" test, after that, I tell everyone!




--Daniel L

[tmadak]

Thanks. I was thinking of notifying the neighbors and having them be the "first" to watch the show. I have a culdesac across the street that is a good viewing point. Thought I'd invite the neighbors to byob, chair and come enjoy the lights.

Thanks for your input.

Anyone else do anything special?

[tmadak]

Thanks Jeff,

Do your neighbors know to expect your lights on the day after Thanksgiving? This is my first light show so no one would expect them at least until they saw them.

One other question I had is; Do you just repeat your sequences every 17 minutes in the schedule editor? Do you mix up different songs or just use the same ones. I had planned to have my show have a starting sequence and an ending sequence that are the same all the time, but mix up songs in the middle thoughout the night.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again

Tom

[Guest wbottomley]

I'm having an entertaining ceremony. Santa will be here, and I will draw a name out of a hat from all of the children that show up. Why the name drawing, that's the lucky one to turn the lights on (interactive support).

No secrets will be given on how it's done until the show has kicked-off. One hint: you've seen this thing thousands of times.

Video will be posted of the event that weekend.

[Dale W]

I turn them on after I get everything connected. there is not a ceremony as I spend my first few minutes inspecting everything to make sure it is the way it should be.

It generally takes me about a day or so to get any bugs worked out (replacing bulbs, fuses, moving wires out of low spots). By that time, the newness is worn off and I am worn out.

[Dale W]

tmadak wrote:

Thanks Jeff,

Do your neighbors know to expect your lights on the day after Thanksgiving? This is my first light show so no one would expect them at least until they saw them.

One other question I had is; Do you just repeat your sequences every 17 minutes in the schedule editor? Do you mix up different songs or just use the same ones. I had planned to have my show have a starting sequence and an ending sequence that are the same all the time, but mix up songs in the middle thoughout the night.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again

Tom

I just loop my songs, that way anybody that comes in the middle can watch it until the spot they came in on.

I think (and this is just my opinion) that starting shows on the 1/2 hours is not good for those that may have driven hours and waited in traffic to get to your home and see static. Talk about a letdown (it happened to me years ago when there was a fellow in town that used Vixen).

Nothing is worse that getting lost in a neighborhood looking for "the house" only to find that it is off or at 50% for the nest 10 minutes. If you wait, you block traffic. If you go, you have wasted your evening.

That is why I loop the songs and keep them in the same order all night long.

[tmadak]

Thanks Dale,

My show is approx. 15 minutes long and then repeats. The first and last songs are the same everytime, but the middle songs are different until I run out of songs and then they repeat also. I agree with your statement that there is nothing worst than going to see something and not have it available. This way I always have something (lights) going on all the time. People would here the first or last song and be able to identify the repeats or cycles.

Thanks again

Tom

[Jacksback72]

I have always turned my lights on the night of Thanksgiving at 5:30 pm but due to the amount of people - I have backed this off for the first time ever until 11/30/07.

I have an 18 minute musical program and then a static for 42 minutes so everyone can walk around and take pictures and it loops itself from 5:30 to 10 pm everynight until New Year's Eve.

Having that 42 minutes of music playing and lights on gives people time to leave and the next group to show up.

The police shut down my culdesac and people walk a block to get there evry hour, everyday. It's really crazy but amazing at the same time.

Bill

[pixeldigger]

Last year, we made gallons of Hot chocolate and coffee and plates and plates of brownies and cookies, and invited all of the neighbors for a preview the night before Thanksgiving, and ran the show all the way through (about 20 minutes) once, to let them know what was coming up.
I actually started the show itself on thankgiving night and ran through new years.

[Robin]

Actually, I don't tell anyone. That way if I have really messed things up I will be the only one to know. Then I have a few days to fix stuff.

[Tom B.]

Hi Tom,

Last year the neighborhood had a little lighting party that started outside of my house. People brought "stuff" to eat and drink, and then we watched my show, chatted for awhile, then walked around the neighborhood.

Due to some problems with my display, I finished plugging everything in at 6:00pm. And the show ran at 7:00 for the first time. I was a bit nervous.

I make sure everything is live a functioning when I plug it all it, so I wasn't concerned that it would light up, but I had not seen a couple of the sequences prior to it running that eve.

This year, we are discussing some changes, perhaps having the "neighborhood" party a week later (so more people can come for the party part). But, I will still light up the show on Friday after thanksgiving. This will give me time to do debugging, and to work on refinements to the show.

Of course, my story that I tell myself every year ... "I will have the complete display up one week early ... which will give me time to do sequence, refine, test, etc. This has turned out to be a "big lie" every year -- I cannot seem to stop working on it, until the lights go on. I think this is referred to as an addiction.

As for my show, I fall into the "constant looping camp". Since people tend to sit through the show until they hear a repeat, my show actually has a short show, and a long show. In other words, the songs are lined up with maybe 5 sequences, then they repeat but the 2nd time with 8 or 9 sequences/songs (5 songs are the same). This causes the traffic to keep moving.

Also the voice over runs at the beginning of each short or long show, reminding people to dim their lights, not block driveways, and stay in their cars (for safety).

Hope this helps.

T.

[tmadak]

Thanks everyone for sharing. They all sound like good ideas. I must say I'm nervious about this since this is my first.

Tom

[roadrat]

Downtown has a Salvation Army Tree of lights Ceremony the Fri. before Thanksgiving at 6PM. My tradition is to beat it by five minutes.