jim6918 Posted September 13, 2009 Posted September 13, 2009 Just wondering what show length works for most LOR'ers. I live in a residential area with neighbors on both sides and across the street. Due to trees on one side of my property, the best vehicle approach is from the west, although you can still see the whole house coming from the east if you stop directly in front. I had originally thought about having 3 "mostly" different shows so that visitors didn't need to stay too long before the show repeats, thus turning traffic over more often. I guess I went nuts sequencing and the three show are 26, 20 and 19 minutes in length. Originally I was thinking about 12 - 14 minutes show length each. Now I am thinking about making 4 or maybe even 5 different shows, to run on consecutive nights. I know our situations are all different, but I am curious what show lengths work best for you and why.
Don Posted September 13, 2009 Posted September 13, 2009 You are right, every display is going to be different.Personally, I've found that it's almost impossible to predict how long people are going to stay and watch your display. After the first week of doing my display, I completely ditched the notion of doing a 'show' as it were.Instead I run songs in sets. Weeknights I'll run anywhere from 3-6 songs in a set. Weekends I'll lower that to anywhere from 2-4 songs per set. I've found that most people will leave when they hear a 'repeat.'I don't think that you can plan for this your first year. It's something that you have be willing to change once you get up and running for a few days/weeks.
George Simmons Posted September 13, 2009 Posted September 13, 2009 I agree with Don. It depends a great deal on the traffic. If it starts backing up, you might want to shorten up the time between repeats. Do whatever you personally like and then make adjustments when you need to. If it looks great and people want to stay and watch for a while and that doesn't cause traffic snarls, isn't that part of why you do it?
jerryb721 Posted September 13, 2009 Posted September 13, 2009 I have nearly 40 songs that play each night from 5:30 to 10:30. So basically I have only one show.I change the order each night so if you drvie by at 6 each night you will see a different song.I see some people pull up for one song and some stay out front for 20 minutes.Slow songs seem to chase them away faster that the quick tempo songs. I mix the slow with the fast. I am also now thinking or cutting each song to around 2 minutes plus (depending where a good break might be) so if you want to sit out for 10 minutes you can hear 4 or 5 songs. In L.A. 10 minutes is a long time.My first year I had 8 songs and then 6 sets of Christmas stories after the songs.I found that very few stayed around for the stories, so I quickly took them out and did a couple more songs. After Christmas I took the next year and made an additional 20 songs. Since then I add 2 or so each year
jim6918 Posted September 14, 2009 Author Posted September 14, 2009 George Simmons wrote: I agree with Don. It depends a great deal on the traffic. If it starts backing up, you might want to shorten up the time between repeats. Do whatever you personally like and then make adjustments when you need to. If it looks great and people want to stay and watch for a while and that doesn't cause traffic snarls, isn't that part of why you do it?You're absolutely right George. Even with my static display I got great pleasure standing at my living room window watching the line of cars drive by my house; especially the little faces peering out the windows and the vans of nursing home patients. I basically have great neighbors, who think of me as the "Holiday Nut." I don't want to get off on the wrong foot by having a traffic mess in the block. I am shooting for what they call in the restaurant industry a "soft opening." I wish I lived on a corner that faces vacant fields, but we can't have everything. Ideally, I would like to live opposite a parking lot. LOLGuess I will shoot for shorter shows and tell people to come back on different nights.Jerry, also liked your idea of mixing up the start times of each song so they play at different times. I am going to experiment with that also.
Guest wbottomley Posted September 14, 2009 Posted September 14, 2009 Usually, an hour long is my show with it repeating every night. I can fit about 40 cars all around. I might bust it up into 2 shows 30 minutes long this year.
jerryb721 Posted September 14, 2009 Posted September 14, 2009 I forgot to mention that I have no neighbors across the street only a freeway so cars can park there and it's not a problem.I wish I had I could fit 40 cars like Mountainwxman, but I'd be lucky to get 4 at a time.People here don't really hang around too much, tooo busy I guess.I would suggest you keep contact with neighbors, make sure they have no complaints and do as some others by having a voice over reminding people not to block driveways and to be courteous of your neighbors.
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