# One Man Show



## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

Hi All, First I would like to thank everyone that responded to my previous post about building a garage Haunt or adding to my display. Everyone was super helpful and helped a great deal in helping steer me towards building a garage haunt for 2016. I am in the process of building ten panels for my two car garage, this should create about 5 areas. 

I am not sure if I will have any actors so I am preparing to be doing it myself. The issue is that if people are just flying through each room I might be able to scare them myself in two or 3 rooms by being slightly ahead of the TOTS. My idea is to create a process where people stay in each area and experience the scares and when they need to go to the next room I would ring a bell or something. This would allow me to kind of be a puppetmaster in each room and set off some manual props, scares. Dont know if that makes sense but I think I may have a solution if I am the only actor. My Son wants to be in it but he is going to be trick or treating first and then joining. 

The idea is that I can release or set off manual props like a drop panel or a skeleton that I can move from behind a wall.

My long winded question, is what other types of manual scares besides me jumping out can I make?


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## Longmont Haunt (Jul 26, 2016)

Might be worth investing in some simple animatronics or automatically triggered things to take some pressure off of yourself. And don't forget to leave yourself some time to enjoy!


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## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

Thanks Longmont, I have a jumping spider and I think Im going to get one more cheapo jump prop from Spirit, I dont have an air compressor yet so pneumatics are out of the question. The budget is getting blown this year on the walls, beer, etc. Ill have a bit left over probably for a smallish startle prop hopefully. Then next year Ill get more. Im letting this year be a bit cheesy and not stressing over that.


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## Longmont Haunt (Jul 26, 2016)

GrimleeFeindish said:


> Thanks Longmont, I have a jumping spider and I think Im going to get one more cheapo jump prop from Spirit, I dont have an air compressor yet so pneumatics are out of the question. The budget is getting blown this year on the walls, beer, etc. Ill have a bit left over probably for a smallish startle prop hopefully. Then next year Ill get more. Im letting this year be a bit cheesy and not stressing over that.


I love it: jumping spider, beer and cheesiness! You sound like my kind of guy! :jol:


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## SCEYEDOC (Aug 12, 2007)

One of our more successful scares was placing a skil saw in an empty barrel and ran the cord through a hole drilled in bottom of barrel. The skil saw was turned on and off through a simple foot switch I bought at Harbor Freight Tools. I think it was $13 and you can use your 20% off coupon to save. If you take a peek around 3:56 on this 2014 video clip of ours you will be able to hear the skil saw and see the scare it illicits.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

I'll add to these good ideas that you might really want to try to get some volunteer help, not only for the scares but to have extra eyes watching over things. It would be challenging for you to work everything in all 5 areas. I bet if you asked around you'd find a few folks who would love to help you out on Halloween, especially if it involves scaring people! We have a crew of close to 20 actors/helpers who work several different scares. A few of them are "roamers" who kind of work the crowd, walk up and down the que line and set the mood. These folks can also get a handle on any potential problem children. Extra help keeps your props safe and takes a big load off of you. not sure what kind of crowd you anticipate but a few helpers can make a big difference bewteen you enjoying your hard work and getting burned out with your first walk through. If these folks have fun, they may want to come back next year and pretty soon you have a solid crew you can count on for set-up/and tear down as well. Looking forward to seeing your garage haunt this year!


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## SCEYEDOC (Aug 12, 2007)

I agree with jdubbya. To really enjoy the holiday and not stress yourself or others out, you really should solicit help. You definitely need someone to let the patrons enter the haunt in very small groups. (Never let a pack of teens in together as one or two will be showoffs and sabotage some of your haunt scenes or taunt your scareactors.) I always roamed my haunts personally with a camcorder a) to let patrons know someone is keeping an eye on them and the haunt and b) to get some great closeup scare footage. All haunts are stressful and at the end of the night you will swear that is the last time you build... only to have the haunt bug bite you midsummer. Get help and enjoy. One last piece of advice - don't sweat the details...it's a haunt and the patrons are just trying to get out without wetting themselves. They are not looking to see if all your panels are the same shade of gray or if any of your scene setters are not perfectly tacked up.


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## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

Great advice, I believe Ill have at least one adult that wants to help and then my son after he goes trick or treating.

Its part of the reason that I was so indecisive about doing a garage haunt, I like to just kick back and drink beer on Halloween and enjoy the atmosphere rather than be stuck behind a drop panel. But the Haunt was coming to a crossroads of continuing to add to the display or make it more fun for the kids with a walkthrough. Its a pain in the ass for me, but I must admit its going to be cool just to be able to do the detail stuff inside the garage protected from the weather. I have little props that simply wouldnt work out in the display and now that kind of stuff can be used. Anyway, cant wait. Hoping I get everything done.
Thanks again


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## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

Quick Update, Dont even think about trying to do a one man show. That is my advice and what I learned this Halloween, I was thinking of that as a worst case scenario. It could work I suppose if no one else is going to help, but definitely not a good idea. I ended up having a couple neighbors help out and I was more of the tour guide through the haunted house, hamming it up and queing the actors for scares. That was ALOT of fun, holy ****, I had a blast. Anyway, Ill post some pics on my FB page, still working on that, so damn late. Like me over there, either Sam Kadi, or Twisted Tree Manor. I learned alot and had a ton of fun doing my little haunted house, only ten panels and it was still great. Maybe this year I might make a few more, Id like to make it longer.


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## BillyVanpire (Apr 22, 2015)

one of the best props i made that slows people down was a monster crate.

diy on the cheap..

i took old pallet wood and made a box, added a $16 wiper motor from the junk yard.
wiper motor has a wooden cam wheel that lifts/rattles the lid.
trigger is a $20 home security light motion sensor.

motor is mounted near the lid and plugged into the motion/security light.

here are a few pix before i added the wiper motor, 
mine also has pneumatics, but it works well enough without it.
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=41440&highlight=creature+crate


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

GrimleeFeindish said:


> Quick Update, Dont even think about trying to do a one man show. That is my advice and what I learned this Halloween, I was thinking of that as a worst case scenario. It could work I suppose if no one else is going to help, but definitely not a good idea. I ended up having a couple neighbors help out and I was more of the tour guide through the haunted house, hamming it up and queing the actors for scares. That was ALOT of fun, holy ****, I had a blast. Anyway, Ill post some pics on my FB page, still working on that, so damn late. Like me over there, either Sam Kadi, or Twisted Tree Manor. I learned alot and had a ton of fun doing my little haunted house, only ten panels and it was still great. Maybe this year I might make a few more, Id like to make it longer.


Glad it worked out and that you had fun! If your neighbors enjoyed themselves they'll likely want to come back next year too and maybe enlist their help in setting up, etc. They might even have some ideas for scares. I'll check out your FB page.


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## beaver state rich (Jan 25, 2014)

Our show is basically a one-man operation. Yes I get a small amount of help from my wife and teenage daughter but 99% is all me. As such we don't do a traditional walk through haunt but rather a display and Halloween show. Logistics required that our haunt be 100% automated and driven by the computer. I click the mouse to start it up and then go manage the crowds. 

The last couple of years I enlisted a buddy to run the magic mirror digital puppet so that is a Halloween night crew of 2. 2016 we had 1300 people so it can be done. 

2017 I will have to block the street and enlist a couple more folks for crowd control as we are more than doubling attendance every year. However, until it gets to that point with careful planning and automation you can do it. While actors are always a plus and effective you can do a TON with automated effects and sound. 

That being said, there is a limit one human can do and it can get overwhelming. That's why I take the week of Halloween off. 


check out my website pics/video links. Its all automated.


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## 69-cat (Jan 18, 2014)

My wife helps me setup when needed but for the most part, it is just me. It starts the day after Halloween with the "what if I did this next year" questions and is non stop. Already have new controllers for next year, ran some air lines next to my pvc conduit (electric) within the fence so no more cords or black nylon hose to feed the props. The other thing I do, any ideas I come up with are drawn or printed on orange copy paper so they dont get mixed up with other paper work.
Dave


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## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

I realize this is an older post but thought that I'd chime in for those who are running into the same issue. The key for best actor utilization is having a central corridor that your actors can use/travel through in order to scare from scene to scene. I realize this may be hard on a smaller scale, but I've attached a sample drawing which is the size of my parents garage I used to utilize for my home haunt.










In the center of the garage is an actor corridor which allows one actor to interact with the groups going through at five different points without the actor having to walk more than ten feet. Your actor will get plenty of scares but won't be wore out from running from scene to scene. You can use things like hanging props, strips of cloth or fabric, or other things in the openings/hallways of your haunt to slow patrons down when going from room to room. (Don't use the cheap black plastic you get from Walmart - It's EXTREMELY flammable and dangerous.)

Also, planting animations/animatronics from actor drop panels and pop out points creates awesome distractions which will allow you to come from behind and get the scare.

It's all kind of a science and something I've been working on for years, but it all kind of makes sense when you start putting all the pieces together.

Hope this helps!


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