# Briarwood Haunt video 2008



## misterbill666 (Oct 9, 2008)

Greetings,

Here is the video of my yard haunt for 2008 here in Santa Clara, CA. It came out kind of dark so it helps to watch it in full-screen mode so you can see more detail. It also helps to turn up the volume so you can hear the ending better. 
:biggrinvil:


----------



## Spookie (Aug 26, 2008)

Nice video. The first thing that struck me was the great use of color and then the movements of all of your props. Usually I see more static displays so I really enjoyed yours. Did you make your props? I thought they looked pretty original and loved the faces and hair of them. Hard to say which was my favorite. Quite a few surprises in there. The witches had great looking noses or should I say faces? How many ToTers did you get and did you get rain? Wondering if any of the props were paper mache.

BTW welcome to the board! I'm looking forward to hearing more about how you did your props, etc.


----------



## Stiff Kitten (Oct 2, 2007)

Great job on everything. I would love to see picture's or video of what makes your groundbreakers move like that.


----------



## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

Fantastic! Did any kids get candy or were they all run off? :lolkin:


----------



## misterbill666 (Oct 9, 2008)

Thanks, Spookie and Stiff Kitten, it's nice to be here. Yep, I made all of the props. I don't use paper mache, I just buy the masks and build a prop around it. Here's a brief description of how I built each prop:

For the gravedigger I used a mask on a wig head and connected it to a pneumatic rotary actuator controlled by a Basic Stamp. The shovel goes up and down using an air cylinder in his arm also controlled by a Basic Stamp. The corpse is a Bucky skeleton corpsed with spider web material and liquid latex. Here's a better picture: 
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp168/misterbill666/gravedigger.jpg

The three groundbreaking zombies were made using Shiatsu neck massagers. Thanks to the folks at mourningcemetery.com for posting the how-to. I used masks from Death Studios. I used metal instead of wood which is easy to bend so you can adjust the motion of the zombie more easily. Here is a picture:
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp168/misterbill666/groundbreaking_zombie_back1.jpg

On one of the zombies I added an air cylinder triggered from a photodetector so he jumps up and looks towards you when you walk by.

The trashcan trauma is made from a bike pump driven by a sprinkler valve. I get the best screams from this prop.

For the first witch I used a Death Witch mask which I glued onto a Talking Boris skull so her mouth moves as she says her incantation, which I have recorded on a Mini Disc player set on a loop. Her head is mounted on an oscillating fan so she looks back and forth. She is holding a snake which she wiggles so the TOTs have to dodge it when they walk by. Her right arm is stirring the witches brew, for that I'm using a windshield wiper motor mounted in the cauldron.

The 2nd witch I bought at Spirit a few years ago. I added an air cylinder in her arm triggered from a photodetector so she flings a snake in front of the TOTs when they walk by. Here is a better view of the witches:
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp168/misterbill666/2_witches1.jpg

On the porch is a Body Slinger which I copied from the scaryguys.com how-to, but I used steel instead of PVC pipe because the PVC tends to get brittle and break when you store the prop outside.

In the doorway is the headless waiter. When you ring the doorbell he lifts the cover off the tray, which is done with an air cylinder in his chest.There is a motion sensor in the small tray on the left which triggers the head to jump up just as the TOTs reach for the candy. The head is mounted on a bike pump.

Luckily there were only a couple of light sprinkles during Halloween, the big rain waited until Saturday. I had about 280 TOTs this year, the best turnout so far.

Hauntiholik, yes, some of them only made it far as the clown in the trashcan before turning around but sometimes the parents would carry them to the front door so they (the parents) could see the whole thing!


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Well done! I love the head that pops up under the candy tray at the end - very unexpected.


----------



## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Very nice stuff there. I love the candy dish head pop up at the end. I may have to borrow that one. I use picaxe microcontrollers instead of basic stamps they are so much cheaper and just as powerful. Check out my prop info site for more info on them. welcome to the forum and I am looking forward to seeing more of your stuff.


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

That was a good vid ..
lots of nice props you have ..
cool ground breakers, and the witches rock 
I like your coffin guy best


----------



## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Awesome! You were right, full screen makes all the difference. I jumped in my seat when that clown popped up! I don't think any of the little tots in my neighborhood would make it all the way through your yard. Very creepy cool stuff!:jol:


----------



## Front Yard Fright (Dec 23, 2005)

Just a fantastic wonderful creative and mesmerizing job!
I'm hoping to get into pneumatics for 09... Care to share how you got your start?
:jol:.


----------



## misterbill666 (Oct 9, 2008)

Thanks for the nice reviews you guys. Hpropman, thanks for creating that prop info site, I have been wanting to try out the picaxe controller and I will use your site to get started.

Front Yard Fright, the first pneumatic prop I built was the body slinger, a.k.a. the coffin guy or coffin jumper. I highly recommend building one just to watch people's reactions when the corpse jumps out of the coffin and is suddenly hovering 7 feet over them! The reactions range from smiles to screams to running away. Here are the plans: http://www.scaryguys.com/slinger.htm
The one that I built broke during Halloween after 3 years because I was storing it outside and the PVC pipe became brittle, possibly due to sun exposure. I ended up rebuilding another one with angle iron and steel pipe and lots of welding and have not had a problem with it since. Let me know if you're interested in building one and I'll post some how-to pics.

The Trash Can Trauma (TCT), the clown in the trashcan, was the 2nd one I built and this is a riot, lots of good screams. I used this site 
http://www.llund.com/tct.htm
but there are many other TCT how-to sites out there you should check out.

It's hard to decide which one to build first but if your storage space is limited I would go with the TCT.

Since you're just getting started with air I recommend reading up on the pneumatics section of hauntforum.com and also these guides:
http://www.phantasmechanics.com/air/index.html
http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/Pneumatics/pnuint_PneumaticIntro.html

Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions.


----------



## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Looks great. I especially like the grave diggers fast head whip, not expected but very cool.


----------



## billman (May 3, 2006)

misterbill666, with the jumping ground breaker is the whole shiatsu motor being lifted into the air? Any how to's on this jumping guy? I love it!!


----------



## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Great looking haunt. You have so much going on I bet people are on edge not knowing what will happen next.


----------

