# A step up and my lessons learned for 08



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

This years main focus was to try and get a much better cemetery. I had been wanting for years to get some hand made stones done. I wanted something other than RIP that might get people to stop and notice.

I went from this last year
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc161/madavis5/graves_left.jpg

To this years version









Here are a few shots the new stones


----------



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

Front of the house;
Not a lot of changes. Added more boards to the windows. They were way too far apart last year for the effect I wanted. Added burlap across the top, but my TL machine never came in from Hauntedprops, so it cannot be seen in the dark. My idea was to try and break up the front of my very straight and boring house.









And one more of the laser vortex in my garage. This came out very well at the last minute. As of midnight Thursday I was close to dumping it. I finally got it right the next morning and did not have time to finish blacking out the garage, but it did not make that much difference. Next year I would really like to try and work this into more of a scene rather than just a cool stand alone visual effect.

EDIT - I finally have a short video that somewhat shows the effect. It is no where near as bright and defined in the video as in person and there in no scan line.
Deletepartiallyof1112008_202626.flv video by madavis5 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid213.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid213.photobucket.com/albums/cc161/madavis5/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@cc161/madavis5/Deletepartiallyof1112008_202626


----------



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

A couple of shots today just prior to tear-down.









See there really is burlap under those eaves :googly: And yes the one on the right side of the eave is crooked as I am absolutely terrified of heights and that 20' climb is bad enough, but then you have to let go with both hands to hold it in place and run the screw gun! I managed to get this done on the third attempt without wetting myself, much to the relief of my neighbor holding the ladder for me.









The rest of the pics:
Pictures by madavis5 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid213.photobucket.com/albums/cc161/madavis5/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@cc161/madavis5/Deletepartiallyof1112008_202626

My lessons learned:

1) This is way too much to setup in 2 days anymore. I let this pretty much ruin my Halloween night. I caught myself saying twice that this was it. Next year is not happening. The stress of getting things done to an acceptable level and the low ToT turn out had me down on the whole thing. That a a couple of bad (greedy/ungrateful) ToT experiences over the night just about did me in. Last night turned me back around. Sitting around the graveyard with my middle daughter taking shots, moving lighting and playing with the fog was all I needed.

2) You cannot go from an 8'x8' cemetery to 32x28 and not have a good bit more light on hand. I thought I had a plan, but I could not get enough fixture, cords in place to cover all of the new area and try and highlight some of my favorites. This will hopefully be a big priority for me next year. No new major projects. Detailing and lighting/sound are what I need most next.

3) Laser vortex needs very thin fast dissipating fog to work properly. I tried both the Swamp Juice and regular Froggy and it was both too thick. Target juice was what worked best. Of course I do not figure this out until Friday morning spurring a quick trip to Target to find that the shelf with 20 bottles on it on Wed was gone! Halloween day and all the stuff has been pulled off the shelves and they are stocking Christmas. Thanks Target.


----------



## JohnnyL (Aug 17, 2006)

Looks GREAT! I really love the house and the colors you incorporated, especially the windows. The tombstone epitaphs are great and easy to read which is a major plus. Wow, VERY impressive for two days as well.


----------



## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Ditto, the windows look really cool.

Everything looks great. I say you stepped-it-up good!


----------



## Jackpot (May 21, 2008)

Also on the bandwagon for the windows they are great, and the FCG was one of the most vividly colored I've seen. My favorite though the Dracula tombstone that was hilarious.


----------



## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

Too cool. I like the epitaphs! Everything looks great. It's well worth the stress.


----------



## DeadSpider (Feb 3, 2006)

Wow, you made a lot of progress in a year. Looks great! Glad to hear the 'photo shoot' you and the middle daughter did with the props and lighting helped to keep you in spirit.


----------



## Fester (Sep 17, 2006)

Thanks for the kind words on my efforts this year. Another plus this year us that I think I finally have partner in crime. Of my three daughters my youngest has started to show interest. She was a zombie this year, the only scary costume out of the group, and took it upon herself to stand in the graveyard motionless until someone would come close. She had a number of good scares, that I managed to miss due to running around trying to get the lighting done. She even cut ToT short to come back and "lurk in the graveyard" The others are starting to show interest in the creating/building portion of the haunt. In an attempt to get more help I am going to ask that each one take a small part of the display and make it there own. I have a problem letting go of control, but maybe this will make it a little easier for all to get involved.


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

I think it looks great, the darkness adds to the spookiness.
I like those kind of graveyards
cool windows
great job


----------



## blacklightmike (Nov 2, 2008)

A big difference... I really dig the vortex as well.


----------



## rottincorps (Jun 1, 2008)

Vary nice...OK so now I have less then a year to get some new stuff together.........Dam I don't think its enough time........you want me to store some of your stuff?


----------



## Spookie (Aug 26, 2008)

For 2 days of work, you performed miracles. I can't believe you scaled the ladder to the top of your roof to put up the burlap. Makes me dizzy thinking about it. My husband isn't into decorating for Halloween so I'm it basically. 

I know how you feel trying to run around plan things, buy things, assemble things, put up things, oh and there's candy to get ready, and heaven forbid you want to dress up for the night too! Like you, I only decorate close to Halloween--me the day of Halloween although I usually do my layout planning with props and lights the day before but bring it all in before night. With rain on Halloween this year, I was bummed and didn't do anything outside that I had planned, and at the last minute with only sprinkles in late afternoon I added some unplanned decorations, relying mainly on window decorations I set up inside. I had 3 new foggers this year but with the rain had to nix them. Had bought mp3 players to work with props and a sound system but didn't want to risk them in the rain. I was disappointed and felt like I had let the kids down. It worked out fine I guess because the neighborhood loved the window stuff and we had more ToTers than ever before despite the weather. Made me reassess trying to do it all so late in the game. The ToTer response made want to do even more for 2009, so I understand your renewed commitment too. I'm thinking of using the garage as Plan B next year in case of rain for the more weather sensitive stuff.

BTW loved the Dracula tombstone in particular, your fencing was nice and the windows looked great boarded up and lit from behind. The vortex looked impressive too. Was it one of those fog machines with the LED lights on it?


----------



## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Nicely done. I love the Seymour Butz Stone. I may have to make one of those.


----------



## Devil (Nov 10, 2008)

What did you use for the windows? Is that real wood or not?


----------



## poopsko (Oct 16, 2007)

really nice, good lighting too............U must be into porn lol


----------

