Really cool halloween dvd for window projection.

http://hallowindow.com/

That is pretty cool, but it would scare the crap out of my kids!

CJ

That is really awesome. I placed my order today...can't wait to get it!!! Great find. Thanks for sharing.

Ron

Has anyone ever seen "Idle Hands" with Seth Green, Jessica Alba, etc.? The beginning of the movie would be great for your Halloween window.

I used a similar product a couple of years ago, called Terror Eyes (http://store.bigscreamtv.info/bstv4.html).

It was a very nice effect. It's too bad that so many communities have scheduled their Halloween activities during the day. It completely ruins the illusion.

It's still a nice project for anyone that has a projector that can be used for this kind of application.

Scott

Just ordered this one also. Looks like it will cause a few trick or treaters to pause before walking up to the door.:D

Thanks for the link.

I ordered one on the 15th and it arrived yesterday in Kansas City...quick shipment from Canada. Tried in the HT room, very nice! I can't wait to rig it up for the livingroom window on halloween.

One suggestion I would have for them next year is to create a tame one....meaning, I could see what CJ was saying about being too scary for smaller children.

I ordered one on the 15th and it arrived yesterday in Kansas City...quick shipment from Canada. Tried in the HT room, very nice! I can't wait to rig it up for the livingroom window on halloween.

One suggestion I would have for them next year is to create a tame one....meaning, I could see what CJ was saying about being too scary for smaller children.


rboster,

Glad to see you got yours in a timely fashion, unlike the Tiko Intro many of us are waiting for.;)

Are you going to use your Benq W5000 for this? I can't decide between my W5000 or my Benq 7700..... choices, choices.

I talked to Mark (who made the Hallowindow dvd) today. Very nice guy. I told him all about AVS, and that he needs to make an HD version for next year. Maybe an HD audio track to go along with it.... yeah like people could tell the difference outside.:D

It looks like I barely got in under the wire in ordering this dvd. If you go to the website, he is sold out, with new stock coming Oct 30th. Someone could always email him and see if he can come up with one and express delivery for you.

Hey Blasst:

My BenQ5000 is ceiling mounted with a scope lens set up...so it's a royal pain to dismount and remount...lining everything up just right.

I actually bought an Infocus 4805 projector for a couple hundred awhile back to use for outdoor movies at the house and other functions. I'll pull that out of the box and use it. I plan on taking one of my "dj" speakers that I use for the outdoor theater and run it outside behind the bushes....unless it's raining.

Our normal set up is a 12 foot inflatable Jack Skellington and large inflatable Oogie Boogie. I also place blinking lighted eyes in the bushes for a neat effect. But....This year, I completely killed and replanted my yard...so I'll be sitting in a chair on the curb handing out candy (steering trick and treaters off the newly seed yard...as best I can). Not going to be a fun job ;) So having "something" for a decoration will be necessary...this thread was perfect for me. Thanks again to the OP.

It's too bad that so many communities have scheduled their Halloween activities during the day. It completely ruins the illusion.

Out of all the places in the country I've lived, Wisconsin is the only place I've seen where Trick or Treating is done during the day, and then, not always on Halloween.

That was great I can't wait to show my kids their eyes are going to be wider than the monitor. Very Cool

Out of all the places in the country I've lived, Wisconsin is the only place I've seen where Trick or Treating is done during the day, and then, not always on Halloween.Yeah, it's really sad. Back when I was a kid, it was on Halloween night. And it was a blast. A bunch of us kids would get together, hit about 100 houses, each guy trying to out-scare and out loot the other, and somehow we all managed to live.

It's only been the last couple of years that our small village has changed the hours to Sunday afternoon, but it's just not the same. All it's turned into is a reason to hand out candy.

Here's a picture from a couple of years ago using the Terror Eyes product:

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/69/eyeseeyouzm1.jpg

The eyes moved around, and it was a pretty good effect, but it needs to be dark.

Scott

Hey Blasst:

My BenQ5000 is ceiling mounted with a scope lens set up...so it's a royal pain to dismount and remount...lining everything up just right.

I actually bought an Infocus 4805 projector for a couple hundred awhile back to use for outdoor movies at the house and other functions. I'll pull that out of the box and use it. I plan on taking one of my "dj" speakers that I use for the outdoor theater and run it outside behind the bushes....unless it's raining.

Our normal set up is a 12 foot inflatable Jack Skellington and large inflatable Oogie Boogie. I also place blinking lighted eyes in the bushes for a neat effect. But....This year, I completely killed and replanted my yard...so I'll be sitting in a chair on the curb handing out candy (steering trick and treaters off the newly seed yard...as best I can). Not going to be a fun job ;) So having "something" for a decoration will be necessary...this thread was perfect for me. Thanks again to the OP.

That 12 inflatable must look terrific!
Where did you get it from?

Sounds like a pain having to "babysit" the yard on Halloween. You could always add audio to the hallowindow dvd saying: "stay off the lawn..... or else.:D

That 12 inflatable must look terrific!
Where did you get it from?

Sounds like a pain having to "babysit" the yard on Halloween. You could always add audio to the hallowindow dvd saying: "stay off the lawn..... or else.:D

What a great idea about the audio....stay off the lawn. LOL...

I bought the Jack from the disney online store. You can get great deals on their holiday products after the season. I think I paid 30 bucks or so for it. It's pretty cool. We've already heard from a number of parents that their kids have complained that it's not up this season. One neighbor on another street said their kids required them to drive down our street each night to see it.

Rboster,

I checked Disney online and couldn't find the 12' Jack Skellington.

The good news is my Hallowindow disc showed up today. Now talk about great service!

One week until showtime! Need to get ready this weekend. Everyone else ready to roll?

Has anyone ever seen "Idle Hands" with Seth Green, Jessica Alba, etc.? The beginning of the movie would be great for your Halloween window.

I haven't.

Can you give us a description?

I haven't.

Can you give us a description?

"Description: Lazy Anton's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent."

The movie is actually silly but I got it for $4.50 from Media Play years ago.

The part of the movie is at the very beginning where they show this house and a pumpkin on the outside. A couple is getting ready for bed and the wife asks the husband "Did you let the dog out" or something like that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138510/
http://www.imdb.com/rg/videos-title/summary//video/screenplay/vi680591641/

This website gives you a five min preview of the movie.
Maybe you can see what I'm talking about.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14361800chypTE6m?confirmed=1
Let me know what you think after seeing the preview.

Rboster,

I checked Disney online and couldn't find the 12' Jack Skellington.

The good news is my Hallowindow disc showed up today. Now talk about great service!

One week until showtime! Need to get ready this weekend. Everyone else ready to roll?


I guess it's actually 10 ft. I found this old link for an image of what I have


http://www.perfect-party-ideas.com/Nightmare-Before-Christmas-Figurines-and-Gifts.html

You'll have to scroll down to see it. We've had ours for a couple of years, so it maybe an item that isn't available at this time. We had a Sally...but it got damaged. We replaced it with an lighted oogie boogie. Fun stuff.

Well poop, I bought mine and changed our Halloween night plans. No way am I going to let this guy run forever while I am out and about. Anyhoo, I put it up on Ebay if anyone wants it.

I did try it out and it looks pretty cool - you see almost all of it on the website. There are a few more 2 minute loops of just red ghosts, white ghosts, he green eye, the jack o lantern, and spiders.

Here's the bad part, though: I couldn't figure out how to loop all of them over and over. Instead, the disc is just set up to loop the same animation. That would mean you need to change it around every now and then for variety or else you might go nuts hearing the same one all night.

Still cool and I look forward to next year's.

I just got mine today and I too could only loop the active animation, there weren't choices to play Hallowindow I and II back to back or any of the extras back to back to back. I was a lil bummed about that but the quality of the animation is top notch!

I didn't let that stop me so I rigged it...I ripped the DVD then made each chapter it's own MP4 movie. Then I combined all the extras together (green eye mp4, pumpkin mp4, spiders mp4, white ghosts mp4 and red ghosts mp4) so they play all together in one mp4 movie then loop again. I also did this with Hallowindow I and II (reversed) so they too play together as one mp4 then loop.

I had a heck of a time getting my Windows XP to do it then I went to my wife's mac and it was pretty straight forward. I used Handbrake for the DVD rip and MPEG StreamClip to merge each MP4 into one MP4.

Can't wait to play these on Halloween!!!

I was thinking about just playing the Spiders one night, then the ghosts another night, then the pumpkin on a different night, and so on. Then on Halloween play the merged Hallowindow I and II. I figure that will give the neighborhood something to look forward too and scare the poop out of my 2 y/o.

What I did was rip all the clips along with a bunch of other clips (terror eyes, scarols, nightmare before xmas, etc.) and using dvdshrink I kept copying them over and over until I got an entire disc's worth, so no need to repeat, just press play and do other stuff.

Also, I went opposite on the projection; I have the projectors outside pointed into the window. Walmart white shower curtains ($2.17 now) were trimmed to fit on the windows themselves. End result looks great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV3Ie_GuaU

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/Halloween/100_6154.jpg

Victor

"Description: Lazy Anton's right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent."

The movie is actually silly but I got it for $4.50 from Media Play years ago.

The part of the movie is at the very beginning where they show this house and a pumpkin on the outside. A couple is getting ready for bed and the wife asks the husband "Did you let the dog out" or something like that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138510/
http://www.imdb.com/rg/videos-title/summary//video/screenplay/vi680591641/

This website gives you a five min preview of the movie.
Maybe you can see what I'm talking about.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14361800chypTE6m?confirmed=1
Let me know what you think after seeing the preview.


That would blow your mind to see that on the ceiling!:D

I thought it was a pretty good opening, then after researching your links its a comedy.;)

I guess it's actually 10 ft. I found this old link for an image of what I have


http://www.perfect-party-ideas.com/Nightmare-Before-Christmas-Figurines-and-Gifts.html

You'll have to scroll down to see it. We've had ours for a couple of years, so it maybe an item that isn't available at this time. We had a Sally...but it got damaged. We replaced it with an lighted oogie boogie. Fun stuff.

Thanks for all the links rboster.

We ended up with a giant blow up spider. I'll have to look sooner next year for the others you mentioned.

What I did was rip all the clips along with a bunch of other clips (terror eyes, scarols, nightmare before xmas, etc.) and using dvdshrink I kept copying them over and over until I got an entire disc's worth, so no need to repeat, just press play and do other stuff.

Also, I went opposite on the projection; I have the projectors outside pointed into the window. Walmart white shower curtains ($2.17 now) were trimmed to fit on the windows themselves. End result looks great

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdV3Ie_GuaU

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/Halloween/100_6154.jpg

Victor


Victor,

You are always coming up with great ideas on how to use a projector!
Now don't let anyone jack your PJ while its playing outside.:)

I still haven't decided on rear projection or using the PJ outside as a front projector.

I took the Hallowindow dvd and mixed it with some HD footage of film clips, and burned an HD DVD, and using the software (Ulead) it auto repeats in the player.

Mark is out of DVDs right now, yet I just looked at his site, and you can buy and download Hallowindow 1.

http://hallowindow.com

Now that is very effective and very scary.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=123343&stc=1&d=1225544426






































BOOO! :D

I ripped the parts I liked from Hallowindow (The first and second Hallowindow, plus part of the eyes, and part of the ghosts), and exported them as 720 x 480 mpeg-2 video files. The room that I put the projector in is my older daughter's room, so we merely queued up the video files in Windows Media player, and had the video go from her second video card output into the projector in her room. Ran a long 1/8" audio cable down the stairs to and old receiver with a good pair of speakers in the window below the video window.

In the window, I removed the window parts, and the screens on the window, and put up Velum paper over the now completely open windows. Projected onto the Velum paper, which showed up quite nicely outside.

Everybody loved it.

Everybody who came by said that we had the best house. I wish I had a picture, but did not take one.

Here is a picture of my house. The video filled the windows in the upper right of the picture attached.
http://pblq.com/pic00046.jpg

Reedl

Mine was a hit on the block.

People were taking pictures all night long.

A great investment.

I ripped the DVD and created my own loop, then
shot it onto a queen size bedsheet with my Z4.

Ok, so I have to ask...

Is there anything like this for Christmas???

SA:
Check this (http://www.christmaslightshow.com/xcart/product.php?productid=5&cat=0&page=1) out, I use it every Christmas, and people LOVE it!!! :D

I’m wondering if they sale this at ASDA thou I did see a large mechanical Frankenstein that was less than £100.00 pounds I think looked creepy.

I’m wondering if they sale this at ASDA thou I did see a large mechanical Frankenstein that was less than £100.00 pounds I think looked creepy.


What does any of that have to do with the thread topic?

SA:
Check this (http://www.christmaslightshow.com/xcart/product.php?productid=5&cat=0&page=1) out, I use it every Christmas, and people LOVE it!!! :D

Wow Davy2, that IS pretty neat!

There is some cool stuff on that christmaslightshow.com site. I had the hallowindow set up for Halloween, it was a big hit. I saw a whole family sitting on the sidewalk across the street, they sat through the whole loop about 3 times. It definitely gets lots of attention.

I forget I had the Halloween sound effects CD that I brought from ASDA several years ago for £1.78 “now that’s ASDA price.”;)

Mark at www.hallowindow.com sent this email a few weeks back....


I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that things
are rolling on Hallowindow 2009 and that you should keep an eye out for
a whole new DVD this year.

Thanks so much for being interested in Hallowindow. Talk to you soon.

Please do not reply to this mail.

Happy Haunting
Mark


I can't wait to see what it looks like!

Ok, it's been a while since I visited, and boy am I amazed!
How cool is that!!?
Why cant Halloween be in the Summer instead?

Ok, it's been a while since I visited, and boy am I amazed!
How cool is that!!?
Why cant Halloween be in the Summer instead?

Well Halloween came over me early as I bought Hallowindow a couple of weeks ago to use with the little Dell M109s led projector I bought.

Can't wait to use it!

Why cant Halloween be in the Summer instead?Not enough darkness.

Not enough pumpkins either... ;)

New blog page for Hallowindow. It has free iPhone wallpaper too!

http://hallowindow.blogspot.com/

This is very cool! Too bad I don't have a projector to display this...put it on my wish list (but I need a HD set for the bedroom 1st).

I would set this up a week before Halloween and let it lead up to it...might scare the s--- out of my neighbor's kids little PITAs) and that might be all I need to convince the wife to spring for a projector!!

This is very cool! Too bad I don't have a projector to display this...put it on my wish list (but I need a HD set for the bedroom 1st).

I would set this up a week before Halloween and let it lead up to it...might scare the s--- out of my neighbor's kids little PITAs) and that might be all I need to convince the wife to spring for a projector!!

You could always use the $149 ultraprojector.com which is waterproof and was made for Halloween video projection.

I have ignored this thread for almost a year now, but I am glad I finally checked it out. While I wouldn't want to use my theater projector, I think I may opt for a cheap (under $100) used projector w/ VGA and connect a laptop to it. I have just the right window in my formal living to use this on. Great idea!

Phase II - price went to $159 on the ultra projector

Nice option provided you have a tripod and can rip and convert video off of DVDs

Hallowindow III DVD is up for order. Looks promising.

http://hallowindow.com/

This looks really cool - and may cut down on the actual amount of tricker treaters that make it to the door:p

I ordered version III! :D

Got an email that all orders shipped today....

Here is what I did for this year ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjY163p0i2A&feature=channel_page

Received my copy of Hallowindow III today.

Fantastic job by Mark!

There are a couple of chuckles in this one.

I really like the way he starts this one out, and then goes into.............;)

This one will be very nice to loop into his previous work.

Great find. Thanks for sharing! Will probably order as soon as I get my next paycheck.

Just downloaded Halloween I - Thanks :)

What do you project onto - a white sheet?

Tey have added many more of the content via download (http://hallowindow.com/products?downloadable=1) (inc Hallowindow II & III)

Brit -

Where do you want to show it? If you want to do rear projection from the garage or living room, go to Wally World and buy a $1.99 frosted shower curtain. They work surprisingly well.

I've set mine up in the garage by placing the projector, getting the size of the screen, cutting the shower curtain a bit larger, than surrounding the screen with black plastic (think masking) and just taping the shower curtain to the back of the screen. Then I hang the whole thing in the garage opening.

I've caught people driving by and taking pictures. I've been asked several times where I got such a big plasma.

Feel free to PM for any help and we'll work it out. I'll probably try to get all my Halloween stuff up this weekend since it seems to have finally stoped raining and I'll be in the mood to help you out.

I have just received the Hallowindow I/II and III DVD's and I am wondering if I can rip/burn them so that the three main "movies" play in a loop. I can do it with the 1st two as they are on the same dvd, but how do I join the 3rd one and them have them loop? Thanks.

Strugs, use dvd shrink to compile I, II, and II onto one disc.

BritinVA, don't get frosted, get white- it won't hotspot

Victor

The hotspotting depends on the lens shift of the projector. In my case not an issue with the frosted. But at $1.99 or so, it's certainly worth the trial to see which one works best.

I've never tried the white, so I can only speak of my first hand experience. ALTHOUGH, I know Victor has done a lot of work over at the backyard theater site, so you can trust him, too.

Do what the creator of Hallowindow suggested ... put a sheer black fabric over the window first and then a white sheet behind it. This gives the outside viewer a better contrast of the video before sunset. Works great!

I'm going to project from within master bedroom, did a test over weekend and looks like just projecting on the white sheers gives a pretty good image.

Strugs, use dvd shrink to compile I, II, and II onto one disc.

Thanks Victor - it worked like a charm - with one hiccup. DVDShrink wont let you "remaster" two separate dvd's, because every time you remaster one of them, then eject the DVD, DVDShrink wipes out all your work. So I ripped them both on my hard drive, then remastered by opening each DVD on the hard drive. Word to the wise, the main "movies" (the ones with multiple animations in them opposed to the single themed features) are not under the section that DVD Shrink identifies as the "main movie" They are items 3, 7, and 10, but i cant recall which two were from the I/II DVD and which one was from the III DVD.

Anyways, after I had them as the only files on the remastered DVD file, I just copied 3, 7, and 10 over and over until I filled up 4.7GB worth and now I have a DVD that plays versions I, II, and II in sequence over and over. Awesome. Cant wait to scare the crap out of the little kids in my neighborhood.

I just set up the Eye of Fire in my upstairs window and it looks great!

Should be a big hit on Halloween night.

Doing the 'Eye of Saluron' from the Lord of the Rings in my living room window.

Took a video of what I had projected tonight. Had a lot of positive comments from kids and parents. Worked great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A12K8BZOuiE&feature=player_embedded

Heres mine - a big hit in our neighborhood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnNZ9i9hv8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzkLe_YYtM0

Didn't realize my neighbor was going to be so prominent :(

Had a great time with Hallowindow last night using my Dell 109s LED pocket projector on my kitchen window.

Lots of oohs and ahhs, one cry, and one young adult that wouldn't come to my door because the window scared him!

Hallowindow is the bomb! Our neighbors and the trick-or-treaters loved it! Plus, it motivated me to get carried away with other decorations! :D

A 2.5 minute video (excuse the rough edits) and a few photos can be found here:

http://www.thephotobooth.net/Holidays/Halloween-2009/10161336_HUemb#699161995_ACsnM

Mark

your projector have a stuck pixel?

I went with the H.W. I & II DVD this year. Remixed it for use with some little cub scouts who would scare easily, and then the full monty for Halloween. Everyone loved it! The kids often forgot to continue on trick or treating once they got to our house.

Just got an email from Mark, and he has new material for us this year and its in HD baby!! 720p, but I'll take it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Polardoor/HallowindowHD2010.jpg

http://www.hallowindow.com/

Well, what Hallowindow started for me last year (see message #67 above), continues this year. Plus some!

I will be running three different projectors this Halloween:

1) Hallowindow will be running in my garage door opening (approx. 7' tall x 8' wide).
2) The "Eye" will be running in one of the house windows.
3) And THIS (http://www.thephotobooth.net/Holidays/halloween2010/13962933_iPKdh#1026094326_hdVQd) will be running in front of the house.

Note: That video is just a test. Only the middle pumpkin is the one I'll be using on Halloween. Since I shot that video, I've acquired two matching, and slightly larger side pumpkins.

And, of course, the graveyard has grown. I'll have more than twice as many tombstones this year.

Frankly, I can't wait for Halloween to get here! :)

Mark

P.S. Big side benefit: Garage Home Theater! I purchased two used projectors on eBay. One of them is a very nice Sharp DLP unit that is 2700 lumens and handles HDCP. I've already routed HDMI from my home theater A/V receiver to the garage. Thanks to my RF remote, I can sit in the garage and control all of my gear. I've already tested the projector against the back of the garage door using a Blu-ray for the source. Works great! Nice, bright, 120" image! Now I have to decide on a pull-down screen.

Mark: As always who have out done yourself....like a Jr Walt Disney.

I did four projectors at my brother's house awhile back. there was supposed to be a fifth, but i kept tripping the breakers LOL.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/backyard%20theater/is_00507.jpg

btw- this is frosted white - note the hotspotting
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/backyard%20theater/is_00508.jpg

Victor

There doesn't seem to be as much excitement over Halloween this year. At least, not in this thread.

Tomorrow is the big day. I've only got a few decorations out so far. The majority of the decorating will be done tomorrow.

But I did spend 5 hours making a huge spider web in front of the garage door, today. I used 260 feet of 3/16" clothesline rope and it took 155 knots to complete the web. It's about 8 feet across.

http://www.thephotobooth.net/photos/1070664819_h7JMN-XL.jpg

Mark

There's always excitement for Halloween at my house! Unfortunately, we live in a pretty rural area and only get a handful of Trick-or-Treaters. Here's the display I've had up for the past two years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkSz4aLBso

There's always excitement for Halloween at my house! Unfortunately, we live in a pretty rural area and only get a handful of Trick-or-Treaters. Here's the display I've had up for the past two years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkSz4aLBso

Thats pretty cool. What do you use to control that?

Thats pretty cool. What do you use to control that?


Light-O-Rama (http://www.wowlights.com/?gclid=CNnv1erSgKUCFaVM5QodImquNg)

Light-O-Rama (http://www.wowlights.com/?gclid=CNnv1erSgKUCFaVM5QodImquNg)

Wow, great job!! Were those real pumpkins that you used?

Once you have the controller is it difficult to install and program the software?

We had over 700 trick-or-treaters last night! At one point, we counted 43 people standing on the sidewalk or in the street in front of our house. From 6pm to 8pm there was a constant stream of kids to/from the front door!

Here's a photo taken when, frankly, it wasn't all that busy:

http://www.thephotobooth.net/photos/1073875901_6drVH-L.jpg


You can see the big spider web on the right side of the garage, Hallowindow playing on the left side of the garage, and the Grim Grinning Pumpkins set up over on the left edge of the photo.

I've got more photos and some videos. I hope to get them uploaded later tonight. But, if not tonight, it could be a week or so. I've got commitments for the next several days.

Mark

Wow, great job!! Were those real pumpkins that you used?

Once you have the controller is it difficult to install and program the software?

Real pumpkins? No way!! I think I would have gone insane carving them all each year. A few of them are ridiculously over-priced Funkins (http://www.funkins.com/), but most are the cheaper version that can be found at Michael's Arts & Crafts Store.

It really isn't that difficult to set up the system. You connect the controller to your PC and plug AC cords from your lights into the controller. That's about it. (I currently have the single unit which controls 16 different lights)

Creating a program is fairly straight forward as well. You upload some music and then sync the beats. They give you several ways to sync the music, including a "tap" option which I found the easiest and most straightforward (You simply play the song and then tap any key along to the words, and it creates markers along the track for you.) And for the musically impaired, there are plenty of people on the light-o-rama forums who are happy to send out files if you don't want to create them yourself.

We had over 700 trick-or-treaters last night! At one point, we counted 43 people standing on the sidewalk or in the street in front of our house. From 6pm to 8pm there was a constant stream of kids to/from the front door!

That's fantastic!! I'm jealous.

I moved to a pretty rural neighborhood a few years ago. The houses are really spread out. The past two years, we've gotten about 3 dozen kids at the most. Last night we got 11. If it wasn't for our annual Halloween party, I doubt I'd decorate at all.

One of the reasons we get so many kids is because our association closes the streets to traffic from 5:30pm to 9:00pm. It makes a very safe place for the kids to trick-or-treat and they can hit 173 homes.

I've uploaded 14 photos and video to my Halloween 2010 gallery:

http://www.thephotobooth.net/Holidays/halloween2010/13962933_iPKdh#1074065448_gQHpd


This is one of my favorites:

http://www.thephotobooth.net/photos/1074065575_TzVfM-O-1.jpg


BTW, vespaguy, don't get me started on Christmas. We live in one of "those" neighborhoods. At least, when we bought our house it was one of "those" neighborhoods. Tour buses and a constant stream of cars every night for the two weeks before Christmas. Unfortunately, as the homeowners have grown older, the participation level has dropped off considerably. When we bought our house, it was about 85% participation. The last few years, it's not much more than 40-45%.

Mark

and the Grim Grinning Pumpkins set up over on the left edge of the photo.

How did you get this to work? I have the video and downloaded an mp3 of the song but couldn't get a clean disk to burn using Nero or MS MovieMkaer. I'd put it all together and preview it and it would sound fine. Then EVERY TIME I burned it the main voice sounded like it was muffled by a big pillow. I'd do it again, preview it and would be fine, then burn it and you couldn't hear the main voice. The other voices were fine.

So how did you make it work? I guess there's always next year.

How did you get this to work? I have the video and downloaded an mp3 of the song but couldn't get a clean disk to burn using Nero or MS MovieMkaer. I'd put it all together and preview it and it would sound fine. Then EVERY TIME I burned it the main voice sounded like it was muffled by a big pillow. I'd do it again, preview it and would be fine, then burn it and you couldn't hear the main voice. The other voices were fine.

So how did you make it work? I guess there's always next year.

I merged the video and audio files in iMovie and then used my MacBook Pro as the player (connected to the projector by a 35' VGA cable). I didn't burn a DVD. I simply played it as a .mp4 movie file using QuickTime player on the Mac.

Mark

Thanks. I'll try it that way next year. I was kind of rushed this year and just kept thinking that I didn't want my laptop sitting outside, but was willing to risk a $29 DVD player. It just never occurred to me to use a long cable.

I already have Hallowindow which is way cool, but can someone explain exactly how the grim grinning pumpkins/ghosts/busts works. I would love to add this next year.

thanks,

Mark

I know Halloween is over, but I just wanted to share one of my props from my annual Halloween Party.

Over the years, I've acquired a small handful of digital picture frames as gifts. I'm not a huge fan of digital picture frames, BUT they make a great prop on Halloween.

Open up any photo in a photo editing application - portraits work best. Resize the photo to the correct resolution for the frame. Add a sepia tone and a strong vignette* to give it that aged look. Save the photo. This will be Photo #1. Then go ahead and edit the photo to give it a Halloween look - zombify the skin, whiten the eyes, replace heads with skulls, add blood, etc. (There are literally hundreds of tutorials on spook-ifying photos online). When you're done, save this as Photo #2.

Now, empty any photos from the digital frame and load ONLY the two photos you created. If you can edit the photoframe settings, change the transition type to "dissolve" and set the duration for the shortest interval (3-5 seconds).

When you're done, you'll have something like this:

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss112/tbot155/Desmond.gif

We had a few of these set up this year (including a zombie wedding photo) and they were a big hit.

*A bold vignette looks great on most portraits, but I skipped that step on this one because it obscured the wings too much.

vespaguy,

Great idea and great job. That came out looking really cool. What photo editing software, photoshop?

vespaguy,

Great idea and great job. That came out looking really cool. What photo editing software, photoshop?

Thanks! Yes, I used photoshop. But if you don't own it, you can always use "Gimp", which is a free download and can do about 99% of what the non-professional would need from photoshop.

Thanks! Yes, I used photoshop. But if you don't own it, you can always use "Gimp", which is a free download and can do about 99% of what the non-professional would need from photoshop.

Yeah, I already have Photoshop. I'll have to mess around with some pics cause I really like the way yours came out!

Any idea how the Grim grinning pumpkins is done??

Mark,

The Grim Grinning Pumpkins is a video that you can purchase from this guy:

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/windowcreeps/

And then you download the song from iTunes (explained on the above page), and then sync the video and audio using a program like iMovie on the Mac. Then all you need is a projector to project the image onto your pumpkins.

Have fun!

Mark

Mark,

The Grim Grinning Pumpkins is a video that you can purchase from this guy:

http://www.themightymicroscope.com/windowcreeps/

And then you download the song from iTunes (explained on the above page), and then sync the video and audio using a program like iMovie on the Mac. Then all you need is a projector to project the image onto your pumpkins.

Have fun!

Mark


Thanks Mark,

I had an idea how it was done, just wasn't sure if people were making their own videos. Probably fun to make a video. I'm wondering if people have trouble projecting this onto the pumpkins. It would seem that you need a pretty versatile projector to get on the pumpkins from a close range. I'm pretty sure my Panasonic would do it though. Definately have to try it next halloween.

Mark,

For Grim Grinning Pumpkins, I used a 10-year old LCD projector that I purchased off of eBay for $135. Worked great.

That said, the LCD projector's blacks aren't as dark as my DLP projector (also purchased on eBay). But I couldn't knock the deal I got on the LCD projector and I wanted a projector that wasn't too expensive, considering it was going to be used outdoors.

Next year, I plan to get one more projector and do the Madame Leota effect:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKdaE97xbeQ

I've already got the video.

Mark

That's pretty cool. Projected on to some sort of bust? I'm curious why I don't see any of the projector light in the background. It can't be focused that close in on just the bust, is it?

I hear ya about the projector. I'd hate to take mine off the ceiling and take it outside, although I'm thinking it could be a possibility because there a just too many cool things to do with it!!!!

I got this off halloweenforum from tdf22. its a wonderful singing pumpkins video and using my $20 projector, looked great when I displayed it in my foyer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUusvv02JkM

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/Halloween/101_7904.jpg

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd107/victor-eyd/Halloween/101_7903.jpg

Victor