Click Here to see the photos.
Or Click Here to see the fancy slideshow.
OUTSIDE: The entire house was illuminated by three blue spotlights hidden in the trees.
INSIDE: Red spotlights shone through the boarded windows which made the house scream "EEEEEVIL!" I didn't have time to detail the Styrofoam "boards" but that made no difference at night as they appeared as silhouettes when lit from behind.
WITCH JARS: I made a dozen of these quickly the night before Halloween. Hung at varying heights from the huge Magnolia tree and lit with tea lights, they were VERY effective in creating interest, movement, contrast and a ghostly atmosphere.
THE COFFIN UNDER THE STAIRS: Illuminated by a hidden red spotlight from above, inside this coffin is where I hid one of those sound activated "haunted hedge" shakers. Everyone that approached it was greeted by a violent shaking, rattling sound and guttural growls coming from within the coffin. My fog machine dispersed thick fog from under this coffin at regular intervals.
I actually got to hide in here for a while to scare trick-or-treaters.
THE CEMETERY: Each tombstone was illuminated by a blue/green LED light "expertly" duct taped to a spray-painted black paint stirrer stick and shoved into the ground in front of the tombstone. A few had LED candles and others had oil lanterns hanging from them.
One of my only "night shots".
The same shot the morning after.
The wilted and faded cemetery flower urns I made can be found elsewhere in my blog.
I realize that the inside of this coffin looks too "new" but at night, illuminated by the flickering oil lamp, that goes unnoticed.
SUMMARY: This year's display was creepy and beautiful. Red light streaming through the boarded windows, blue light illuminating the entire house, each tombstone illuminated by it's own blue/green light, flickering candles and oil lamp flames and glowing witch jars swaying in the slight breeze. Haunted organ music, crows and the moans of restless undead souls were heard.
I'll use the lighting tricks I learned along with much greater detail for next year so keep an "eye out" for Moonlit Hill Cemetery - Halloween 2012!
Click Here to see a few more shots!
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6 comments:
Nice work! Thanks for sharing the display.
I'm always impressed by the ability to make stuff growl and shake. I have no technical knowledge about that kind of thing!
Thank you Shelley! Since the ambiance was created by the contrasting lighting my daytime pics do a poor job of showing that. I don't have technical knowledge of movement either so I used this toy. I just tossed it into the coffin. It shakes and growls at the slightest noise and the growls sound "bass-ier" inside the big wooden coffin! Muahahhaaaa!!!
I opted for the slideshow. Great show too. I wouldn't exactly call it a "small display" either. Your work is great. Looking forward to seeing what you do next year.
Thank you Ali! I have big plans for next year and if I can get my neighbors on board, we may have an entire haunted street! We live on Moonlit Lane and it is a DEAD END cul-de-sac! It couldn't be more perfect!
nice job Undertaker! Beauty and simplicity, I like the approach. Did you hand letter all the tombstones? I'm looking for a better way to carve the letters nice and neat.....like yours! Always enjoy the tour, Thanks!
Thanks October Boy! I opted for simple, generic and a little creepy epitaphs instead of the funny ones you often see (although I've come to realize that if you make them funny, people spend more time reading them) so maybe next year I'll do a few funny ones. I print the epitaphs out from my computer and use straight pins to pin the printed paper onto the Styrofoam tombstone. Then using an X-acto knife I cut the letters out straight through the paper, pull the paper off and dig out the letters with the X-acto knife. I do have a Dremel rotary tool but I haven't tried using it for the letters yet.
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