Lighting, ambiance and props

Animatronics, Halloween, Lighting, Prop Making, Scenic, Woodworking

Charlie Brown Christmas

The cast of characters are made from plywood and hand painted. Each is lit with LED spotlights to highlight them and the show’s soundtrack is played through outdoor speakers. See more here

This year we did a graveyard theme with a crypt, many tombstones and a large scarecrow. I used LED spotlights that allowed me to pick colors to get the effect I wanted. I mounted them to the gutters, behind bushes, and around the graveyard. I also used smoke machines and speakers to play custom made spooky soundtracks. I was very inspired by Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. There is also a giant spider web lit with blacklight and window projections. See the 2021 Walkthrough

The yard sign

Our street is named Berwyn Road and we thought this was a fun, Halloween alternative. The signs are made of plywood and hand painted. The lighting pointing upwards at a steep angle given dramatic look and strong shadows.

The entrance

This is the entrance to the “scare zone”. Made from an old tarp and PVC pipe. Once someone walks through, they are immediately scared by an actor hiding in the crypt.

The scare zone

As people would enter the scare zone, an actor presses a button in the crypt that plays a loud scream as they jump out of the crypt. They are then surprised by more actors and 3 different animatronics. One is triggered by a large step pad we made, and others were automated, timed and sync’d with sound effects.

The fence (reclaimed wood)

I had the idea to make a rickety fence this year and planned to use old shipping pallets for the wood. But then I found a neighbor that was gutting his basement and throwing away the materials. I brought the wood home and removed or bent all of the nails down so it would be safe. Then I made 13 fence sections to surround our front yard and added some paint to try and make it look little bit weathered and older.

The phantom

Custom-modified animatronic phantom. It randomly springs up and over the sidewalk, lights and sound effects are sync’d with the movement. See more here

The jumping spider

This a store-bought prop but I hid it in an old trunk, covered it with spider webs and added lighting. I made a large step pad to use as a trigger and connected it to the spider. Trick-or-treaters could not pass by without triggering the prop.