Sound & Light:

This was an early attempt at organizing the sound and lighting system and integrating it into the existing plans for the haunted house. In the end most of this didn't work, but this was how it was supposed to go. 8)

Speakers: (sounds)

1. Entrance (background music and clips from movies)
2. Inside witch's cauldron (fire/bubbling)
3. Main mood speaker (background music... gets scarier when door closes)
4. Pivoting door (Door sounds then background sounds)
5. Monster speaker (background sounds then monster sounds)
6. Buffet table (background sounds and screaming?)
7. Hall speaker (background music... gets scarier when door closes)
8. Mummy (Screams and "I'm not dead!")
9. Outside cube (background sounds and wolves)
10. Exit ("Leaving so soon?" distraction for Tracy to jump out)

Lights:

1. Orange pumpkin light (dims out when door closes)
2. Black light (turns on when door closes)
3. Red signal light and black light in hall (dims on to signal door closing)
4. Black light (turns on when door closes)
5. Mood lighting for buffet table (dims/brightens)
6. Mood lighting for buffet table (dims/brightens)
7. Mummy light (turns on with mummy)
8. Mood lighting (dims/brightens)
9. Mood lighting (dims/brightens)
10. Exit sign (turns on after exit sound plays)

Sequence of events:

1. People line up and are let into the maze 2-3 at a time by ghouls outside.
2. Children proceed down corridor lit by halloween lanterns. (Spooky sounds on speaker #1, #3, #7)
3. A ghoul (standing near speaker 3) helps to direct people towards witch
4. Witch gives out candy (cauldron crackling and bubbling)
5. Witch (or helper ghoul) decides whether or not to send them on to the rest of the maze.

Option 1:

Children go back the way they came. End of story...

or

Option 2:

Witch (or helper ghoul) uses X10 remote to signal the "Door-To-Close" (tm) (hereafter referred to as DTC)

6. DTC sequence happens
   1. Light #3 dims on (signaling DTC)
   2. Smoke machine starts pumping out smoke
   3. Door closed by Brian
   4. Door closing sound plays on speaker #4
   5. Light #2 turns on and Light #1 dims out
   6. Music on speaker #3, #4, #5, #7 plays scary background noises
   7. Other computer sequences play various sounds, control lights elsewhere in maze.
7. Children walk down back hall
8. Monster (Jon) triggers sounds from Speaker #5 and scares people from behind bars
9. Buffet table has many interesting things to look at (while lights #5 and #6 dim/brighten and sounds play from Speaker #6)
10. Brian (or another ghoul) grabs people from behind
11. Mummy (Kevin) triggers scary sounds from Speaker #8 and and Light #7 turns on
12. As they walk out into cube, wolf sounds play and lights #8 and #9 dim/brighten. (triggered by ghoul in L or by mummy)
13. A ghoul hiding in the middle of the cube grab legs as they walk by.
14. Time permitting them to be built, inflatable walls obstruct corridor near light #9
15. On the way out (Tracy triggers sequence
    1. "Leaving so soon?" plays on speaker #10
    2. Tracy jumps out from behind to scare them
    3. Exit sign turns on
16. End of story...

Oh well...

In the end things didn't go quite the way we planned. Due to the amount of time we had and when people could work, much of the infrastructure for the sounds and lighting systems couldn't be installed until the night before and the day of Halloween. Further delays in getting the software working and networking problems pushed us to the point where we were starting to test the lighting system minutes before opening, and still trying to get the sound system working after we opened.

We were using 3 networked computers each driving an amp. One amp was just a simple stereo amp with 2 speakers, and the 2 others were amps with Dolby surround processors. A program had been written to drive each speaker independently meaning that we theoretically had 10 channels of sound.

The idea was to use the 10 channels of sound along with computer controlled macro sequences of X10 controlled lights to get some spooky effects going. It's a pity that theory and reality are usually not one in the same.

At the last minute, when it was determined that the X10 computer control was going to be way too slow, most of the X10 modules were turned on and left on. Some light bulbs were replaced with black lights (as they were supposed to flash normal incandescent bulbs). Certain lights were then set to work with X10 RF remote controllers which were given to the witch and people at the buffet table. Everyone else who was offered a remote for their lights declined, as their costumes made it impossible to operate buttons.

As for the sounds, once the sound system was partially working, we couldn't use the sounds in the formats we had, and due to networking problems, we couldn't easily transfer sounds to a computer that could translate the sounds into a more useful format.

In the end the only thing we got to work as intended was a $60US spy camera that worked in the dark (using ultraviolet light). We managed to place it in the entry hall (with a view of the witch and swinging door), and then later at the buffet table. We taped this and hope to offer mpeg movies of this footage soon.

It was later remarked that we had a control room "filled with $10,000 of computer and A/V equipment, and only $100 of it worked."

*sigh* We'll work out the bugs and be ready by next year...

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