Wednesday, October 29, 2008 Body Slinger Update

OK, so the Body Slinger never made it to full automation and I didn't even get photos of the completed "jack in the box" effect.

Here is the head of Jack the Evil Clown.

The mask was $7 from Big Lots. Add plastic eyeballs, some Sharpie touch-up, and a good coat of high gloss sealant to the mouth and you have a fairly creepy clown.

General: The prop setup was the body slinger in a 4' X 4' plywood box upholstered with some old drapes. Jack was finished off with store-bought rubber hands and dressed in a shiny white fabric with irregular red polka dots.

In the box with Jack was a fog machine (looked cool and hid Jack since the box had no lid) and two pairs of speakers.

Audio: One pair of speakers provided a continuous soundtrack and one pair delivered Jack's scream/laugh. The continuous track was a free download from Sinistersonics mixed down to a mono track. Jack's scream/laugh was a free sound effect slightly manipulated with Audacity.

Both pairs of speakers were driven from a two channel 40 watt car amp powered from a PC power supply. The two speakers for the soundtrack were wired in series (lower output) and his scream/laugh pair in parallel (higher output). His scream/laugh had to be manually triggered since automation of the prop was discarded.

The soundtrack source was a portable CD player connected to one channel of the amp. Jack's scream/laugh was recorded on a RadioShack 20-second voice recorder connected to the other channel of the amp. I ditched the 9 volt battery power source for the voice recorder and powered it from the 5 volt output of the power supply used for the amp.

Lighting: We lit the prop with a ground level green flood and added a blue flood mounted higher from the opposite side to light Jack when extended. The blue flood was connected through a 'Thunder' machine from Target (last year's after Halloween sale) triggered by his scream/laugh track.

Control: It was a two-person operation, with one watching the guests to time the scare, trigger Jack's scream/laugh and keep the fog at a good level. The second person released the rope to let Jack fly and retracted him for the next group. It probably didn't need to be two people but it was more fun that way.

Review: I was bummed out with three straight days of rain and disappointed that I didn't complete the motorized return for the prop. That eliminated any chance to use a motion sensor for activation. It did remind me, though, that there is nothing more effective than having a person watch and pick exactly the right moment for trigger. It had been a number of years since I had been tethered to a prop, and it was actually kind of a kick.

Body Slinger

The body slinger in early development. The base and armature are basically completed at a total cost of $25 - we had to buy the lumber and two lift springs. The aluminum stock came from an old chaise lawn chair and camper shell.

In the photo left I am holding the slinger in the down position. The top of the head is approximately 3 1/2 feet from the ground.

The photo right shows the slinger after release. The springs have thrust it into full upright position. The top of the head is now at 7 feet from the ground and the body has moved forward about 2 1/2 feet.

Early test of the slinger. The two lift springs are in place, but the motorized return mechanism has yet to be installed (or designed, for that matter).

Lydia At The Beach

Lydia loves our vacations at the Outer Banks.

Her fear of the ocean doesn't diminish her appreciation of the dunes and sea oats.

Every time we turned around she was scrambling up the retaining wall outside our room and jumping into the sand. Eyes or no eyes, she can be a handful!




Lydia said "Bunny likes the feel of the sand and the playful seagulls the best."

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Lydia and Lucy

Lydia striking a smart pose with Lucy, her goth guardian art doll. Her mom made Lucy to keep Lydia company.

Lydia

Little Lydia is a former image of herself. Once a bright and aspiring pupil, her young life took a tragic turn when her mother and father died suddenly. No one knows what happened that night, but we all assume that Lydia saw something so horrible she plucked out her own eyes.



Lydia was intended to be an entry in a $20 prop contest, but she did not arrive in time to compete. The thrift store provided inspiration with her costume and favorite stuffed animal.



We were given a bunch of free foam, so that was the preferred material for her body. Here we have her body roughed out by laminating three rough cut layers with cheap white glue.



Her wig was a cheap eBay purchase, and not exactly what we wanted. Her head is traditional paper mache over a small balloon.



Foam is surprisingly strong, but her feet needed reinforcement. Coat hanger and duct tape to the rescue!



This shot shows her head freshly coated with DAS clay and her eyes, nose and mouth cut out.



She seemed a bit flat so we added a fourth and fifth layer of foam to build out her belly and backside. Also added a neck stump that we abandoned later.



I am not sure why we covered her body in mache. I just started doing it and liked it. Her arms are foam laminated over coat hanger wire. Her hands are DAS clay built up on a coat hanger wire skeleton. The new and improved neck is a scrap wood dowel glued in the foam. Here she is with her little dress on.



Her neck stump will be painted white after her head is mounted.

Lydia & Bruin

Corpse

We heard about a DVD called "How to Make Your Own Scratch Built Corpse" by Special Effects Artist Christian Hanson and had to get it. This guy was crazy enough to sit down and document in substantial detail how to create a full size corpse out of commonly available materials. The anatomical accuracy that he achieves is impressive.

For the last two weekends we have been assembling one mostly based on his instructions. It might have been the buzz from applying ten tubes of construction adhesive, but I really enjoyed this project.

Out of respect for Christian I am not going to write up a how-to. Go buy his DVD!

In process - nothing better than a rack of bones drying in the garage!

Monday, October 6, 2008 Halloween Cometh

I love Halloween and have most of my life. The smell of crisp fall air and piles of leaves by the curb, and the exquisite naughtiness of the night of the dead. Those are good memories.