Recommendation for kick ass yet simple Halloween lightshow
October 9, 2017 9:26 PM Subscribe
I would like to put on a decent Halloween lightshow on the front of my house. Any recommendations for decent LED/laser units that will impress the local kids? Bonus points if it's programmable in some way, but would like to keep the price below $100-$200 depending on features. I don't have a ton of time to do something like projection mapping on my house. Would prefer something that isn't too garish and rainbow colored.
How much ambient light do you have to work against? The cheap color washes that you can find on Amazon/Lowes/Home Depot/etc. for $20-30 will work OK if you're in a fairly dim area but suffer if there's bright street lights. Light falls off fairly rapidly over distance due to the Inverse Square Law. If you get something that turns out to not work well from a distance, you can put something closer to it for it to light up (like fake gravestones).
Having a fog machine would help create atmosphere and make the lighting more visible, but I don't have experience with cheap ones so can't recommend any.
Cheap UV flashlights pointed up underneath creepy scarecrows or the like wearing reactive clothing can be effective. You can also do things like have an UV light with a remote control and have things painted in UV reactive paint that will light up and become visible when you trigger them.
Strobes are _fun_ for the purpose but problematic for people with epilepsy, so not really ideal for an outdoor thing.
You can get a creepy effect by getting an RF remote that controls outlets and plugging lamps in different visible rooms in the house and triggering them as people come to the door. Having all the lights go on or off as you knock is definitely creepy. If you want them as a year round thing, you can get something along the lines of Philips Hue lights and add color to the interior of the house.
posted by Candleman at 12:32 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Having a fog machine would help create atmosphere and make the lighting more visible, but I don't have experience with cheap ones so can't recommend any.
Cheap UV flashlights pointed up underneath creepy scarecrows or the like wearing reactive clothing can be effective. You can also do things like have an UV light with a remote control and have things painted in UV reactive paint that will light up and become visible when you trigger them.
Strobes are _fun_ for the purpose but problematic for people with epilepsy, so not really ideal for an outdoor thing.
You can get a creepy effect by getting an RF remote that controls outlets and plugging lamps in different visible rooms in the house and triggering them as people come to the door. Having all the lights go on or off as you knock is definitely creepy. If you want them as a year round thing, you can get something along the lines of Philips Hue lights and add color to the interior of the house.
posted by Candleman at 12:32 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
If you do do fog, make yourself a garbage can fog chiller- totally worth the effort.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 5:19 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by PorcineWithMe at 5:19 AM on October 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You can get a window projector kit for under $200, and a looping video of moving ghosts, zombie hands, etc will be pretty impressive even if it's just one window. https://www.target.com/p/total-home-fx-174-animated-led-window-projector-kit/-/A-52330170
posted by redorangeyellow at 9:06 AM on October 10, 2017
posted by redorangeyellow at 9:06 AM on October 10, 2017
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posted by TrishaU at 11:38 PM on October 9, 2017