Ok, lame subject, but I wanted to include as much info as possible.

watch this video.

http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM


I like it!

Cool!

Damn........Damn.............................................................Damn thats....................................Damn...

DAMNNN! That's frickin awesome. I wonder how they did that. They've probably been workin on it since XMas of 95

probably a midi sequencer. Still takes a lot of work, but I'm guessing that is what he used.

The concept is very easy, well, easy if you are experienced with working on light shows, and musican like myself. All you would have to do, is connect all the lighting to a computer, have computer software to organize a light show. Same concept with major stage performance. You just time everything with the timing of the music. The only hard part is getting the christmas lights in order to flow correctly, and also, having the timing near perfection. Because thats an outstanding job.

First one i've seen do it, but its not that hard. Just lots of time devoting towards getting it right is all. I could probably do something like that in less than a week with a group of people helping me. A week straight devoted towards it, so if anyone wants to hire me, let me know. :P jk

EDIT: A sequencer for lights could work, but impractical. You would need more than one for that kind of job. Sequencers are only good if you wanted to go back and forth, up or down, or a strobe type effect. I dont know of anything that can do that without having software/computer controlling it. Could be though. *shrug*

Cya

^sounds expensive

^sounds expensive

The most expensive thing would be the lights themselves. If you don't already have a computer set up for it, with the software. You would probably be looking at around $200-$300 for software programming that should include everything you would need. You would also have to find a piece to hook up the lights to the computer. Not exactly sure how you would do that, but theres bound to be something out there.

Cya

^something expensive. :P OK, I'll stop

^something expensive. :P OK, I'll stop

haha, well its really not that bad if you would use it a lot, not just christmas. Plus, for what you can do (not really a limit) its worth it, again, if you really wanted to use it. A sequencer would probably suite you more if you wanted to add some rotation sort of speak with the lights, i wouldn't imagine that would cost anymore than $30-$50 depending on brand, where you buy and how envolved the squences it can offer.

Cya

You jsut gotta have a lot of spare time on your hands with a little knowledge about what your doing lol.

guy probably works as some effects engineer or whatnot.

i wonder what the neighbors think, hearing the same shizniz every night :yawn: after i'd show all my friends and family, id be like "here we go again"...

Its sort of like Illuminations at Epcot Center, but with a holiday theme.

um, im pretty sure it was stop action video, guys.

^^ thats what i thought. Like just an image sequence.

um, im pretty sure it was stop action video, guys.

How did you determine that?

I think you can just take pics of individual lights on and edit them into a sequence correctly you can get the same effect. Still did a great job at putting it together. :)

i was saying that based on the grass in the foreground looking kinda choppy from frame to frame. and the neighbors light in the background going on and off. and the fact that it looks like an episode of Gumby.

i was saying that based on the grass in the foreground looking kinda choppy from frame to frame. and the neighbors light in the background going on and off. and the fact that it looks like an episode of Gumby.

actually... makes perfect sense. the relatively good music quality would have to mean that the house is blasting as loud as a dB contest. i doubt it's that loud.

and it DOES look like an episode of gumby. gumby would be proud. :silly:

yea ive been seeing a lot more stop motion clips lately...maybe its the next big thing.....

yea ive been seeing a lot more stop motion clips lately...maybe its the next big thing.....

seriously. i was even fooled at first with this one.

the possibilities of stop-action... you can make your xB/xA/tC drift now! jk LOL. my friend made a really good drift video, with the use of his canon camera and a couple matchbox cars! :silly:

oooh, stop-action is neat.

in high school, me and 3 of my friends did one.

one friend shadow boxed, (which took forever!!)
then on the computer we drew in a character for him to fight with.
at some point the drawing morphed into my other friend.
and using a trashcan off camera, they both flew off around the corner of the hallway.
THE END.

it was the neatest thing. the teacher gave us like a 150% score.
we beat the A/V team who were supposed to KNOW this. (they cheated though and used a video camera that auto imported to flash :loser: )

i bet you don't have that video anymore do you :(

hope you do :pray:

oh i wish I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was on the computers at school and I had no way of getting it off of there.
the file size was HUGE, we had to split it up to two computers and even then with the sound effects and stuff, it took 15 minutes to open each half and in the end the computers refused to render the friggin thing. it wouldn't even pretend that we asked it to render.




and we still kicked butt with it. :bow: :P

oh i wish I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was on the computers at school and I had no way of getting it off of there.
the file size was HUGE, we had to split it up to two computers and even then with the sound effects and stuff, it took 15 minutes to open each half and in the end the computers refused to render the friggin thing. it wouldn't even pretend that we asked it to render.




and we still kicked butt with it. :bow: :P

i would go back to see if by the slim chance he kept it but this was 3 years ago and I am not sure he still teaches there.

From what I can tell, that blinking light to the left of the house is blinking at a regular rate, not tied to any of the other lights at all(looks like a strobe on top of a distant antenna/water tower). So that argument for it being stop animation is ruled out. And the part about the grass being choppy, what you are seeing are video compression artifacts that are changing from frame to frame. Also, if someone was doing this as stop frame animation, would they really take the time to add in frames where the lights were fading on and off? Watch the video frame by frame and you will see what I mean. That would be A LOT of work.

More then likely the music was added after the fact while editing the video, or at least had the volume adjusted.

Btw, the music is from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (http://www.trans-siberian.com).

From what I can tell, that blinking light to the left of the house is blinking at a regular rate, not tied to any of the other lights at all(looks like a strobe on top of a distant antenna/water tower). So that argument for it being stop animation is ruled out. And the part about the grass being choppy, what you are seeing are video compression artifacts that are changing from frame to frame. Also, if someone was doing this as stop frame animation, would they really take the time to add in frames where the lights were fading on and off? Watch the video frame by frame and you will see what I mean. That would be A LOT of work.

More then likely the music was added after the fact while editing the video, or at least had the volume adjusted.

Btw, the music is from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (http://www.trans-siberian.com).

Exactly.

Cya

man. lighting programming, stop-action, blah blah. either way, it's a great clip and i give whoever made it props. :bow:

yeah, i rule out stop animation as well. way too much detail for that. the fading of the lights is the give away there. they must have just added the music after but it really might have been playing while the lights were on but definitely not that loud

The music was added on afterwords, it may have been played while recording the lights to get everything down to timing. However, the music was indeed after. How do i know? If you listen to the music, its too precise in its original mix at the studio. If it was recorded outside and recorded, it would have had static and the tone of each instrument would have been off slightly. It makes a huge difference. Its the difference between recording and listening to a live record, unmastered and a mastered studio record. Both sound very similar, but very much different if you have the "ear" to listen to it. Not putting down live stuff, i love going to shows. Adds more realism in the words and music.

Back to point, you wouldn't be able to hear the music like you are now if it was played and then bumped volume later so you can hear it. If you cut the volume up too loud on pre-recorded material, you will get too much feedback and static.

Cya

The music was added on afterwords, it may have been played while recording the lights to get everything down to timing. However, the music was indeed after. How do i know? If you listen to the music, its too precise in its original mix at the studio. If it was recorded outside and recorded, it would have had static and the tone of each instrument would have been off slightly. It makes a huge difference. Its the difference between recording and listening to a live record, unmastered and a mastered studio record. Both sound very similar, but very much different if you have the "ear" to listen to it. Not putting down live stuff, i love going to shows. Adds more realism in the words and music.

Back to point, you wouldn't be able to hear the music like you are now if it was played and then bumped volume later so you can hear it. If you cut the volume up too loud on pre-recorded material, you will get too much feedback and static.

Cya

yup, i agree with the sound added afterwards. too clean and non-static-ish to be an outdoor recording lol. but then what do i know, my belief flip-flopped a bunch of times. haha.

:rofl: ^^

Cya

i dont really care if its stop animations or whatever ya'll said... that ish is fricken awesome! my stupid boss said, "Is that ur house?" ---"Uhhhh yea dork!" (Who the hell put that idiot in charge?")

i dont really care if its stop animations or whatever ya'll said... that ish is fricken awesome! my stupid boss said, "Is that ur house?" ---"Uhhhh yea dork!" (Who the hell put that idiot in charge?")

lol, well its not stop animation so..it is someones house. Oh my god, that is your house!!! :lalala: :rofl:

Cya

uh...... no! i dont have the time, money nor patience to do all that...

but yea that pretty much sounded just like what he said~
"Oh really that ur house?" ---- "NO!"

uh...... no! i dont have the time, money nor patience to do all that...

but yea that pretty much sounded just like what he said~
"Oh really that ur house?" ---- "NO!"

I was joking if you didn't catch that?

It is your house, just admit it. :rofl: You'll feel better about yourself.

Cya

wow.....someone has no life is all i can say....

ha!
looks like the jokes on me. :)
from 'Snopes':
"...A number of readers have informed us that this display is the work of Carson Williams of Mason, Ohio, who used 88 Light-O-Rama channels to control his 16,000 christmas lights...."

All I can say is, if I was his neighbor, those lights wouldn't be on for long........

ha!
looks like the jokes on me. :)
from 'Snopes':
"...A number of readers have informed us that this display is the work of Carson Williams of Mason, Ohio, who used 88 Light-O-Rama channels to control his 16,000 christmas lights...."

awww, so the truth comes out. that man deserves an award for his hard work. how about a nice $800 light bill?

Haven't seen this link posted...it is a second song/light show at the same house.

http://www.break.com/articles/houselights2.html

Haven't seen this link posted...it is a second song/light show at the same house.

http://www.break.com/articles/houselights2.html

i like the original one better. the song in this one is highly annoying. if the neighbors were ____ed off from the first one, this one must've got them ____ed enough to have mass-compulsive-vandalism or something. :rofl:

hmmmmm Jingle Bells higly anoying...I would recomend you lock yourself in your house and don't come out for the rest of the month...it cannot be avoided. :rofl: :rofl: If you are refering to Barbara Stisand singing it, well, there's no accounting for bad taste :P . :rofl:

hmmmmm Jingle Bells higly anoying...I would recomend you lock yourself in your house and don't come out for the rest of the month...it cannot be avoided. :rofl: :rofl: If you are refering to Barbara Stisand singing it, well, there's no accounting for bad taste :P . :rofl:

oh... yeah. i was not referring to "jingle bells" the song itself, just the way it was sang. it's stuck in my head now- and i don't like it. shoulda stuck with some original version of the classic.

again, just my 2 cents.

i must bump this back up tis-da-season...

it's insane.

very well put together, no matter how it was actually done.

There's two houses in my neighborhood that do this. One of them is WAY more elaborate than the one that you posted.

The coolest thing about it is that they both go to the same music, and they are both on the same street.

By the way- to hear the music, you tune your radio to 107.1

is it annoying to live near them? must be lots of spectators and holiday traffic.

usual traffic around houses with light-o-rama set-ups can be congested.

most use the same music because one... it's good music.. and two... the main programming for the music has already been done and can be easily customized to each house.

Well they're through the neighborhood enough to where it doesn't really affect me, but yeah they live on a dead end street so the traffic backs up a lot to get down there. It's worth the wait though. And I think there's around 7 different songs that it randomly cycles through.

http://www.edwardsfolk.com/2005/12/wizards_of_winter_light_displa.html
I saw this last year. It was actually mentioned on the local news for that area. He has this thing set up to run through multiple songs and sequences, and the music can be heard via FM radio due to a local transmitter on that particular frequency.
According to the local media in that area, the local police actually dispatch an officer to direct traffic through the neighborhood because of all the people that come to see this particular attraction.
...wish I was a neighbor at the beginning of his street. I'd block it off and charge $5 per car!

Here you go- this is a website for the house in my 'hood.

The fast songs are better, but check out the demo. Also tells you how it works and how it all got started.

http://www.christmas-onthe-hill.com/

Another one is called Osborn Spectacle of lights and it has a touching story of christmas behind it.

http://www.jenningsosbornefamily.com/christmaslights/default.asp

Ironically, Jennings Osborne never had Christmas lights on his home as a child raised in Fort Smith,Ark., some 140 miles west of Little Rock. Even so, Christmas was the most celebrated time of the year and the single holiday where the Osborne's took a brief respite from their crushing workload to be together as a family.
"It was a tradition started by my father, Bryan,'' Jennings remembers. "He loved Christmas so much and made it a special day for our family.''Upon Bryan Osborne's death in 1968, Jennings emerged as the family patriarch and continued the tradition his father treasured. He, Mitzi and later Breezy (born in 1980) made the annual trek to Fort Smith. "For many years, it was our only day off,'' Jennings says.

A new tradition started in 1986 when Breezy, then 6, asked her father if he would hang some Christmas lights at their home in Little Rock. He happily obliged and began modestly with 1,000 red lights. "Each year after that, it got bigger and bigger,'' he recalls. "I'm never satisfied. I'm always chasing a dream.''
By 1993, the display grew to 3 million lights and could be seen by plane from as far as 80 miles away. The extravaganza included a three-dimensional replica of the world, which was suspended 100 feet in the air that would flash PEACE ON EARTH. Also included was a computerized light display of a train engineered by a waving Mickey Mouse.
"It was our own little Disney World,'' Jennings recalls with a smile. As a result, thousands from all over the state flocked to see the world's largest home Christmas light display. Television crews from as far away as Japan and Australia chronicled the massive event.

But Jennings couldn't fathom how many lives he would touch. Wading through thousands of letters of appreciation, one continues to stand out. "Last December, our little girl, Alex, was 4 years old and as most children, she loved your beautiful Christmas lights,'' Pat Pope of Benton, Ark., wrote in 1991. "Shortly after seeing your lights, she relapsed with the cancer she had been fighting for a little over a year. We lost our Alex on Dec. 30. "Thanks you so much for your lights. My family appreciates the time, hassle and the money that you share and put into your lights. I hope you get an opportunity to see the faces of the children (and adults, too) that look at your lights.''
To this day, Jennings is still moved by that letter. "That's what made it all worthwhile,'' he says with a smile. "I think some people have the impression our lights were to get attention. No, our lights made people happy. And as a result, that made us happy.''


Unfortunately, the Osborne's neighbors couldn't grasp the altruism behind the light display. They cited it as a nuisance, and filed a law suit that was eventually heard by the Arkansas Supreme Court. "It tears my heart out to this day,'' Jennings says. "They don't get it. Our lights were Christmas for a lot of people.''
To appease his neighbors, Osborne was amenable to several compromises. He shortened the time his lights were turned on and even hired four off-duty policemen to assist neighbors leaving and returning to their home. But just like Alex, one family pulled at his heart strings and he defied a court order.

"It was a family from Pine Bluff who arrived minutes after the lights were ordered to be turned off,'' Jennings recalls. "The father had gotten off late from work and rushed his children to see the lights. He told me his story and I just couldn't say no.''
As a result, the Osbornes paid a $10,000 fine for defying the court order. "And it was worth every penny,'' Jennings says. Again, his neighbors used the act as ammunition to have the display shut down for good. The Osborne's appealed to the United States Supreme Court but Justice Clarence Thomas sent the motion back saying that it was not unique enough.
Spectacle of Lights

Osborne Christmas Lights, All Over Arkansas,

"I thought my world would come to an end,'' Jennings said. "Somebody was denying a gift I was giving.''But as the Osbornes came to find, God opens a door for every one he shuts. Soon after his light display was shut down, he was contacted by Disney World to bring his lights to Orlando, Florida.

Beginning in 1995, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights opened with 4 million lights and has become the park's third largest attraction. Additionally, the Osbornes sponsor light displays in 32 cities in Arkansas. "As it turned out,'' Jennings muses, "it's the greatest thing that ever happened. Now, millions get to see it. I get to share my gift with the world.''




I work for disney now as a lighting technician and the amount of money and effort that the osbornes put into this display is quite impressive. Currently it is on display nightly at MGM and it encompases all of the backlots with more than 5 million lights. The lights have many many scenes and are controlled by massive banks of dimmer racks and light consoles. Disney has it set up so the lights change up to 20 times a second with somewhere around 500 cues in the time of that song. It really is a WOW factor and kids love it, if you have the chance to come see it do it, its well worth park admission.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AQob62M2gtc&mode=related&search=

this is one of the scenes from the new release this year its frickin amazing.

this one is still a classic holiday cheer video heh yeah i bumped it up from last year btw the link still works! WOOO

2 years and running :)