Frontdorr.com

Things have been progressing nicely. Song #2, Wonderful Christmas Time is complete and I’m well on the way through song #3, Jingle Bells. Some may ask, “Why the heck are you messing around with Jingle Bells when you included it in last years show?” The answer is that last year’s Jingle Bells was sequenced for 64 channels and this year it needs to be enhanced for 176 channels. Any repeats from previous years have to be re-sequenced to account for the added channels.

One really big accomplishments was capturing the voices of our three elves, Jingle, Jangle and Elf Judy. They completed nine voice overs that will lead us through the show. And not only will you hear them, we’ve captured a representation of them for all to see. Here is a picture of our elves at their recording session (from L-R Jangle, Elf Judy and Jingle) followed by the way you will be able to see Jangle.

Now comes the task of sequencing the elves’ voices so the Jangle above, and the other two elves, along with a surprise guest, will actually move their “mouths” to coincide with the words you hear. Should be interesting.

With only

116 days

until the lights go on, I’m feeling some pressure to get things in a higher gear, since we were out of town for 20 days in July.

All that aside, I’ve tested all of the LOR controllers, including a new one that wasn’t anticipated, but necessary if I plan on getting the elves to “talk” correctly, and they work perfectly. So now I’m up to 176 usable channels. I don’t think I’ll use all of them this year, but I’m ready if need be. I’ve tested the new DC board and the MR16 LEDs that will be run off them, and I’m pleased with the brightness of the lights. I’ve got red, green, and blue lights that will be used to wash the house with color. And in conjunction with the MR16s, I’ve soldered a 22 ohm resistor to one leg of each of the connectors which allows the MR16s to dim. They do dim differently then the mini-lights, so that will have to be considered during the sequencing phase.

And the good news is that I’ve finished sequencing my first song, The Holidays Are Coming, sung by Melanie Thorton. This song is the basis for the Coke commercial which I’m sure everyone has seen over the years. This will be the first song of the show after the introduction by the three elves. The bad news is that I’ve got 8 more songs to sequence, as well as sequencing the elves. But I’ve still got 116 days to get it accomplished, plus a lot of other odds and ends.

Back to it.

We now have only

163 DAYS BEFORE THE LIGHTS GO ON

At this point, I have only a little over 40 hours expended toward this year’s Christmas Lights Display. That doesn’t count the time I stood out in front and visualized what things were going to look like. Or reading up on the many Christmas related forums. And as my friend Jim keeps reminding me, November will be here before we know it. So far:

• The voiceovers for the three elves, Jingle, Jangle and Elf Judy, has been written, but not yet recorded. Elf Judy was just added today.

• The playlist has been determined and includes:

• Introduction
• The Holidays Are Coming
• Wonderful Christmas Time
• Jingle Bells
• Carol of the Bells (mix)
• We Need A Little Christmas
• White Christmas
• Wizards of Winter
• We Wish You A Merry Christmas

• One frame for holding the coro has been completed and positioned on the roof to ensure it is sitting at the correct angle. Here is a picture of it:

• One song is in the sequencing mode, but not yet completed. Since adding Elf Judy to the cast of elves, I have to reconfigure the channel distribution. Not a biggie, but four of the channels that were assigned to Grounded Lights are now going to be used to power Elf Judy. Glad I didn’t have several songs sequenced at this point. See Jim, not being the fastest may have paid off.

More as things progress.

Is it May already? Where has time gone. And there are only

196 days or 28 weeks

until the 2008 version of our Animated Christmas Lights display is open to the public. While there has been a lot of head thinking since the unveiling of the 2007 show about this year’s show, the actual time spent on making it happen has been less than 25 hours. So I’ve got to get on the stick and do more to make it happen.

At this point, here are the anticipated changes to be included in this year’s display:

• Double the number of computerized channels used, from 80 to 160
• Add one controller that controls DC voltage which will power several MR-16 LEDs used as wall wash lights
• Add more lights. Not sure how many, but probably 10,000+.
• Reposition and reconfigure the mega-tree.
• Add 5 more mini-trees, bringing the total to 21. They too will be repositioned this year (or at least I have a picture of them in my head that I will have to test this summer)
• Make three animated figures, using coroplast (fluted polypropylene) and mini-lights. Two will be Jingle and Jangle, the two elves that stared in one of the shows last year, and the third of Santa. I envision these sitting on the roof.
• Reposition the angel and snowflakes
• Add more icicles on the house eve
• Reconfigure the red and white lights on the two oak trees
• Add ten grounded lights

Songs

The song selection hasn’t been determined at this point. I know how the opening will go and I’ve mixed five separate Carol of the Bells versions into one 5+ minute song. I’ll probably bring back Jingle Bells, since that has been a favorite the last two Christmases, but the rest is open. I do have several that are good candidates, but nothing definite.

Do you have any suggestions? What song or songs would you like to see included in this year’s display? Can’t promise anything, but any input would be appreciated.

That’s the latest. As new things happen, I’ll make more posts.