Thread: Graveyard Setup Tips

Tweet

Before I go and reinvent the wheel. Can anyone give me some setup tips that you have found through out the years. I'm doing a wimsical graveyard that is to be kid friendly. Lighting, smoke, display arrangement, you name anything you learned I would love to hear. Thanks.

I know not of whimsy....

But for the cemetery....it's all about lighting. If you want it seen on Halloween, you better light it up.

Also.....spread things out....people are moving, so if everythings crammed together, they either miss some stuff or have to stop to look.....keep things flowing

You can't go wrong with fog....just make sure to place the machine where the wind is to it's back. You might want to the fog to do one thing, but Mother Nature is the final authority on fog

I know not of whimsy

Ditto. Sorry, and may all have fun!

Dan

Kid friendly can take on a fairly wide range of possibilities. IMO, you want it to be a little bit spooky/scary, but not something that would "traumatize" or disturb a young kid. Ghosts, witches, skeletons are all pretty benign characters. A witch stirring a cauldron would be appropriate. Some fluttering ghosts in trees, bats, a black cat, tombstones. Lighting and fog play a big part and you can get a soundtrack with some spooky sounds or even music. I incorporate zombies and a little gore into my display and we get large numbers of young TOT's who don't seem to mind.

One of the best lighting tips I ever got was using a blue flood light. It makes the fog seem eery and a lil creepy so even in a kid friendly zone it would work. Using flood lights competely changed the feel and look of my set up. Best advice ever.

Like Scatterbrains said, it is all about lighting. Take extra time to work on your lighting because it will really set your display apart from the rest of the pack. Do not wait until the last moment to setup your spots and floods, take the extra time to work on it to make sure it showcases your display perfectly well in advance of the big night.

Make sure you tombstones are secured properly. The first good wind and you will be chasing them down the street. Also make sure you keep props that you do not want touched far from hands ... and I'm not talking about the kids. It never fails that the adults are the ones who are touching everything so again keep peoples wandering hands in mind with prop placement.

Depending on the street where you live keep car traffic in mind when using your fog machine. The first year I decided to use low laying fog it very nearly obscured the road and to be honest I was surprised no one got hit from all the car traffic. I know you can't control the wind nor the speed of drivers but make sure you keep them in when using the fog machine.

Also as jdubbya mentioned make use of sound. It doesn't have to be an all out terror track but even something low and suited to your display helps enhance the experience. Do some google searches and/or look at amazon/itunes. There are plenty of tracks out there that can be had for cheap and will be ever so helpful immersing the ToT's in your display.

Make sure you keep safety in mind. Make sure you all fall and trip hazards out of the way (including your drop cords). Sand down any sharp corners on props that will be close enough for ToT's to touch. Ten minutes of preparation can prevent a tragic accident.

Lastly have fun and be sure you get someone to help you take pictures/video. There is nothing worse than putting forth all that effort and not having something to reflect on later. Plus we all want to see how the night turned out for ya

Enjoy!!!

I've tried red and blue lights in my graveyard, but it's hard to read the tombstones. Yellow works best. You could put a red spotlight behind the graveyard to light up your smoke, but point it up at a fairly high angle or else you will blind people walking up. Make sure you either have multiple spotlights in front or you space the tombstones farther apart, otherwise they will shadow the ones behind them and you won't be able to read them.

Beacon you dont need any advice on lighting yours always looks good! I found that green is always a great flood color to use as it accents everything very well. When it comes to fog look into building a cheap chiller to keep the fog low and hanging that makes all the difference. Honestly a large pvc pipe packed with ice connected to your fogger will help keep it low and thats a cheap make. Because all of your bluckys are so well done I would space them in a staggered set up so looking straight on no bluckies are hiding behind others. Finally dont forget the details. Little spiders hanging on fishing line or ravens on broken branches laying in the yard make all the differences. Kids notice the little stuff which brings me to the final suggestion. Put items at kids average eye level so that they can enjoy the little things up close and in their face

Scatterbrains: I found out about lightings importance the first year. This year I have the whole weekend to test it.

Ezekiel: Never though about the fog machine blowing into the street (my house is on the corner). Thanks.

As for sound, well the best I can say is that is a "work in progess"

Terri73, I too love the blue and Green lights. I never thought of using it to highlight the fog, thanks.

Runmikeyrun: I make sure to use the back light idea.

Thanks everyone, I have a better idea of some of what I need to do.

I don't mean to hijack your thread BeaconSamurai but I have some questions about lighting which seem like they fit in here...rather than making a whole other thread. I hope that is ok.

I'm a complete lighting n00b. Do you guys use lights that connect to the mains electricity? Is that safe? What if it rains? I can't really easily run a line from my house out into the garden, and I am 99% sure it will rain here on Hallowe'en night, so wouldn't running a line out actually be really dangerous?

if anyone can answer my questions I'd really appreciate it