Thread: Magic Mirror Prop Help?

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Very nicely done jukingeo. Good height for the tots, should be a huge amount of fun tomorrow. Great,great, job.

Next batch of pictures:

170 - further illustrates my illumination problem as even with a flash it looks too dark and blah.

174 - I changed the bulbs to candle shaped 40 watt bulbs and the difference is dramatic. This picture is taken with the flash on.

176 - ...And this picture is with the flash off. As you can see the lower section of my facade looks much much better, but I still have a problem with the upper section. I know I needed a light from above.

Not shown in the pictures I DID try a clip on light on top and it was an even more dramatic improvement. I did notice though that because I had to put the lamp high up and aim it down that I was getting some light leakage into the vestibule and looking really hard in, I could make out the shape of the door to the house. NOT good. The bulb sits too high in the clip on lamp and thus light leaks in.

This is where I was now kicking myself for not getting a chandelier type light, or one of those ornate pendent lights. A pendent light usually has the top capped off and hung as low as the cauldron is hanging could very well eliminate much of the leakage up and into the vestibule.

So this is why I am 98% done as I don't really know what to do for a cheap alternative to improve my lighting. My plan with the cauldron simply will just look cool, but not generate enough light.

One option I thought of was to move the two can lights from below and mount them above. The can lights have a very high rim and pretty much aim the light downward. But the lights would still be above the curtain rod for the main curtain. So the best thing would be some kind of pendent lamp.

177 & 179 These last pictures show the interior table set up with the computer, monitor and Mackie mixer in place. I was amazed that I was still able to get a full size folding chair into the vestibule with everything I set up. Granted I do have to do a bit of juggling to get in and out. (ie fold the chair up and put it on the opposite side (pic 177 you can see the chair on the left folded up). Then there is room to open the screen door and go in. I was going to wedge the door in the open position but decided against it. There is a chain that prevents it from going too far and it does take up some room on that side when open. I have much more room when it is closed. Sitting in the full size chair does give me the height vantage point and I CAN see to whomever is in front of the mirror.

But I know that I have to do something different with my lighting.

With that said, I am off. It is a already 1:30am!

G'night all!

Geo

Nice work. I think your visitors are going to really like that. Happy Halloween!

Hello All

Early this morning I put the finishing touches on my magic mirror prop. I changed out the cauldron that was hanging above the picture to a pendent lamp...it looks MUCH better. Can't wait to test it at night now!

The wind was on a move by me and I couldn't set up one of my cool props that I was going to hang on the open door. My signs were too small to fill that huge door. But my prop does work with a breeze, but I didn't have a breeze, I had a gale force wind and the prop was blowing all over the place. I also noticed that the wind was affecting the scrim too, but it wasn't that bad. If the wind didn't get worse, I could still host the event.

I also bought a mic stand. Yeah, I know I could have had a headset mic for the price of the stand, BUT I like the way my Shure SM58 sounds. Besides, being a 'pro' mic, it naturally matched up to my Mackie Mixer.

When I put everything in place, I started to put up some signs and noticed that some TOTs were already out.

I decided to try out the set up earlier in the day to see if it would work. Sadly it didn't. It was too bright out. I even tried to 'shroud' the mirror frame, which did help, but it took away from the nice display and I removed it. I knew I have to wait until it gets dark. So I went back inside to shut everything down. While doing so, some TOT's did approach the mirror.

I told them (via the speakers) that it wasn't working right in the daytime and that the mirror would open towards the evening. They did notice the chute and begged me for candy...so I said, "Why Not?" to myself. At least it would allow me to try out the chute with a 'live' crowd. Right off the bat, they rushed me I quickly realized that problem has to be nipped in the but right away. Thus I decided that a particularly large space in the pavement would act as a good 'starting line' so this way TOTs can line up behind that space and I can address each TOT one at a time.

As people were walking by, I did urge them to come back later to see the Magic Mirror. So I am not sure if they will come back. I think that some of the older kids might.

Then the wind really was on the move and I didn't want it tearing up my display...so I unfortunately closed the door. I did leave my signs out though. So I am hoping the wind will die down by this evening. The sun has been coming and going as well, so I hope we don't get any rain...that is something that would completely spoil everything. Being in a vestibule, there is NO gutter on the front...so any accumulated rain would just roll right off the front.

Anyway, I am going to take a break now and lie down for some much needed rest. So I can't wait until it gets dark now!

Originally Posted by moparhov

Very nicely done jukingeo. Good height for the tots, should be a huge amount of fun tomorrow. Great,great, job.

Thanx! From the 'little' experience I had this afternoon with the sound system and mic, I think I WILL have a blast. Again we will see, I am hoping there will be no rain and the winds will die down for tonight.

Originally Posted by Nephilim

Nice work. I think your visitors are going to really like that. Happy Halloween!

Thanx...It did take longer (and more money) than expected and there were many nights this week where I didn't go to bed before 2:00am. Luckily the end result was pretty close to what I had planned.

The big scare was the lighting. I figured that I would get enough light spill from the street light across the street, but no. I am hoping that the pendent lamp is what the Dr. ordered.

Well, I will post some pictures tomorrow and tell you how everything went. Right now I want to snooze a bit.

You guys have a Happy Halloween too!

Geo

Hello all,

I'm back! And with (mostly) good news. Last night the effect went without a hitch (electronic wise) and my labor of love payed off. The neighbors were very impressed with the effect and even some that knew me for years didn't catch on that it was actually me in the vestibule running everything. I did take some pictures which I well get to below. Unfortunately my wife couldn't handle two cameras at once and the pictures of the mirror in action with the TOT's was deligated to the video camera...so I don't have stills of the event.

Overall reaction to the event was great. I named the Mirror and called him Urich. I used the name in my signs. The first TOTs that came really couldn't figure it out. One older guy did figure it out that it was a computer, but was astounded at how Urich knew things 'as if it was a person standing right there'. Little did he know how close to that truth he was. LOL!

Then later in the night there were a group of girls that were overly intrigued by the mirror that they were there for close to 15mins. When they left, they came back with one of the girl's little sister and she got a kick out of it too.

Some of the TOT's were even 'creeped out' by the magic mirror face. But I did urge them I wasn't going to scare them. (However, I do admit that it did get my gears turning for a scarier use for the magic mirror in a future Halloween project).

I had the attraction open from about 5:30 to 8:30 and I was sitting most of the time in a nice comfy folding chair. I had the chair set up as in the pictures from the night before. When it got really dark out, I was able to lift on of the sections of scrim where (my right) speaker was and I could clearly see out to the outer edge of the walkway.

Speaking of seeing, THANK GOODNESS I decided to go out to Lowes one more time yesterday morning and pick up that pendent lamp I was talking about. It worked out great! I put the largest bulb in the lamp that it could take (a clear 60watt bulb) and it illuminated the curtain area nicely and a good area out in front. The bulb did have a bit of a glare on it when one would come down the entry way, but not when they were in front of the mirror. The good thing about the glare of the bulb was that it let passerby's know that something was going on here.

Ok, those were some of the highlights of the event, but I DID say 'mostly' good news. One issue I had yesterday was with the high winds we had. I had a boogy man dressing a tux that was to hang on the open door as my 'greeter', but he would only work right in a gentle breeze. Yesterday he was flipping around all over the place and his 'tails' kept flying in the Magic Mirror 'performance space'. Worse, I was worried the boogy man was going to get ruined and I KNOW I want to use him for other future Halloween events. So unfortunately the boogy man had to go. So sadly, I only put one of my small signs in the door. Too bad I ran out of construction time to build larger signs, but at least I DID have signs and they came out pretty good on my printer.

Despite the high winds we had yesterday, everything else stayed in place. Boy was I glad I put the curtains INSIDE the vestibule. If they were hanging outside (as in the original plan), they would by flying all over...just like the boogy man did. It made for a quicker start up and shut down too.

The next slight setback was that I thought having Halloween on a Saturday would work to my advantage. Well, it had the opposite effect. TOTs were starting to walk around the neighborhood already at 12:00 noon. I did try to open my attraction around 1:00pm, but it was too bright out to see the magic mirror face . I couldn't open until about 5:00pm and by then most of the younger TOT's have already been through the neighborhood and 'missed out' on the Magic Mirror. However, as I noticed those that were reading the sign was mostly older kids and they seemed to come out later. Because everything seemed to be pushed earlier, I had most of my action in the first hour. The second hour dropped off considerably and in the 7:30 to 8:30 hour, only one group showed up.

So overall the turn out wasn't as I had expected. Had I advertised the event, had it been a weekday (or better yet a Friday), I think I would have had a better turnout.

Also if I had more time and money, I think I would have erected a small canopy in front of the mirror this way it would help to block out more light. Had I done that, I would have had much much more traffic.


Ok, now on with the pictures (again, these will be in two groups):

10-31 (15) - This is "command central". There is a lot going on here. In operation the screen door would be closed and I would have that folding chair on the left opened up to the right side right next to the mixer. The mic falls right in front of my mouth when I turn my head to the right. Turning my head to the right allows me to look straight out to the path to the entrance gate (which you can see in the photo). The equipment from left to right is as follows: Desktop Compaq computer on it's side. My candy stash is next. In back of that is the right channel speaker. Next to that is the monitor. Next to that is the left channel speaker. In front of the left channel speaker is a Mackie 1402 mixer. In front of the mixer is a Shure SM-58 microphone on a stand. The bright spot you see near the lower right of the screen door is the candy chute. The screen door is blocking the PS-2 controller I am using to control the Magic Mirror face.

10-31 (33) - This walkway shot is from my setup after I 'tried' to open it earlier in the day and realized the magic mirror face didn't show up very well. You can see my signs here. (Nephilim...I hope you don't mind me using the picture from your site . I know the open door looks blah here, but prior to taking this shot, I realized the boogyman greeter that was going to hang there wasn't going to work out with the high winds. I ended up moving the sign that you see on the vestibule pillar to the lower glass door panel.

10-31 (41) - This is a closeup of the sign I had on the pillar, but moved to the glass door

10-31 (35) - This is an overall shot of the attraction. You can see that I have subbed out the cauldron I had hanging here for the pendent lamp. Overall a marked improvement. Oh! In case you are wondering, the picture below the mirror is that of Charon, the ferryman that takes souls to 'the other side' across the river Styx. I have always taken a huge interest in Charon and his role as the ethereal ferryman. Finding that picture, well I had to have it!

10-31 (39) - Ladies and Gentleman, it is SHOWTIME! This is a shot of the attraction just after opening. It is still light out, but dark enough to see the magic mirror. I think this is the best photo of the lot!

Next post!

Ok, here are some more pics:

10-31 (42) - Closeup of the lower section of the attraction with Charon and the two tomestones. The upward lighting did make this area look pretty eerie...but with the large pendent light, I could have dropped the wattage on these bulbs. Made note of that for the next time.

10-31 (43) - Closeup of the Magic Mirror face. Looks pretty good here!

10-31 (44) - This picture was taken when it was very dark. Unfortunately the camera couldn't capture the frame details, nor that of Charon and they seem lost here. However they were still dimly visible.

10-31 (48) - Same as above, but a bit clearer. I have a picture with the flash on, but then it washes out Urich's face. There were some people that did try to take pictures with Urich, but I had to urge them to not use the flash. For two reasons...one, I know that the face wouldn't come out and two, more importantly it is very possible that the flash would be bright enough to allow someone to see me behind the scrim fabric.


I do have video of last night's events, but I have to edit it and put it up on You Tube. So keep an eye out for when I post the link.

Overall the effect was received well. Some comments asked how it was done. (My Dad and wife alternately took turns 'policing' the front of the attraction). One neighbor who normally puts on a pretty large spread of Halloween decorations in front of his house said, "This tops everything I have". WOW! That was a complement and a half!!!

I would say that despite the short duration of TOT flow I had, I did have a blast and it made all the work worthwhile. Would I do this again? Yes, without a doubt. I did make quite a few mistakes though in setting this up and I did learn from that for the future. One of those huge mistakes was painting the table. When setting up my equipment, I didn't want to accidentally scratch the black paint. So as protection I covered the table with a plastic bag. However, the bag was black....Yeah, stupid move on my part. I could have covered the table in a plastic bag and saved myself one night of painting!

Another mistake was with lighting. I bought quite a few lights that I didn't even use and it was just a lucky test the night before that revealed a fatal flaw in that lighting. Luckily there was time to correct it. Again, the pendent lamp saved my a--.

Naturally I am now wanting to take this to the next level for next year. Next to the vestibule is a gate to a small back yard and patio. The patio is covered by a large awning. Thus I would be looking to expand on the mirror into a small haunted attraction. So yeah, I been bitten by the bug, and you guys will be seeing me here more often .

I have to extend a special thanx to Nephilim and Imagineerieing for creating the Magic Mirror that made the event possible.

Next to thank is Midnight Syndicate for the background music...which was loved by all and really added a nice atmosphere for my small attraction.

DezzyLee, you are next I have to say thanx too because it was your plan for my vestibule that really got my butt in gear.

Thanx to everyone else here who helped me get this going and in time for Halloween.

And thanx to the suppliers of my project of whom I made at least three trips to each! Lowes Home Improvement, Party City, and Fabric Warehouse of Deer Park.

Nephilim:

I am sold on your Magic Mirror prop and I have intentions of using one of your purchased products for the future event. In fact the future could be sooner than you might think. I noticed that you have a "Frosty The Snowman" magic mirror type face and I would be interested in building a Christmas attraction around the vestibule. As it is, I worked very hard on making the table for the vestibule for the Halloween event which was on a few hours for one day. I could easily reuse that table for a Christmas attraction.

However, I am at a loss of what type of attraction I would do here. So I am open to some ideas. One thing though, I would perhaps have something that is a bit longer running (perhaps on the weekends of the month of December) and more than likely something automated.

That goes out to the rest of you guys here. If you have a cool idea for the use of Nephilim's Frosty Face...I am all ears!

Thanx again everyone, it has been a fun evening and I will be looking forward to doing it again!

Geo

Hey man, glad to see the design worked out. Hi winds affected my haunt as well, but I still got a lot of tots, I had a lineup on the sidewalk by my house. Things did drop off early this year, it was pretty dead by 7:30 so I closed up shop at 8pm. Good job on the build, you can only get better from here!

Originally Posted by DezzyLee99

Hey man, glad to see the design worked out. Hi winds affected my haunt as well, but I still got a lot of tots, I had a lineup on the sidewalk by my house. Things did drop off early this year, it was pretty dead by 7:30 so I closed up shop at 8pm.

Hello DezzyLee,

Yeah, for the most part it DID work out. The minor issues I had were those that were beyond my control. Mother nature and her 'wind storm' and of course Halloween falling on a Saturday didn't help. As I said, if Halloween fell on a Friday...I probably would have fared better in the evening because most kids would come out from school and TOT's probably wouldn't be going around until 3:00pm or even later. On a Friday, there is no worry of being in bed for the next day of school, so I would have had a larger older crowd too.

Oh...you had a LINE! Now I am getting envious. But you also have cover overhead in the form of a porch, so you had less daytime light intruding on your behalf. You probably were able to run your attraction early right?

It is funny too, because I pretty much had about 5min or so spacing between TOTs from around opening to about 7:30 too. Then the last hour I really only had a couple more hits. Amazingly 2 kids showed up just a couple mins before I shut down. However, I knew they were 'repeat' hitters and came by earlier. They obviously knew I was closing up at 8:30 and came in right on the button, hoping to get a second helping of candy, knowing that I probably would give it to them. Well, they were right! Well, it does seem like the timing is consistent in your area and mine for a Saturday Halloween. Are you Northeast?

Good job on the build, you can only get better from here!

Thanx! Yes, it WILL get better! As I said, I did get bitten by the bug. As I said, this time around I did make some time consuming mistakes. I didn't want to take a 'duct tape' route. I wanted to do it right and I do realize that some things I did were very unnecessary and/or added to the time (and cost) of the project. But this really was my first Halloween event.

I was planning a Halloween event for over 3 years now, but I didn't like the neighborhood I was living in at the time. Moving back to my home town I KNEW I had to do something this year because my parent's neighborhood is FAR better for TOTing.

NOW, comes planning for next year (rubs hands together). Muhhahahahahah!

For sure I want to do a scary event. I would incorporate the Magic Mirror into that event for sure. Most certainly I would want something that runs the weekends of October rather than just one day. One thing I thought of doing was 'fixing' my daytime problem with the Magic Mirror and have that run during the day / early evening on Halloween and give out candy during the day. When night falls then the mirror could be run as an automaton providing as a greeter for a larger Halloween attraction inside the back yard.

However, I think I might do something earlier though. We do have Christmas two months away and Nephilim has created the "Frosty" Magic Mirror face. If I could keep most of my rig together, I could alter it for a Christmas themed attraction. But what? Unlike Halloween night, there really isn't heavy foot traffic in my area. Most Christmas displays are walk by attractions. I could host an advertised event for the neighbors, but again what should I do?

I did see a Christmas section here on the forum. I am going to post there with my intentions.

Thank you again for the help!

Geo

Hello All!!

Well, it is that time of year again to start to think about Halloween and what I am going to do for this year. If you been following this thread, you know that I have put on a moderately. successful Magic Mirror event last year. I say 'moderately' because of the nature of how Halloween fell last year. With a Saturday, I noticed that more TOTs came out in the day time in which the daylight ruined my Magic Mirror effect and I had to wait until dark to use it. While I did have a good amount of action in the evening, I know I missed half the action from the the daytime TOT's.

For this year I did want to reuse the Magic Mirror effect, but automate it as an intro to a backyard haunt which has the entrance right next to the vestibule I used last year. The backyard has a large patio with an awning over it and I was going to hang some inexpensive cheese cloth to block off areas and make "walls". Then I could plan my event around that.

For this year I didn't want a repeat of last year and wanted to get the most of my attraction. So first order of business was to see how Halloween fell this year. I hung my head low when I saw that it is falling on a Sunday. Following last year's pattern, this situation is worse. Not only are kids free in the daytime, but the next day is a school day, so I don't predict too much activity at all for the evening.

So for my planned area, this would mean using darker/heavier materials on the backyard awning to block out the light so I could use the attraction in the daytime. However, that is costly. Sure I could go with plastic bags, but I remember what problems I had with wind last year.

I have thought of constructing some kind of attraction in the garage, but that is a very small single car space to work with. I also would have to reconstruct the Magic Mirror effect for that area as much of last year's effect was held up by the vestibule's frame.

The upside of using the garage is that there is much less I need to mask off and everything would be nicely protected from the elements in the event of bad weather, but it would mean that my dad's car would be outside for a couple nights and I am not too sure if he would go for that.

I DO have a video project that I could press into use, but I had not thought of anything 'special' as of yet.

Thus overall, I am open to suggestions and ideas of what I could do for this year. I WOULD like to utilize the backyard, but I can't think of too many things that would be effective in the daytime.

Any input would be much appreciated.

Thank You,

Geo

Glad to hear you'll be using the Magic Mirror again. Hope your visitors like it!

To answer your question, a lot of it will depend on your budget, time, and available helpers.

If you're looking at daytime visitors and low budget, your garage may be the best bet, because otherwise, you're looking at erecting walls to block out the light.

However, we've had some success with building walls. Last year and the year before, we bought "strong ties" from the local hardware store, which are steel brackets that make connecting 2x4's into a cube shape dead simple. Frame that out with black plastic, and you have some relatively dark cave areas (although unless you really control the ground, you'll get light spillage from below). But it's a lot more work and a lot more cost than something you already have framed out, like a garage or patio. If I were you, the first thing I'd do is find out if your dad is amenable to parking out of the garage. Sweeten the deal with a car wash or other enticements if you have to - it will save you a lot of effort in the long run.

Another option would be to make a really cool sign that says "Attraction opens at dusk!" If you have cool stuff out front, a reputation of doing cool stuff from the Magic Mirror last year, and someone to act as a barker while the kids are out with parents during the daytime, you should be able to attract a lot of kids back at dusk, even if they're out trick or treating while it's still light out. If you make it sound exciting, few parents are going to tell their kids no if they've bothered to come out at all, especially if they live in the neighborhood.

If you really feel you'll meet resistance, do something to connect with the local kids and parents, such as hosting a "pumpkin glow" at dusk - an event where kids from the neighborhood bring their pumpkins to show off together and you give a prize. We do our pumpkin glow on the night before Halloween, and it builds up a lot of community goodwill. Get the local residents without kids to be the judges to get them into the mood, too - helps reduce complaints.

The number one thing to do is to make sure you do something fun and memorable for the kids who do come. If you do that consistently each year, word will get around, and you'll "train" your neighborhood to come out at dusk. It certainly happened in our neighborhood.

Good luck with your haunt!