Thread: (Dead) Railroad Conductor Lantern Prop Effect idea...

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OK, so I'll likely not be able to set this up for this year so I'm throwing the idea out there, but it's definitely on my props to do for 2010! Also, if anyone's already done anything along this lines, please feel free to show it here (ie. photos and or video?)!

This thread from a year ago gave me the idea:
Ebay score now what to do with it?

Supplies:

Tombstone (homemade or bought)
Railroad Conductor-style lantern
F/X box or light organ
Any LCD projector
Fog machine

Setup:
- Make/build tombstone of one's preferred design, perhaps with 'railroad-like' design elements.
- Either afix the lantern to the top of the tombstone or position it on grave in front of stone.
- Place incadescent or led spot bulb & fixture in lantern and plug into the F/X Box.
- Create or obtain flash or video of lighted verticle bars moving horizontally at regular quick intervals representing 'train windows' going by (kinda like at the beginning to 'The Polar Express', and yes I have kids! lol) Dub audio file of train going by on tracks slowly fading in, then constant as 'window lights start going by', then fading out again.
- F/X Box / lighted lantern hooked up to DVD projector with sound file... as train sounds get 'closer', conductor's lantern gets brighter with each 'click' of the train wheels
- Have DVD projector & fog machine behind tombstone. Have projector facing projecting 'windows' to rear onto the fog which is dispersed upward at 90 degrees.

Sequence:
- Initially grave is silent and dark.
- Slight glow begins to eminate from the lantern. Glow slowly gets brighter and brighter just as the faint sound of train approaching can be heard also getting louder and louder.
- As train sound seems to be at it loudest and 'closest', the flickering light of passing train windows can be seen imediately behind the gravestone of the conductor.
- "Window lights" end and train sounds now getting fainter as lantern slowly dims

Whew! Wordy I know but I had to get it out onto something! LOL! I highly doubt I'll be able to do this for 2009, but I'm thinking definitely for 2010!

Now that's sounds exciting Mr. G! Like to see you flesh this idea out for sure!

That isw an hauntawesome idea. I would love to see that .

Now the really neat thing about this one is you can start off with a scaled down version and add to it over the years. Just the tombstone, lantern, light & F/X Box hooked up to an mp3 player and the train audio track will still make and awsome effect I think.

LOL... I should market this! HAHAHA.... like I have time to do that... :OP

Oh boy!! Look what you started with your "Lighted Footsteps" idea and now this! LOL
Sounds like a neat idea, Mr. Grimsley. Sounds like a lot of work too! I hope you can see it to fruition!

Hehe... thanks... Yeah my problem is that I come up with some of these ideas, but I'm not necessarily in a position to pull them all off this year! :O( Just lack of time really.

I do intend to get my "Dead Ringer" prop finished. That's my priority prop for this year, but this one may have to wait a year... sigh!

:OP