Thread: Madame leota! Oooooooo!

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I made a madame leota prop last halloween but it wasn't good enough. in the haunted mansion they have a rear projected version. i know how it's made but i don't know how to make it. apparently it uses fish eye lens, fiber optics, and a projector. but i don't know how to make it. is the projector in the crystal ball? does it go out up the cord that makes her float? I dont' know how it works. i more simpler way to make it with instructions would be helpful. i have less than sixty bucks to make it. i have the clear head, the crystal ball, but i need the mechanism.

Check out Mr. Chickens posts, he did a killer version of it and also did a tutorial of it if I remember correctly. I think he used a Gemmy ball, wig head and a small projector. Hope this helps.

i did a front projection last year, using Mr. Chicken's method. i got the Gimme ball and everything, but this year i want to do something different. in the mansion they use fiber optics and i can get some. i just need to know how to make everything.

I was just up at Disney World, and Madame Liota now floats above the table. Talk about a challenge!

isn't fiber optic cable hard to get and expensive?

From Doombuggies.com: "the resulting internal projection, when viewed through the semi-opaque head, was not as bright as traditional projection from outside, and the facial features seemed to distort somewhat, as the natural shadows from the contours of the head form were eliminated via the technology. Therefore, the external video projection was restored to Leota in October 2001."

even so: "With the "re-haunting" of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion in 2007, Madame Leota now floats above her seance table in Orlando as well. However, in the Walt Disney World seance scene, Madame Leota's face is actually rear-projected via a special LCD projector with a fisheye lens in reverse from inside the moving globe onto the static headform, rather than being projected from the front as the effect is accomplished in Disneyland. While interior projection for this effect was attempted and rejected in earlier years, this next generation of rear-projection technology produces a remarkably sharp, bright visage."

BUT: Disneyland still uses a front projection Leota, even with the floating.

Unless you already have the projector and lens, there's no way you can do it for less than $60. I'd expect the lens alone to be that much, and there's gonna be a lot of math and trial and error involved.

May I ask why you want to do the rear projection method? What do you mean when you say your last one "wasn't good enough"? It seems to me that the front projection method is infinitely easier to physically make and make effectively, so it may be worth it to master that before going into uncharted territory with a small budget. Just my 2 cents.