2013 HAUNTED OVERLOAD progress thread

[elowther]

January 13th, I think this is a record as far as working over at the haunt site early. We took advantage of a pretty warm day yesterday to go over and start tearing down this facade in Pumpkin Alley. A new much larger, more detailed and insane looking one will take it's place. I need to get this one out of the way so I can take measurements and start on a scale model. I'll post that when it's finished with details so keep checking back.









Here are some construction photos of last years build. Tim Bickford from Creative Cinema Video took the photos we gave him and made a quick slide show for our wrap party. I like looking back at the progress, it gets me motivated to start in and improve for this year. A night photo of this facade is at the end of the slide show.

Below that is a scare scene clip. Tim will be giving a seminar this year at Transworld explaining how to capture scares like these in your haunt as well as the equipment used and editing techniques. I think it will be great, more videos to come on another thread. Tim does awesome work and is great at explaining how to get the results that you are after on tape.





I also like looking back on the other threads to see how far we have come.

2010 the move
http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_ho...unted+overload

2011 Progress thread
http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_ho...rogress+thread

2012 Progress thread
http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_ho...rogress-thread

Enjoy and I'll see you at Transworld.

Eric

[elowther]

The phoenix will rise from the ashes, lol!



Check this out. It was finally time to revamp our logo. Here is the one I made years ago for the home haunt. It has been alright up until now but we definitely needed to take it to the next level.



After some revisions here is what Brainstorm did for us. They always kick ass and did a great job!



I made some tweaks on my own. Let me know your thoughts. The great thing about this is I can separate out the elements to make different and more simplified versions of this logo. For instance, I may want the pumpkin all by it self for a round button or other merchandise. I will need to make a black and white version with just the type for something like a car window decal or letter head.

[damon carson]

I like

The second one the best. But it reminds me of something else Ive seen. I just cant seem to place my finger on it?! LOL! No looks great!
Damon
www.frightmasters.weebly.com

[Darkangel]

Damon, it doesn't look THAT much like your hero's pumpkin logo, this looks awesome!


DA

[damon carson]

Dark

You make me laugh! Hahaha!
Damon
www.frightmasters.weebly.com

[Twin Locusts]

I couldn't figure out what about the second one was so appealing.

I had a hunch and looked it up. I bet this was unconscious on Eric's part, but the red/orange over gold letters
echos the treatment of the KISS Love Gun and Destroyer album art by Ken Kelly. It just has an effective command of attention.

Laying that warm color of the letters over the blue really works as well, similar to Destroyer. I try to imagine those guys
in the 70's with digital tools considering they were working in oil on board.

The original image has a greater depth of detail and some elements look 'realistic' but the second treatment
with the punched up bats and heavier color, to me, gives a feel that fits Haunted Overload. The large scale
elements speak fantastical horror and the color treated logo is in line with that.

Hats off to Brainstorm, the original artwork is incredible, just a great overall composition and texture.

[damon carson]

I guess I was right!

Its a Brainstorm Image. No wonder it looks similair. See I know what im talking about Dark.
Damon
www.frightmasters.weebly.com

[elowther]

I thought you guys may like to see the process behind the creation of this logo.

I told Doug I needed the logo revamped and sent him this photo of my giant foam pumpkin to incorporate.


With no other instruction except to use the pumpkin this is what he came up with for the first draft. Dark, it's funny you mentioned the Kiss cover art. Maybe they knew I liked Kiss and put the lightning bolts in.


I quickly modified the first one and sent this back as a direction to go in.


I think the final one came out cool. I looked up the Destroyer album cover and you're right the colors and style are similar. Although some of the colors on the web are jacked up. The original album cover was not that purple in the background.

Today I worked on a mock up of what will take the place of the facade we ripped down. The giant skull will be painted with glow in the dark and fluorescent paint. Lighted from behind the smaller skulls with two black lights. I will be searching for some good sized black lights at Transworld. I'm hoping to get some that can take the weather. If not I can always cover them. I will put a fog chiller in the mouth of the big skull. This will be a ton of work but it should look pretty insane when finished. I will start on the scale model soon.

Enjoy,

Eric

[Dark Tiki Studios]

Eric, you appear to have one of the best outdoor haunts around, and you build many structures that I imagine are left outside year-round. What are you using to treat the wood you use to build these structures, to keep them from rotting? In your pictures many of your structures don't appear to be treated at all... But of course appearances can be deceiving.

[elowther]

Dark,

Sorry it took so long to answer your question. Got back from an awesome Transworld and then a busy week of work. This weekend we took down the rest of the facade and planned out the new one. You are right most of the structures are not treated at all. If they are it is just for effect and really not for weather protection. You would be surprised how many years it takes wood to rot as long as it is allowed to dry out. Most of our structures are considered temporary. In 3 to 5 years I usually tear them down and replace them with something new. So in that time they never have a chance to even start rotting. In fact some of the slab wood is on it's 7th season and still in fine shape. Like I said as long as it is off the ground and is allowed to dry it would take a very long tome to rot. I use pressure treated beams for anything going in the ground, like fencing or used to hold up a big structure like the one below. Galvanized nails must be used so they don't rust.

This was taken Saturday. I used a Wagner to give it a white wash for contrast at night. None of the wood is treated but the 6x6 pressure treated beams going into the ground with cement.



We took down the rest of the facade and planned the new one on Saturday.


I started the scale model for the new giant reaper head facade. Much more to go to finish this but it's getting there. A scale model is necessary so we know it will work and exactly what beams to buy. I also over engineer the thing just because it will be out in the elements with no protection.



This is cool. Our charity, (animal shelter) is planning a kick off event at the haunt this fall. Here is a logo I did using elements of their old dog walk logo and other artwork. Rae, our costume director did the monster with skeleton dog. It's more of a kid type thing so this should work. I think it came out pretty cool for something fast.

[john haines]

Eric, love the new logos !!!!!!!

Let me know about the new t-shirts featuring the new logo as soon as you can. I have to get mine !!!!!! Can wait to see your progress for this upcoming year !!! Thank you !!!

[elowther]

Haven't posted in a while but things are going well. Build is in full swing, this project will take a while.

Photo of the scale model almost finished.


I'm psyched about two giant sound systems I bought at TW. They arrived already, 18 inch sub woofers, one for the thunder sounds and one for the train yard.


Base of the facade getting started.


Last weekend.


Check this out! My photographers, Artifact Images are experimenting with some time laps techniques. These are not videos but individual high res photos. Awesome possibilities for the clips to be weaved in a video to tell a story. Can't wait to see what they are able to accomplish with the night photos using this technique.

This was taken Saturday. Be sure to watch in HD


Taken today. I really love these!

[elowther]

Expanded time laps. This was funny, I had a pumpkin left over and carved it little by little in between cutting the wood.

Construction of the giant glowing reaper head facade.







First pumpkin carving of the season in May.


Here is a cool project we will be working on. Hope to have a finished book to sell at the haunt for this season.
More details to come later.

[elowther]

Worked on a new poster/ banner today. The original is huge, 30x45 inches at 300 dpi. I will be able to enlarge this
for big vinyl banners. You can't see all the detail on here.

[imagineer]

Worked on a new poster/ banner today. The original is huge, 30x45 inches at 300 dpi. I will be able to enlarge this
for big vinyl banners. You can't see all the detail on here.

This is one of the best pics I have seen so far! Wow! Great work!