body mounted cameras like MTV Fear

[Monster-Tronics]

Woolf, you have some good ideas! I really like the fake scene idea where they get attacked and the picture goes to snow or in good old movie type where the camera gets knocked to the floor and you see the victim body parts flying by or see them getting chopped up or eaten etc…

You also make a good straight man since I make and sell the FlashFrights which are remote controlled flashlights. They were a big hit this year and the feed back from customers was very good. They are getting some up nice grades for 2008.
http://www.monster-tronics.com/produ...products_id=36

I’ve just finished testing a bunch of different digital on-board recorders and I think I found a perfect match for the helmet cam. The quality is awesome and is good as any broadcast TV show. I put a test video up on my 52 in big screen TV and was in awe. However I never knew my nose was so huge!!!

[woolf]

I agree, you want to get as much as the buyers will pay and that will differ by market.

For the entertainment value you may want to give freebies to the cute girls that scream a lot (in the haunt).

I’m mounting the camera on a swivel so you can change the position anyway you want. I tossed around the idea of having two cameras, one forward and one back with a screen splitter that would show both views but thought I was getting carried away, plus the haunt owner would not want to show the wait line the haunt view. The haunt view would just be used for marketing. The split view would make for a cool video...

This is an awesome idea. Everybody now days wants to be in their own reality TV show. I could even see the "reality TV" becoming a haunt's theme. The haunt could be set up to feel like a mix between MTV's Fear & Ghosthunters (I would wan to create gizmos for people to carry that would light up at certain spots where there are "haunted" to create tension and anticipation...and ad cold spots, etc...I saw a company that had flashlights that would flicker out by some cue at a certain place in the haunt).

I think the giving occasional freebies to the scream-chicks is a good idea even if you charge others for the fee for the experience and the video...maybe it can be part of an expensive "Fear" upgrade package to cut to the front of the line and get a copy of the video when done. But I would not show much more than their own face. I would consider taking some footage of the haunt with the same look of the IR camera to splice into their video at the appropriate places to make it more interesting or have certain spots inside the haunt (like a long hallway) that has it's own IR camera and splice in shots of them coming down the hall for a different point of view (and to make it look like a "real" TV reality show production). I might also include in the package a 30-60 second interview of what they expect going into the attraction and the same after they exit to include in their video. Maybe you have a "confessional" booth area before and after for those interviews.

Then the "best of" the scream videos could be sent to the cue line cameras (and don't forget to add in your own faked scenes where the person may actually attacked by a monster or pulled into a dark hole, or the camera goes to snow, etc. to add to the drama). Even though it may be pre-recored I would have the words "Live from XXX attraction" at the bottom of the screen.

The one thing that should absolutely be done, once everything is ready to go, is to call your local TV news people and let their reporter go through with the hell-met on and let them get good angles of them screaming (even if they have to do 4-5 different takes to make it look natural ).

Of course the best scream videos would have to make it to you-tube as well and hope that you get some viral marketing going for you to.

[Monster-Tronics]

The total cost of the whole system is not going to be much, at that rate it would pay for itself in one or two uses, so your anus would not take much of a thrashing.

The camera is incased in aluminium and everything is procted by double layered fiberglass. If your patrons run their heads into a walls hard enough to break through the fiberglass, you would have a bunch of heads split open every night.

[damon carson]

Ya what are you gonna do when they start running smack into walls and knocking this stuff off and damaging the equipment. It isnt like you could make them pay for it. Your the one who is scaring them! You would have to charge more than the average haunt attender would pay. Maybe advertise it on your website and get some impulse buyers pay with a credit card. Charge what Larry suggests or your gonna take it up the ass dude!
Damon

[Monster-Tronics]

I agree, you want to get as much as the buyers will pay and that will differ by market.

For the entertainment value you may want to give freebies to the cute girls that scream a lot (in the haunt).

I’m mounting the camera on a swivel so you can change the position anyway you want. I tossed around the idea of having two cameras, one forward and one back with a screen splitter that would show both views but thought I was getting carried away, plus the haunt owner would not want to show the wait line the haunt view. The haunt view would just be used for marketing. The split view would make for a cool video...

[drfrightner]

I think customers would pay a lot more for it... I'm not saying to buy the equipment just for the experience of wearing it and getting a copy of their experience. You couldn't do it for $20.00 these days, because some haunts charge more than that just for a speed pass.

When you risk them breaking the equipment and the time you go through to do it you have to make it worth your time. I think you can have people book time with it on your website. Personally I'd rather have 100 people do it at say $200.00 than 1000 at $25.00 or something like that.

Either way keep in mind whenever you see these things on MTV or whatever you can see the persons face. Are you doing it so you see what they see or you see their face? Maybe you can make it both ways so the customers can choose.

Intersting gadget to say the least.

Larry

[Monster-Tronics]

Larry,

Thanks for your input. I don’t know if anyone would pay big bucks for the experience or for a copy of the movie but I do think you could get $10 to $20 for a DVD that you could have your wait line person burn and take about two min’s of their time at the cost of 20 cents to make. Still not a bad profit.

The people in the wait line would definitely have fun watching the video of someone they see picked out of the line and go through via a live camera feed as they scream their head off. I think it is a great idea & kudos to Brett.

I’ve tested all of the hardware and the wireless transmitter/receiver works much better then I ever expected. It’s super long range and crystal clear and not directional. I was thinking of putting in an on-board digital recorder option but with the wireless being so good it might be better if you record it off the wireless receiver???

Just waiting for the base helmet to arrive and will have the guys start sculpting the rest of the helmet form, so the thing should be done soon. I’m not having a booth at TW this year but I could bring it if anyone wants to see it. I could wear it to the bar and be safe in case I do a header after a margarita binge! Lol Hmm, that video would be fun to watch too!

[drfrightner]

Jeff,

I think this is a prop you should make and sell at the TW show.

I think people would love them, especially if you could record them onto some digital recorder or something so you could use it later in a promo video on your website.

Or better yet people can rent them you put in a flash card or whatever it gets strapped onto their head and they keep the flash card to take home.

That would be AWESOME!!!

You could charge like $250.00 for the experience.

People would pay it!

Larry

[Monster-Tronics]

Somebody had a video product like that or at least a concept product a few years back but I don’t think it ever got off the ground.

Others have talked about doing a FRID tag system that would follow you thru the haunt but it would cost a lot and most of the FRID tags that I’ve looked at did not have very good range. I think the cost would be pretty high to do something good and might not be worth the time for the haunter.

Someone sells the still cam systems like they use on rollercoasters but I was shocked at the price of those too. Guess amusement parks have the cash to throw around unlike haunts. lol (he laughs with a tear running down his face)

[bhays]

Absolutely! I am definitely interested.

The other product that would sell very well in a related technology are photos from within scenes in the haunt that guests can purchase at the end of the haunt. The 'ride photo' type system.

[Monster-Tronics]

Monster-Tronics product announcement

I think I have found a much better solution.

The Hero system does not give you very good spec’s on the camera, it says it only has a 3 megapixel CCD which most others are at least 6 to 7 meg now. They do not give any resolution sizes like standard TV= 640x480 pixels, etc… The camera and case looks like it might be a OEM of Vupoint or SVP which both have very bad reputations and Vupoint has a class action law suit against them for selling total crap.

I’ve received other inquires from haunters about making the helmet cam or Hell-met Cam as the case may be so I guess this is the first Monster-Tronics new product announcement for our 2008 line. Let me know what you think! Brett, since it was your idea, I’ll make you a sweet deal on one if you want it.

Here’s the Monster-Tronics Hell-met Cam’s specs so far:

Film the face of your patrons going through your haunt or the haunt itself for advertising uses. People love to watch other people get scared going through a haunted house!

* Use it for making live or recorded queue line entertainment.
* Add video to your advertising packets to send out to news papers, cable, TV and radio stations.
* Make money selling DVD’s of patrons going thru your haunt. Burn a DVD in minutes from flash card.

Sleek helmet design with integrated color/night vision camera, wireless transmitter, and digital recorder.

Spin mount forward or backward looking camera.
2400 foot wireless range (line of sight)
35 foot night vision range.
Full motion on-board digital recorder.
On-board audio so you can hear them SCREAM!!!
Removable flashcard for full motion video.
Rechargeable Hell-met battery pack and charger.
Black/White picture in night vision mode or full color with white light.
Wireless receiver with standard NTSC video and audio jacks.

Options:
Removable LED white light for night color recording.
Custom helmet paint job – skull or flames etc…
You haunts logo or graphics on helmet
Wireless transmitter and receiver only, digital full motion video recorder only, or both on board.

[bhays]

This company just came out with a line of cameras that can be mounted on a helmet, handlebars of an atv, etc...might be a starting point.

http://www.goprocamera.com

[Monster-Tronics]

Yep I was thinking the same thing for the helmet. I use a lot of fiberglass because it is light and strong.

It looks like the X-10 cams only come with a directional antenna so that will not work with-out modifying them. There are several other wireless camera systems but the trick will be finding one with good range and that does not suck. I’ve used a few different ones before and never found a good one. I thought of the X-10’s because I knew they had multi cam systems so you could be getting video from one stationary point in the haunt when you weren’t using the mobile cam.

I have one of the old X-10 directional antenna systems, maybe I’ll gut it and see if I can get it to work with a omnidirectional antenna.

[bhays]

I was not thinking of it becoming a product but if you want I could put one together for you. It will be mostly off the shelf products. I have all the parts except for the wireless camera. These are the types of projects I like to cobble together. I have a couple more ideas too!

It sounds interesting. It would need to be durable, we have several places in our haunt where the guests have to duck down, etc. and wouldn't want it to get smacked on a beam, etc.

I was actually thinking of something fiberglas that would enclose the whole thing. Sort of like those aerodynamic bicycling helmets, but the extended part would be on the front rather than the rear and enclose the camera and IR illuminator.

I do think it's definitely a cool idea. The X10 wireless cameras are an interesting option, just have to see how well the signal travels in the building and how decent the night vision is.

[Monster-Tronics]

I was not thinking of it becoming a product but if you want I could put one together for you. It will be mostly off the shelf products. I have all the parts except for the wireless camera. These are the types of projects I like to cobble together. I have a couple more ideas too!