A Xmas Show

[mac5732]

I hope this comes out, found it on the net, hope you enjoy it
('http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv');

make sure you turn your sound up. I liked the music to

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Remove the javascript stuff and it works fine.

http://members.cox.net/transam57/lights.wmv

[Spoo]

That's worth some serious awesome-points.

[TurinTurambar]

Weeeeeeeeeee! That was fun!

Pretty sure the music is by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra btw.

[Raging Deadstar]

Wow!

That is the coolest thing I have seen online for weeks!

Thank You Mac http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Randallw]

Personally I'd be mightily annoyed if I lived next door.

[Captain Kwok]

I wonder how it was done?

[JAFisher44]

Someone probably took shots of the house with different combos of lights on and then combined them frame by frame to match the music. Although it is also possible to just make a light show that does that on its own.

[Wolfman77]

Looks like stopmotion. The grass down front changes focus a little with each cut. They probably used a digital camera and a video editing program. They did a nice job with it.

[Spoo]

Wolfman77 said:
Looks like stopmotion. The grass down front changes focus a little with each cut. They probably used a digital camera and a video editing program. They did a nice job with it.



However, note the light to the left of the house that flashes at a constant rate (but not to the music). It appears to be in the background, and would not have this behavior in the case of stop motion.

I think the jitter in the grass is more likely due to the lousy video encoding.

[AdmiralMartin]

Either way, It's still funny http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Wolfman77]

Yup, your right I missed that. It doesn't seem to flash with a pattern though, but it may be the music beat thats throwing me off.

[Puke]

Wow, thats definitly cool.

And i second the notion that the music sounds like TSO. I try to catch their xmas tour each year, i'll have to see when its nearby this year.

[mac5732]

hey Puke, if you learn the name of the song, please let me know what it is, I'd like to get the album that has it on it.

[Atrocities]

Editing video to music is easy to do.... it takes real talent thought to find the right video and match it to the right music.

As to this video... it is very easy to do what they did. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

There is a lot of planning involved... but basically it was all editing. They just shot each light segment independantly then assembled them in the editing process to match the music.

Very easy to do. Just time consuming. A very nice video BTW.

(Case In Point) 12.8 Megs Video (http://www.astempire.net/family/bikevideo/bikevideos.wmv)

[geoschmo]

Actually this isn't a video edit job, it's a real Christmas light display set to music.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp

It's like someone said earlier in this thread, the stop-action appearance is because of the file compression.

[Combat Wombat]

Puke said:
Wow, thats definitly cool.

And i second the notion that the music sounds like TSO. I try to catch their xmas tour each year, i'll have to see when its nearby this year.



Oh yeah its the TSO check out the flash intro to their site
http://www.trans-siberian.com/intro.html

[Atrocities]

geoschmo said:
Actually this isn't a video edit job, it's a real Christmas light display set to music.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp

It's like someone said earlier in this thread, the stop-action appearance is because of the file compression.



Cool. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[mac5732]

tks Geo, now I have the name of the song and the rest of the info that goes with the film... appreciate it

[Raging Deadstar]

For those who don't want to test every audio sample the song is called 'Wizards In Winter'

I wish they played this kind of music in the shops at christmas instead of those "timeless" wonders that drive you crazy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Fyron]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp said:
But, then again, with people spend $1000s on Halloween décor, it sure seems possible that someone would have taken the next step with their Christmas lights!

Other than the lights, the controller driving the sequence of the show would cost about 4 or 5 dollars for someone that has a microntroller programmer, or maybe 10 dollars to use a FPGA... Dunno how much the lights would cost, but I imagine they were purchased in bulk for a few hundred. Doubt the whole thing cost 1000s. The electricity bill will probably be a few hundred bucks though.

[AgentZero]

Randallw said:
Personally I'd be mightily annoyed if I lived next door.



Heh, reminds me of something I saw on the news a while back, where a man shot his neighbour a couple weeks after the neighbour put up a huge Christmas light display. The shooter claimed he'd been driven insane by lack of sleep due to the multitude of lights shining in his window. Can't remember if the jury bought it or not though.
Still, important lesson: Turn off your bleedin Christmas lights overnight!

[mac5732]

well, went out and bouth the album the lost christmas with the song on it.... good album.... tks to everyone for the info on the music and video

[narf poit chez BOOM]

...I like the old classic Christmass carols. But then, the radio I listen to doesn't play them much.

[Annette]

mac5732 said:
well, went out and bouth the album the lost christmas with the song on it.... good album.... tks to everyone for the info on the music and video



Thanks for posting this, Mac! Tim and I are thoroughly enjoying the clip...over...and over... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif We'll have to check out the music CD. Hope you don't mind if I post the link in the Shrapnel General forum.

Merry Christmas!!!

[mac5732]

np Annette, glad you and Tim enjoyed it. The song has a certain something to it that I just liked. It went very well with the music. In fact they just showed the house on our TV channel news tonight with the music and lights. The owner did an outstanding job. The music is hooked up to a low level radio band, so you have to turn to it on your radio as you drive by or else you can't hear it. Thats how he keeps his neighbors from evicting him from the neighborhood. hahahah.
hope you and Tim have a merry xmas as well as everyone else here on the forum..

[TurinTurambar]

**Bump**

And a link:
http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=ab5246e5-7858-4130-a16f-715edb504cc2

The Today Show interviewed the creator of the display and he explains some of how it worked. I bumped this because I saw it on the Miller commercial and my son asked me to find the link to the video, and because I heard that the city made him take it down because some idiot wrecked in the traffic lined up to see it.

Happy New Year All!
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