Some new administrative details to cover...
First off, our blog has a new view if you try to visit the site on a mobile device.
Implemented a few weeks ago, the new mobile version has a very simple, yet intuitive design that works great with touch screen enabled devices. It will make catching the Manor updates that much more easy on the go!
Also, a new section, entitled "Our Library" has materialized on the gray side bar of the blog. Our library will soon be well stocked with priceless first editions, not necessarily all ghost stories in this case - but do be sure to browse through one of these days. Unlike a certain mansion, our library is free of marble busts. But don't let that sway you, as I'm sure you'll find some of the best creative content on the web!
7/25/2011
July's Flurry
So I got it to snow in Wisconsin in July.
Now I just have to hope it will work again this coming October...
Now I just have to hope it will work again this coming October...
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| Hollywood Bio-Snow |
7/18/2011
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Ideas change, morph, and transform as they travel from blue-sky to reality.
One of those ideas was to have an "enchanted storm" billowing over the cemetery and the Greywood's plot. Complete with thunder, lightning, and what else but snow falling from the heavens above, the enchanted storm was to captivate the imaginations of the audience - drawing on that awe inspiring sight of the first snow fall of the season.
Sometimes, change is progress.
Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, falling snow - as originally pictured using a snow machine - will not appear this year at Greywood Manor.
However, good ideas never die.
Most often, if an idea is good enough, it will find it's way back into the big picture. It may not be right away, but with time it will return. That's a certainty.
As for our ghostly white snow - it will materialize, not as originally imagined, but in a different way. And who's to say change is bad?
One of those ideas was to have an "enchanted storm" billowing over the cemetery and the Greywood's plot. Complete with thunder, lightning, and what else but snow falling from the heavens above, the enchanted storm was to captivate the imaginations of the audience - drawing on that awe inspiring sight of the first snow fall of the season.
Sometimes, change is progress.
Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, falling snow - as originally pictured using a snow machine - will not appear this year at Greywood Manor.
However, good ideas never die.
Most often, if an idea is good enough, it will find it's way back into the big picture. It may not be right away, but with time it will return. That's a certainty.
As for our ghostly white snow - it will materialize, not as originally imagined, but in a different way. And who's to say change is bad?
7/11/2011
Deck the Halls
Recently, we have been working on the "holiday" decor that will be making it into the Greywood Manor haunt this year. The bulk of the the Christmas decorations will be "framing" the attic scene.
Now before we call it quits or say "that's good enough," we of course need to add more detail. These are 50+ year old spirit infested holiday decorations after all, and they need to be portrayed as such. Simple fake greenery will not cut it, or push the story along.
So we made some changes.
First off, we took the white Christmas lights off the garland that hangs on the border of the garage door. Those lights simply wouldn't go with the time period - and end up polluting the organic nature of the haunt.
After that was completed, we started to "age" the garland. Instead of applying rust or mold to the prop (like we would a man-made object) we applied two different brown paints to make the garland look like it had partially died due to lack of water. It was essential that the greenery looked as if it was between life and death as it was literally traveling between planes of existence by reappearing from the great ethereal realm every Halloween night.
Starting with a dark, chocolate brown spray paint...
And ending with a lighter brown, almost beige that has a red hue to it.
That second color was chosen based on a real dead pine branch I picked at a tree in my yard.
In the end, I think we were able to successfully bring these holiday relics back from the dead.
Now before we call it quits or say "that's good enough," we of course need to add more detail. These are 50+ year old spirit infested holiday decorations after all, and they need to be portrayed as such. Simple fake greenery will not cut it, or push the story along.
So we made some changes.
First off, we took the white Christmas lights off the garland that hangs on the border of the garage door. Those lights simply wouldn't go with the time period - and end up polluting the organic nature of the haunt.
After that was completed, we started to "age" the garland. Instead of applying rust or mold to the prop (like we would a man-made object) we applied two different brown paints to make the garland look like it had partially died due to lack of water. It was essential that the greenery looked as if it was between life and death as it was literally traveling between planes of existence by reappearing from the great ethereal realm every Halloween night.
Starting with a dark, chocolate brown spray paint...
And ending with a lighter brown, almost beige that has a red hue to it.
That second color was chosen based on a real dead pine branch I picked at a tree in my yard.
In the end, I think we were able to successfully bring these holiday relics back from the dead.
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