Outdoor Haunt Idea...?

[Greg Chrise]

I have imagined an outdoor quarantine kind of setting. People walk a trail like they are walking a resident evil kind of thing. Those being quarentined are in heavy clear plastic structures with low light and you go by and can barely tell what is happening, mostly siloettes. You can see some action, doctors doing weird things and getting taken over. Things splatter onto the clear walls.

Other outdoor places you walk by look like MASH tents with cloudy plexiglass windows. You can collect all sorts of no longer running and super cheap military vehicles, old planes and helicopters as money comes around and never really stop collecting big junk that would prove you are serious.

Lots of this stuff can actually be independent movie prop rentals off season. Old jeeps with some kind of logo on them. Go crazy at army supply houses and auctions. Inside clear but hard to see through containments can be what looks like all kinds of strange scientific equipment, mostly just wood with blinking lights and gages. Not easy to see.

Then the trail you are on is blocked and there is a detor. There can be outdoor cages with the infected trying to grab at you. Some small sheds you might actually walk through or a cave has been used for something.

Especially with things happening in the world, imagine people coming up to you in moon suits with geiger counter sounding things?

Plus outdoors means maybe some fire effects, You just have to build the story. Kind of like the alien virus cave in the X files movie was covered up with a play ground on a vacant lot. A lot of Texas now looks like the X files movie to me. The train tracks, the track homes in the middle of nowhere. So you too can make the mundane and every day into something more sinister, even start your own conspiracy?

[Twin Locusts]

If your looking for an outdoor attraction take a look at Zombie Safari Paintball. Its easy to set up and very popular with customers. Find it on facebook or give me a call for more information. 573 881 7061
Greg
Zombie Safari Paintball Attractions

Hey Greg, your ZSP people movers are pretty cool, the double-decker looks more exciting, do you know what codes you'd fall under for taking passengers? Likely varies state to state probably the same as a pumpkin patch hay rid code.

Also, what was Tina's idea that wasn't safe haha.? Finally, how do you keep your zombies from getting battle fatigue, I've never been shot with a paintball gun but I bet after a night as a zombie you'd have racked up some shots.

[scottylmt]

I can collect cheap military vehicles!? How do I find these auctions? Offutt air force base is right here in Omaha, that is a great idea!

I never thought to do it as a trail, that's new. I always pictured it as you were IN the quarantined building, but having the infected bust out would be awesome too. You would have your sounds and screams coming from the permanent buildings along the path.

One scene I thought of would be in a tunnel of clear plastic, with light on both sides, then monsters come from both sides and are trying to rip the plastic! Obviously being indoors wouldn't allow that awesome scene because of sprinkler issues, but outdoors it could work.

So theoretically how do you protect your speaker wiring along the main path (and speakers)?

Thanks for sharing Greg I was "quarantined" off by my other idea

[scottylmt]

Nvm man I found some! Holy crap diesel generators, pallets of tents, tractors, flat bed trailers! Some for dirt cheap! Now how to get this stuff from Mississippi to Nebraska lol. And where to store it lmao.

[Greg Chrise]

Everything is inside tuperware or similar large storage containers. Actual machines are inside old trailers decorated to match the themes. If I do an indoor, the trailer goes into the center of the build. Just a small one.

Still any vehicle on display the trunk and under the hood is full of stuff that shouldn't be in there to control props. I like to remove gas tanks and put a shelf there. Outdoor speakers are pretty common now as every rich person has an outdoor kitchen and swimming pool. The materials for the cone are simply more weather resistant. This is where scavaging speakers out of cars comes in. Low power, meant to be in places where water will run though like your car doors.

Then off season you hook all 60 speakers to an old hifi and see if you can play Nine Inch Nails music. I hear the other guys talk about amplified speakers. It is just how much you want to spend. How much you want to store. Remember scrap weight is crazy high values in January.

All these little out posts become shelter for all sorts of things. You will still kill lots of things. You don't need High definition when saying something into a plastic pipe will work just as well.

Maybe instead of hundreds of sound cards and speakers you could have an FM radio station like some of the Christmas parks. YOu tune your radio into a certain channel and hear Christmas music. You could come up with maybe a smart phone channel? Issue transistor radios that give alerts about the impending doom on society. Or space patrol walky talkies? I'm just trying to remember what could be fun. A combination of all of the above plus become a vetriloquist.

If you can do time travel you really only need one energetic actor.

[BrotherMysterio]

If you can do time travel you really only need one energetic actor.

If you have a Central Corridor, you only need a few.

C.

[scottylmt]

Ok im seeing most of what you're saying Greg. Regarding Tupperware, for electronics, wouldn't overheating be a concern? Im thinking like controllers and amplifiers... And is speaker wire waterproof? Or would I cover /bury them?

The car speaker thing makes sense, and explains why I've seen an old post with a guy showing his sound system, and it was a bunch of cd decks from cars, with an amplifier on top. Im sure craigslist list has car audio for cheap everyday... though I hate to support the crackhead that broke in and stole them lol.

I joined my local freecycle, am checking craigslist, and that military auction site. They actually just had 6medical exam tables for $50 starting bid. That would've been awesome, but its 3 hours away and I've got no way to transport, and nowhere to put it yet Im gonna make it happen tho somehow. There's TONS of those things!

[scottylmt]

C. You KNOW im with you on that one!

Wow two auctions only two hours away ending 4 pm today. A 6 ton semi trailer in green camo.. one is at $671! The other $681! If anybody in Iowa snatch one up. The most I've seen them sell for is 1,200.

[BrotherMysterio]

Im thinking like controllers . . .

See the email I sent you.

. . . and amplifiers . . .

All the main electronics and systems should be in one central, dry location, like an equipment room.

Regarding Tupperware for electronics, wouldn't overheating be a concern?

If you're running 12v to the haunt proper and have the component enclosures well ventilated from, say, the bottom, for instance, it shouldn't be an issue. That's why I'm working on a strobe circuit with 9v constant current, with perhaps a muffin fan nearby to keep it cool. The prototype has more ways to go in terms of development, but so far the results have been very positive.

Remember, street lamps and parking lot lamps face the elements year round, and work fine, year after year. The methodologies are out there. Ergo, it shouldn't be that hard, likewise, to take a 12v component and weatherproof it. Especially if you are doing the quarantine theme where everything looks mechanical and industrial.

Another thing to look at are motion detector wildlife cameras that are set-up in the wilderness which, when an animal happens by, takes a snap shot of them. They are designed to operate out in the elements, and work great. You can learn a lot from those design principles. That was part of the inspiration for the strobe circuit I'm working on.

Im sure craigslist list has car audio for cheap everyday.

Good call, but don't get too craig-happy until you have a really good idea of what your haunt is going to look like.

Use a lot of pre-viz with it before you start buying stuff that a) you can't afford, and b) you can't store.

though I hate to support the crackhead that broke in and stole them lol.

Indeed.

I joined my local freecycle

Good call! They can be goldmines. I'm looking to join the local version here.

They actually just had 6medical exam tables for $50 starting bid. That would've been awesome, but its 3 hours away and I've got no way to transport, and nowhere to put it yet Im gonna make it happen tho somehow.

Well, that may be a good score, especially if you are a large haunt with several elements, like one being an insane asylum, one being a hospital, and so on, but remember, all metal tables look the same when you have a white sheet spread over them. Some restaurant could have gone out of a business and you might find a kitchen prep table sitting on a curb. Throw a white sheet over it and an alien autopsy cadaver and, bingo, you're good to go!

Even better, a $20 alien mask and a few mannequin parts might do the trick.

C. You KNOW im with you on that one!

Indeed.

C.

[scottylmt]

All good advice. VERY good point about parking lamps, and even landscaping lights. Im thinking also about the motion sensor lights outside of garages; the technology is definitely there, that's why im on this forum cuz I just miss some things.

Im excited about your strobe circuit! And that's actually my weakest suit out of all these aspects, so id love to hear more about how it works. But especially if you have pics or vids that would really help ppl! Who locally could I talk to to learn more about power types and how 12dc works? I was thinking maybe sound and lighting stores for rock bands???