HauntWorld Magazine - Transworld SHOW THREAD

[drfrightner]

I was excited to see FINALLY some food vendors at the show... that was a step in the right direction. The lady told me she did really well. Larry
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[drfrightner]

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[drfrightner]

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[drfrightner]

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[drfrightner]

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[drfrightner]

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[drfrightner]

Yes more and more and more photos... do I get a prop or two for taking all these photos and uploading them??? LOL

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[drfrightner]

I have a few interesting observations and notices to vendors specifically... I've made here and there my opinions throughout these posts and thread. So here is another one...

The silicone mask is NOW officially a WAR and its on! Masks in general it's ON like Donkey Kong. And this is a WORLD WAR... the envelope is getting pushed to the edge and its taking the creative with it. Now we can talk all day long about how maybe price will be king in this category, rather than the overall quality, or we can argue that quality will stump price. My personal feelings is this war will be won with both... meaning whomever has a great product that goes along with the cheapest price will totally WIN or impact the industry by making prices drop. I think prices do need to drop honestly and now that we have 10 million of these guys prices should and probably will drop.

Now with all that said let me just say this... the animation end of the industry you are going to be slaughtered! Why?

Because these mask guys are setting the sculpting and creative mark SO HIGH that you'll need to keep up because the level of realistic look is now gone sky high. Back 10 years ago the sculpting on animations was acceptable and now its NOT! Most if not almost all the animations I saw looked like they always looked, or simply wasn't near not even close to the level of quality put into these masks.

Now you might be asking how does that change the game... well a few years ago everyone was thinking animations look cooler than actors, they do things actors can't do, blah, blah. Then we started getting sick of fixing animations, but our actors still didn't look at cool... but now EVERYTHING is shifting back to actors and making them look cool.

Even companies who didn't sell masks sold something an actor could use to scare someone from weapons, to drills that made sound, to fake shoes you could put on your knees, to costumes and more costumes and more costumes, to masks and more masks, to things actors could push around and activate to hold cow it was basically endless.

Seems now the movement is ON to actors and making them LOOK REAL like a real monster OUT of a movie!

Animation makers need to be prepared to step up the creative or shift their business to other elements of the industry such as Scarefactory making an inflatable facade, or something to mix it up. I'm thinking animations might be on the decline over the next couple years, while making things actors can use to scare, wear to scare, or just overall makes them scarier is on like Donkey Kong?

Can this many mask / costume companies survive?? YES AND NO... Yes if haunts don't buy big ticket items like animations and NO if they do keep buying big ticket items. Lets see if they all survive and thrive because if they do you'll start to see animation companies go out of business...

So my advice to the mask companies would be what??? FIND WAYS TO MAKE YOUR MASKS CHEAPER while keeping up the quality its the haunt industry way and it always prove that way in the end. Trust me! You will go out of business if your prices aren't affordable no matter the quality.

What would my advice be to the animation companies??? START TO SEE THE FUTURE ... these mask costume companies which I've been crying for all these years are here to stay. Haunts like Netherworld made actors popular again and haunts crave to have actors in the same quality masks and costumes as say Netherworld. So overall I think animations will be on the serious decline in the future. So what should you do? You should start to make a handful of animations you think are REALLY COOL while at the same time making them look more realistic. Additionally you should start to consider making more static props, smaller items like gory pots, arms, legs bodies or whatever or simply just props of dogs to monsters.

Actors are the new future as they where originally the only future when this industry started we've basically come full circle. When it comes to marketing gorilla marketing is also back and more important than ever when we just never know how to reach our customers anymore in the digital age.

Let this service as a wake up call to all vendors... big ticket items will be fewer and fewer and small items or just cool props just might save your company. Haunted Houses love cool stuff cheap! It's just the way haunters operate!

Just one more point to hammer home... when I was ordering tons of equipment from vendors for the Darkness haunt tour I never even KNEW all these new small companies would show up! Never knew! I never in a million years thought hey there will be ten zillion mask companies, I simply placed an order and never thought about how many props I ordered to animation. But now that I wrote this basically an article... I now realize I didn't hardly order any animations. In fact of the very few I ordered the two main ones I didn't even use they are still in my shop just sitting there... I bought mostly PROPS that helped enhance actor scares. I didn't know I was doing that until NOW but I did... I think we'll be seeing a change of direction and everyone should be prepared for the change from regular radio to digital radio and from animations to actor driven companies.

Larry

[Deathwing]

There were tons of mask companies I agree there but did you look close up on them? Some took us back to the 80's with their sculpts and quality. I saw deformed silicone masks with bubbles, faux fur masks not from zagone but other guys, terrible paint jobs, etc. I thought 90% was bad but the guys like CFX and Immortal looked Hollywood and the rest copycats with inferior sculpting and pouring, that HURTS the industry.

Jake

[Deathwing]

I was also disappointed in Dark Raven I was hoping to see some new cool effects other than the trees, spiders and snakes that's been there for several years then to see their former partner do a spin off company Nevermore that produced nearly the exact same stuff. I want to see vendors bring new stuff and put the old stuff in the catalog or include a DVD catalog showcasing everything in action so people see how cool it is.


Jake

[wickedfarmer]

Nothing "WOWED" me...

This years purchases were more of catching up and buying things from previous years list of "I will have that some day". Gore Galore Slither is still on that list, but purchased Scarefactory actor hover rig. I liked both of these as soon as I saw them last year. The interchangable props to go on these rigs was BIG selling point to me. (Sorry Kevin...went with the Scarefactory rig this year, they have the flying monkey like Wizard of Oz and that movie is out right now...but I'll get Slither sometime).

Got Posions Dropping Clown Flailer, another one I liked last year as soon as I saw it. Now Larry brought up that prop makers may need to bring realism up a notch in work like masks are doing now. I guess I might second that notion BUT items that are hidden from view then attack out of nowhere with no time to study them over like the props listed above are good enough now. Why I own a few Distortions props where the actor runs out at customers....no one expects that. The monkey on the metal rack that ran out this year is added to my "I will have that someday list". The thinking outside the box to have the bottom half of that metal table swing out so actor could run out...taking that style of prop to next level of concealment was good. Which I need after running the gargoyle that jumps out (Gargoyle Shock) and the upside down Frankenstein (Shock Therapy).

A new twist...added to the "some day" list. The vortex tunnel has gotten to be a standard. Well if you missed it, new vendor Dimensions of Darkness has a new twist that can be added to anyones vortex. (www.dimensionsofdarkness.com) had the HUGE grabbing hand/claw on rollers as well) The bridge (see through aluminum grate) tilts as customers walk across. Raises their right foot/side higher than left and sets it back down....a double whammy. Actually had me grabbing hand rail and which I never have to do otherwise. Guess I would have to say my biggest "wow" of the show. Did like the video effect in the Dark Zone that made me pretty. Camera showed you walking up to the area and turned your face into a zombified freak. Think that would be something customers would like...but cost scared me away.

Someone I had not seen before or simply overlooked ...The House of Boo. (www.theHOUSEofBOO.com) Several props for actors to hold like a biting teddy bear and a LOUD horn powered by a battery powered (rechargable) drill. Had to head home with some of their stuff. Good looking furniture that will eventually be headed my way for a clown room. Drop panel hidden behind marinate dolls dancing on strings...nice job altering the old simple dropping portrait gag!

Wicked Farmer

[Vengence]

Easy solution.

If the quality of silicone masks is going up and increases visual effects to a new desired level across the board, which I agree with. Then why don't vendors start applying silicone masks/ prosthetics to their animated props to keep inline with that visual quality demand/supply increase?

But yes, this was the year of silicone masks. There were finally products below the $500 level and a lot more selection.

Otherwise I see a huge push in technology and software in regards to haunt industry innovation.

[austind]

Matt why would you spend $500 for a mask for a prop? If they could make one out of foam Latex then the price would be much less. Also the detail in the masks were great but on a prop there are more areas detail than just the heads. I think this year was a show that was good for the acting side of a haunted house and less towards the tech side. The haunts heavy on acting have been left out to some degree in the past few shows and this year I saw more costumes, proshtetics, and masks. So maybe it is just that I am more of a tech guy than an actor that it seemed flat to me.

Phattman

[Rex W.]

The Dead House Designs trailer haunt in the Dark Zone was hands down absolutely incredible. Got the chance to visit with these guys at the show opening party Thursday evening and learn how they built it. Very interesting. Great job!

[drfrightner]

yes the dead house design trailer was very well done a few things though you need a lot of safety features to make a trailer haunt work but the detail aspects they did a great job. No doubt!

I didn't however notice a sprinkler system, correct electrical, emergency lights, ramps to code, a system that would take the water from one building to the next or even electrical from one building to the next or even emergency doors in or out... these are all things most cities would require. They wanted 20k for a detailed out trailer I bet you it would cost an additional 10k per trailer to add all those things. My other concern was the way they had the customers go up and back in the trailer that would create a nightmare for configuration ... I'd have to see a lot more details on that. You also need transition plates to enter one haunt trailer to the next within an overall configuration. I wonder how they plan on doing all of that.

I must admit that the detail work on the trailer itself was really awesome but you must also remember there is more to it than that... I think directors don't care about budgets while producers only care about money and the control of it this is why you have both! LOL

The subject brings up an interesting point... Dead House Design is the perfect example here! They are promoting detail, detail is expensive very expensive more expensive than animations or silicone masks. Haunts only have so much money so what are they going to invest their money into over the next few years??? Will it be detail, costumes, masks, better marketing, or animations?

I think the days of just buying animations are over... all companies selling animations should start to focus doing more than just animations because I think people will start to spend money on detail work, costumes, masks, and more. The money will start to be spent more even than mostly on this and less on that.

I think haunts now want more detail, more costumes, and better websites, and things... which should and probably will pull money away from animations. Additionally and this is a kicker... you have companies out there like Fright Props selling everything you need to make animations. So I guess I was happy to see Scarefactory as an example do the inflatable as a pick piece of their booth and in the future the show should shift away from animation.

Larry