The OctoPod

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2015-05-30

Here are some picture from the 2^nd day of setup. We decided we didn’t have enough room with the 20×20 tent and made a call to extend the end of the tent with another 10×10 tent.

It rained pretty hard over the course of the weekend and we found some leaks in our tent design. We have to through some make shift tarps over the top and hoped for the best. Other rooms struggled with the flow of water over the ground. There were some low points that caused a muddy mess.

 

Here are some behind the scenes shots of the pod. Notice the wiring for the lighting, sound, air, and PA system. A lot of our lines, including electrical, needed to be able to spin/turn when the pod turned.

 

Here are Jose and Heidi sporting our OctoPod tee shirts. More marketing for the pod.

 

The Twisted Propositions Store

2015-05-29

Here are some pictures from the initial setup day. We arrived a day early this year to make sure we had enough time to put the OctoPod back together and work out any last minute details.

2015-05-21

The OctoPod “Origins” booklet/pamphlets arrive. These booklets will be on sale for $2 at GLFF and will also provide a marketing presence.

 

The “professors” outfit is done, including homemade top hat.

 

The Crow Costume and Mask are tested out. Noah gets into character.

 

A last minute “cross” is constructed for the Farmer / Corn / Crow scene.

 

The OctoPod is ready to hit the road for a show. Things are broken down and loaded into trailers, a 8×10 and 8×16 trailer were needed to hold the project.

2015-05-14

Air lines are added to the pod to provide two sets effects. An air blast effect and a screaming tickler ™ effect. Both will be controlled manually using momentary switches on the back of the pod and operated by a cast member at the right moment in the scene. Two 5 gallon air tanks will provide the reserve for the effects while a 25 gallon air compressor will deliver the air flow.

 

The screaming tickler was a huge surprise. Using latex hose, the thin tubing created a screeching sound, very surprising.

 

A sparking fence gag was also tested out. The farmer and crows scene will embrace the sparking fence.

 

A nice preview of one of the crow costumes was also modeled for us by Hope.

 

The witches’ hut is decorated with bottles and a huge caldron. Things are looking good.

 

A stool is autographed in memory of this project.

2015-05-07

Major wiring is done on the OctoPod to get it in “show” shape. A nema box is added to the back of the pod to house the Arduino boards and to serve as a wire junction.

 

Curtain mechanism is designed, constructed, and welded and put to the test. As part of the “show”, we plan to hide the view of the patrons while they are turned from scene to scene. In order to do this, a wire frame is designed that can be controlled by a string pull, to open and close a set of curtains.

 

 

The witches hut is under serious renovation for “show time” readiness.

 

 

Jerry is tired and old.

2015-05-02

We draw up some plans to house the OctoPod outdoors. The GLFF outdoor haunt is comprised of several 10×20 canopy tents. We had originally planned to use a 10×20 space, but quickly realized having to “scenes” in the skit, we needed more space. In addition, we needed height for the pod.

We devised a scheme where we could use three sets of 10×20 tents to make one large 20×20 space, with a very tall peak in the center. Here is the original diagram.

 

 

We tested the theory in Heidi’s back yard. Here are some pictures of the fun.

 

2015-04-18

Pod is lighted for the first time. We turned on all lighting for the pod. It is still work in progress, but in the dark, it looks pretty impressive. I think we were all stoked to see it lit. We took several low light pictures using a tri-pod and a DSL camera. The UV lettering really popped. We even did some poses.

We had physically move the pod because Ron’s Halloween store is turning into Ron’s Patriotic Fireworks and they needed the retail floor space where the pod sat. Lucky for us we had a forklift at our disposal and we simply pushed it over to another section of the store.

We a previous week, we went on an adventure to tear down a barn and scavenge some barn wood. In the process, we spotted some neat doors that we planned to reuse for a witches “hut” or shack. Work on the hut began, as you can see in the background.

2015-04-10

 

The door panels are done and the fronts put back into place and the control panels were installed. Notice the panels were given a “rust” dusting.

Some invisible glow in the dark painting was done inside the pod walls. Hope created a symbolic font and painted made up words to look spooky or witchy for those inside the pod. We plan to illuminate the inside of the pod with black light fixtures and turn them on and off at different sequences in the pod skit. The words cannot be seen in normal light. But once hit with UV light, things turn interesting.

 

I really wanted to use ClearNeon invisible UV paint, but it just costs too much. $32 for a small spray can. I even emailed the company asking if we could do some sort of advertising for them if we could get a good deal on some paint. I’ve used their product before, back in 2004, when the price was about $16 a can. Since then, the stuff has skyrocketed.

2015-03-12 thru 2015-03-26

Serious wiring on the door panels was done.

We decided to use Pixel lights in the door panels. The initial thought was to color code each panel in a different colored light. Perhaps, sequence the colors in some manner or another. For the Pixel lights to chase, we needed a straight run of wire from one panel to the next. Since the panels are hinged and separated, we had some work to do to get it wired.

We cut sections of Pixel lights and added male and female connectors to the ends. We had to be careful that the correct “flow” of power / data was flowing consistently down the “line”. It was a painful process, with a few mistakes along the way. Here are some pictures of our soldering station and the wires hanging out of the door panels. Enjoy.

 

We used old 4 conductor phone wire for most of the project. It is good for low DC voltage and we had a plentiful supply thanks to Heidi.