Dark Imaginings

Were you one of the Haunters at Transworld, or maybe didn’t get a chance to attend? Well Dark Imaginings wasn’t able to attend as well so now they are passing on a deal for haunters to take part in.

“We here at Dark Imaginings have got some bad news and we’ve got some good
news.

The bad news is that we didn’t attend the Transworld Haunt Show this
year, which makes us very sad. The good news, however, is that we are pleased to announce our first-ever “NO SHOW” SPECIAL!

What is a “No Show” Special and why are we doing it? That’s easy. It is not always possible for us to attend every show that we would like due to various circumstances, travel costs, or other obligations. However, we
don’t want our loyal customers and new friends to miss out on our fantastic show discounts, either. While we will certainly miss seeing your ghoulish grins and smiling faces in person, we are very excited to be able to bring these savings to you.

But hurry, these “No Show” Specials will expire on March 31, 2012!!!

For more information, please go visit: www.darkimaginings.com

I’m Baaaaaaaack!  I know it’s been a while since I reared my ugly head, but I was finishing up my new album to be released in April!

With the spring right around the corner, you are no doubt preparing for your design and set up of next years haunt.  What better time to go over the basic resources available to you to achieve a professional sounding haunt!  As I’ve touched before in my previous posts, sound is very important in a haunted attraction.  So I won’t spend as much time on that as I do basic information regarding equipment, set-up, sound creation and planning.  It’s actually easier than you would think to sound like a professional haunt.  If you are a professional haunt, there are always ways to improve your set up!

In this first part I will go over the process of laying out a sound system and location of speakers.

The first principle in laying out a haunt is flow and scares.  With my company we often sit down first and ask the designer to “walk” us through the haunt.  Although it may not be built we can still get a mental picture of space, props and feel.  Some good questions to ask yourself and fellow designers:

Picture the room and imagine the set up with me.

What Kind of Music Calls to this Room?

What kind of sounds would I hear in this type of area?

You are standing in the entrance to the room.  To the left you see bookshelves askew.  They would shake and cave in as you walked by.  The organ would then play blowing smoke and flashing lights as two “Statues” came to life and lunged at you.

What action or cue sounds are needed?

The action started with the organ blaring and vibrating.  This caused the book cases to vibrate and fall.

What will I need?

All of this only used two speakers and one prop controller and one sensor.

The “Bed” of a creaky cavernous room was the preset loop on the controller.  The Speaker Located at the top of the room, angled to hit the entire room with sound. As the props (the Organ and Shelves) would activate the controller hit the cue triggering both controllers.

Where are the sources?

The Cue played the Organ through a Large Powered speaker from behind the organ through the right channel and the book cases through the left. Creating two different sound sources from one controller.

This is just an example of how I broke down this room.  Some are simpler and others may take more thought.  The same questions should be asked though.  Let’s take a closer look at the break down.

What kind of sounds do I expect to hear in this area?  

This is what I like to call a “Bed”.  A bed is an ambient looped track that creates a general overall feeling. For instance:

A Chapel:  Wind howling through the corridors, large room reverb creates the illusion of size and depth.

A Crypt: Closer Cavernous reverb and echo, with dripping sounds.

You get the point, these are often called ambient albums.  For examples of these check out “Gothic Nightmares”.

The bed will often sound distant but the closer sounds should sound as if they are close and crisp, this is where high quality speakers help.  This itself is a little challenging.  Finding the proper space may jump out at you, but often takes adjusting to make sure sound fills the entire space. The best way to plan for this is to look at the room highlight the path of the patrons, and figure that you want to point the sound right at them.  Ideally this is directly above, however that’s not always possible.  But aim high and save a space to roughly work with dialing it in.  Put it on your blueprints.  While you are leaving that space figure out where the source is and leave space to easily access that.  It may be in a neighboring room, control room or other space, but make sure you are able to access it with little exposure to patrons.  I will cover this more in part 2.

What kind of Cue is needed? What will I need and what are the sources?

The Cue needs to surprise your patrons, but also needs to make sense and come from an unobstructed source.  The human ear is very keen, if your prop comes from the left and your sound from the right, it would calculate in the brain correctly, meaning that it will seem cheap and transparent.  Placing a speaker for a scare is even trickier than placing a speaker for a bed.  Small speakers, unless powerful and clear will not come off well, I like to use studio reference monitors for these (I prefer guitar center, because of the pro coverage replacement plan, ask me for more info).  They are clear and precise.

These key elements should be focused on each room and always present in construction and design.

Transient rooms or hallways rely heavily on sound.  The same careful planning should be taken for those as well.  But with on important difference, the volume.  The volume in these go between areas will not only create the illusion of transporting to another area, but it will also mask the sound from the previous and upcoming room, fighting sound with sound.  The sources can often be shared to save money on players.

The needs are typically two monitor speakers, a boobox or mp3 player and a sensor.  The placement of these will be discussed more in depth in the next segment, but spending a little more upfront on good equipment will save you money and frustration in the long run.  Plan early and keep sound in mind with visual effects and props.  With this in mind you can have a haunt that you do not need to turn on and off every night one mp3 player at a time!  More on this in the next segment!

Until then, Sit back, relax and rot away!

SHOW NOTES FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 2, 2012 SHOW #250

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THIS WEEK’S SHOW NOTES:
Transworld is just a short time away and to get you in the Haunting mood Deadites we have CREEPY COLLECTION stopping in this week. Creepy Collection is going to give you hints to their ALL NEW item in the interactive Haunted House at Transworld, some new items and vendors for the upcoming Haunt Season and more.

In addition we have some attraction goodies for you as RFR Casket Crew’s Rabid Badger comes to us from two events in the HORROR FIELDS and TWISTED WOODS. The owners of these attractions talk with RFR about the event, highlights and what to expect in a good scare from their Haunts. And if that wasn’t enough we RFR Casket Crew Storm back with In A Haunt Minute, ranting as only a haunter can do and Master of the Ethermuse VIRGIL FRANKLIN comes to the show to announce a brand new huge project he is working on.

This week in Haunt Industry News we have information covering Dark Imaginings, Toxic Toons, The Darkness, Transworld, Mad Monster Party, Trick or Treat Studios, The Garage of Evil and more from the Haunt and Horror Industries this week.

So look at what the Bat Dragged in this week Deadites all you Fright Freaks, Haunters and Halloween Junkies, you can…
Sit Back, Relax and Rot Away to Rotting Flesh Radio!

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SHOW NOTES FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 23, 2012 SHOW #249

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THIS WEEK’S SHOW NOTES:
It’s time to get your haunt on in the cold winter as this week RFR kicks it into the new year by bringing you the HAUNTED PYRAMIDS during this past haunt season. RFR Casket Crew’s Badger was on location Halloween Weekend and brings us all the Haunt Fun with interviews, the cast, crew and more from the Haunted Pyramids to keep you in the haunting mood as we gear up for Transworld.

In addition RFR Creator and Host Jonathan discusses Deadite Emails, Answers Questions Submitted, and more. There are all kinds of Twisted Goodies to keep you Rotting and Rolling as RFR is Back like the Walking Dead.

So as we continue to Rot Forward, Deadites and RFR are together again for the first time as so to put it all you Fright Freaks, Haunters and Halloween Junkies, you can…
Sit Back, Relax and Rot Away to Rotting Flesh Radio!

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Legoland Florida

So all you Deadites, as the new year kicks into gear so does all the planning for theme parks, haunted attractions and more. One of those is also the Newest park out of Florida, LEGOLAND FLORIDA has now announced what it is planning for 2012 and especially for it’s One Year Anniversary in October!

To being, Legoland is going to host a Fourth of July event in the form of the Red, Brick and Boom event. This will have guests wearing 3D Glasses and show normal fireworks in the sky exploading as bricks. Now that is pretty sweet. There will also be March events with Lego Friends Weekends.

This will have games, extra activities, and a girls line of toys as well in connection with a daytime party.

Now comes the fun part for us haunters. In October they will have their First Anniversary and they will kick off the BRICK OR TREAT event. This will come complete for the family much like Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party and the Sea World Spooktacular where young and old can have Halloween fun.

The event will happen on Saturday and Sundays all October and features Candy, Tricks, Treats, and all kinds of Entertainment Fun. The event was a huge success when it launched in October of their opening year in 2011 and 2012 is sure to be a huge amount of fun as well.

Not like Disney World’s Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, the event will not require a seperate admission. This is alot like Sea World’s Spooktacular where it is included with the day’s admission. I know that many haunters will love this, as much as we love the dark and scary, we also like to celebrate with are young children 2-12 in a family friendly Halloween style as well.

Now moving forward to Christmas there will also be December events like the Christmas Bricktacular with a Christmas Tree made from over 270,000 Legos, and also many Holiday Decorations, events, fun and of course, Santa Claus.

For more information about Legoland Florida and all the Lego Parks visit: www.LegoLand.com

Matthew Freyer Productions Home Haunt Contest

We here at Rotting Flesh Radio are always pulling for the under dogs, the small haunts, charity events and home haunters. With that said how would you like to have your own professionally done website created and designed along with an outstanding logo? I know, I know you don’t have the money for it, but what if you could WIN it!

“HOME HAUNTERS! Matthew Freyer Productions wants you to tell us why you have the best Home Haunt and deserve your very own website to show it off to the rest of the world. Your story can be as long as you’d like but remember, we are choosing the winners by how passionate you are about your Home Haunt. We also recommend sending us links to an existing website, photo album, YouTube channel or any other network that you currently use to brag about how insanely wicked your Home Haunt is. Get creative folks because this Halloween you could be the winner of a custom, professionally designed website that will show the world you are the ultimate HOME HAUNTER!

Last years Home Haunters Website Giveaway Winner was Dan Krein, creator, owner and operator of Souls of the Forsaken. Visit the Souls of the Forsaken website to get some inspiration and to see what we can do for your Home Haunt.

Please send all entries and questions to: contest@matthewfreyerproductions.com Entries must be received by 11:59pm Saturday March, 31 2012.

For more on MFP and the contest visit: www.MatthewFreyerProductions.com

Cedar Fair Entertainment

With many amusement parks, the Halloween Season continues to be a fun time for their guests and special events. This also goes beyond just the Halloween Season and the rest of the entertainment years as well.

The All-New CEO has outlined Cedar Fair’s Long-Term Growth Strategy this week with a look at what the park has planned.

Release:
Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, a leader in regional amusement parks, water parks and active entertainment, hosted an investor meeting in New York City today at which its president and newly named chief executive officer, Matt Ouimet, outlined his long-term growth strategy – known as “FUNforward” – and the corresponding financial goals for the Company.

“This is truly an exciting time for Cedar Fair,” said Ouimet. “Given our favorable industry dynamics – including significant barriers to entry and a loyal, high-repeat customer base – as well as the significant momentum we have created for the Company over the past two record-setting years, we see several attractive strategic growth opportunities in both the near and long term. We believe there are many compelling reasons for investors to choose Cedar Fair, and we are committed to rewarding them for their confidence in us with meaningful and sustainable value creation through a balanced approach of distributions, growth investments, debt reduction and unit repurchases.”

Ouimet cited Cedar Fair’s high-quality, well-maintained parks, its recognized stature within the industry as an innovation leader and its strong brand positioning as the core drivers of the Company’s financial and operational momentum.

“We are very proud of our properties and the men and women who ensure families and thrill-seekers alike have the ‘best-day-of-the-year’ experience they expect when they visit one of our parks,” Ouimet said. “It’s not an accident that we enjoyed our second straight year of record attendance – 23.4 million guests – at our 17 locations across North America in 2011.”

Cedar Fair’s award-winning parks – including Cedar Point, which was named the number-one amusement park in the world for the 14th consecutive year, and Kings Island, which was voted “Best Kids’ Area in the World” for the 11th straight year – are home to four of the top 11 steel coasters in the world and top-rated Halloween events.

“We believe we offer our guests compelling value by providing wholesome, exciting, quality experiences with the greatest thrill rides and family attractions, which is an especially strong entertainment proposition in today’s discerning consumer market,” Ouimet added. “Likewise, our goal is to continue to be a total return investment for our unitholders. Our recession-resistant business continues to generate strong free cash flow, which has allowed us to further strengthen our financial flexibility and make meaningful distributions to our unitholders while at the same time experiencing appreciation in our unit price.”

Components of the FUNforward strategy include:

Enhanced guest experience – Maintaining an unwavering focus on delivering compelling value for the price paid, at every park on every day. In the near term, the Company will continue to add new rides and attractions while at the same time expanding evening event activities to provide enhanced value and extend the length of each visit.

Improved consumer messaging and relationship management – Modernizing the marketing and sales strategy and execution to ensure the Company is most effectively segmenting its customer base and speaking to each audience with messages that “break through the noise” and create the proper emotional connection that drives action within the operating season.

Dynamic pricing and advance purchase commitments – Incorporating a new e-commerce platform common to other industry players. The new platform will provide real-time data and dynamic pricing modification, while supporting incremental programs such as season pass installment sales and up-sell of benefits and value.

Premium product offerings – Expansion of premium experience offerings for benefit-oriented guests. Examples of this will include premium parking and dining experiences, “fast lanes” at various high-demand attractions and “Fright Lanes” during Halloween events, among other things.

Strategic alliance fees and promotional leverage – Industry benchmarking indicates an opportunity for the Company to expand its strategic alliances while still protecting the integrity of the guest experience.

Capital and expense productivity – Prioritizing capital to the highest return-on-invested-capital opportunities across the Company’s portfolio, encouraging manufacturers to innovate at lower costs and remaining disciplined in the management of costs. The Company will also look to utilize its undeveloped land to drive additional park admissions through activities and investments that leverage its installed asset base.

“It’s important to have a balanced mix between thrill rides and family attractions,” said Ouimet. “We are investing approximately $90 million across all of our properties and have a very strong rides and attractions menu for the 2012 operating season.”

OUTLOOK

According to Ouimet, the Company’s preliminary results project 2011 net revenues to be approximately $1.028 billion, and project Adjusted EBITDA of approximately $375 million. Both projected net revenues and Adjusted EBITDA are at the high-end of the Company’s most recent guidance of net revenues between $1.015 billion and $1.025 billion and Adjusted EBITDA between $365 million and $375 million.

“By 2016, we believe Adjusted EBITDA will be in excess of $450 million,” he said.

The Company anticipates a 2012 annual distribution rate of $1.60 per unit, to be paid in $0.40 per unit cash installments, and a record 2013 annual distribution rate of more than $2.00 per unit. “As this record-setting 2013 target distribution would suggest, we are very excited about the future of Cedar Fair,” said Ouimet.

To find out more about their goals, outlook and more visit them at: www.CedarFair.com

Edgar Allan Poe

It may be cold in most places, but today we can open our black little hearts to remember the birthday of a true horror icon, Edgar Allan Poe. On January 19, 1809 the one and only literary author was born and from there he became a legend in the written word.

With a movie coming in 2012, and his works continually being made into short subjects, he is going to be around much longer than his death in 1849.

So in memory of a legend a Black Hearted Happy Birthday to the one and only Edgar Allan Poe

Courtesy of WIKIPEDIA (for more visit Wikipedia:
Born Edgar Poe, January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts; he was orphaned young when his mother died shortly after his father abandoned the family. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never formally adopted him. He attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. After enlisting in the Army and later failing as an officer’s cadet at West Point, Poe parted ways with the Allans. His publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to “a Bostonian”.

Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845 Poe published his poem, “The Raven”, to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years after its publication. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.

Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.

Composite Effects All-New Mask Maker

The makers at Composite Effects are at it again! With the creative style, product and technique that has made them a mask making force in the industry, they have now packaged it in a way that allows YOU to become the MASK MAKER!

The team at CFX has continued to make leaps in the mask making world and allow its’ customers to create their own design utilizing CFX’s skills, tools and high end mask materials to bring your haunt or event to life with the creation you specifically needed and designed!

“Do you have a great idea for customizations for a mask, but don’t know for sure how it will look it when put together? Do you want to get live price estimates for your wild alteration ideas? Do you just want to screw around with different ways of playing with a mask? Look no further, because the CFX Mask Maker is here NOW!

It includes the option to email CFX at the end of the process so you can get an official, final price quote on your new mask! So let’s see what you can make, shall we?”

To see the mask maker process and to see all the creations you can come up with be sure to visit the CFX team at: www.CompositeEffects.com

CFX Masks

Our friends at COMPOSITE EFFECTS are at it again bringing you the BEST in silicone masks and the overall best detailed creations for your costume, event, haunted attraction or just to collect!

The Toxic Avenger

“Now you too can become a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength, without having to leap through a window into a barrel of toxic chemical waste. This officially licensed Toxic Avenger mask captures the lumpy, malformed majesty of Melvin the monster hero down to every disgusting detail and features a drooping realistic silicone left eye. (Remember to watch that depth perception, as it does cover your real left eye.)”

This Toxie mask is fantastic. The overall detail is dead-on with the character in the films we all know and love! You can get your TOXIE exclusively from CFX Website

The Toxic Avenger CFX Exclusive Mask

This Toxie mask is available exclusively from CFX.

The Toxic Avenger is licensed from our friends at:

Troma Entertainment

GET YOURS AT: www.CompositeEffects.com