The 2012 Christmas Light Show
As of Thanksgiving evening the show is live. We plan to run the show thru December 31st.
We are located near the intersection of Woodland Park and Highgrove in West Houston.
The music can be found on the FM dial at 107.1.
Our Schedule
The planned operating times are 5pm to 10:30pm nightly with the last show running thru the end of playtime. The last show will start somewhere before 10:30pm and will run thru conclusion. The show runs a few seconds past 27 minutes in length.
The show includes both music to which the lights are animated as well as a two part Story of Christmas as found in Luke 2.
Stats
The 2010 show features nearly 50,000 led lights and about 500 traditional lights which I hope to replace next year with LED lights. There are between 1.5 - 2 miles of electric cables connecting the light strings to the controller boxes.
The controller boxes used take a computerized play plan and make each string of lights, or series of strings connected to a single channel, respond to a series of different computerized commands. The commands range from simple pop on/off to to fades, shimmers, and many more.
Programming the light show involved creating commands for each channel for each segment of the show. Some shows have segments which are a fraction of a second long due to the beat pattern of the song. Pretty much all of the voice-over scenes are set as sixty second intervals because the animation is simple and straight forward, but still there are 128 channels that can be used in any song. Thus a 60 second program with 1 second spacing of commands has 7200+ commands to create for the show.
So you ask how long does it take to program a song? The general rule of thumb I use for budgeting my time is 4-6 hours per minute of song which is an overall average. I added new features this year to the show and some were very quick to add while others took as much as an hour per minute in the show to create on their own. I spent 20+ hours just adding in several new channels this year that were not used last year.
We will be planning new channels for use in 2011 as the show runs this year. To that end we will pick new elements that compliment the current elements, add interest to the show, and which can be added without the addition of new controller boxes. It is possible we will have additional neighbors participate in the show come 2011 providing the opportunity for lights on both side of the street to create a surround light show. Check back in several months to see what update we have on that.
In all creating the show, building elements for the show, programming the show, and setting up/breaking down the show has used and will use a couple hundred person hours this year adding to last year's show which used several hundred hours. Thus the show this year thinking about the reused elements has probably 400-500 person hours into the show in total.
Pictures and Video
For Pictures click here.
For Video of the show click here. (Video will be up in mid-December as it's goal is primarily to serve as a device for watching the show from afar or in the post holiday season 11 months of the year. If you live near come by sit back, relax and watch the show live.)
How you can Help
My neighbor and I put the show on for the enjoyment of all. We don't seek donations but would be happy if you choose to donate to either Toys for Tots or Make a Wish Foundation in the name of DDV Christmas. Both are excellent organizations and help those with specific needs.