Thursday 3 July 2014

A long over due return

So it was back in october when I last posted anything on here, a long time ago it would seem.
Where has all the time gone..?? well to be honest i just do not know..!! however i can assure you FunFear have been very busy with so many different things and i will try to list a few of them for you as a quick catchup on here for you.

So October was an excellent month and halloween turned out to be hugely successful for us. With the ever growing popularity of the Tulleys Farm Shocktober Fest being the centre piece for us once again,


we also continued to expand our client base and took on a few smaller projects which also worked very well. We also had the opportunity to return to our roots and created a centre piece stage setup featuring 18 separate bands, this was a huge undertaking with the work load we already had but proved to be an amazing challenge and whole pile of fun to boot.

So with halloween over and the clear up started, i managed to escape and take a little time out at the legendary haunt tour in San Antonio, It was an excellent experience and phenomenal opportunity to catchup with some good friends as well as network with some new ones. The chance to visit 13th floor as well as house of torment were experiences that i also enjoyed hugely. I will certainly be making the journey this year to New England as well. for more information on last years tour and this years attractions take a look at http://www.legendaryhaunttour.com

November also saw our delivery of equipment from Light O Rama, a product very popular in the States but rarely seen in the UK, we had been approached by Rick Turner of  The Big Sheep in North Devon to build him a light show for their christmas season.

We obviously rose to the challenge and accepted a new project with open arms. What were the pitfalls with using an american system in the uk? Well the obvious one is the voltage difference, we carried out a bit of investigative work and soon found out that our site transformers would run the system with out any issues whatsoever. The software was going to be our next challenge, FunFear runs on fruit based computers....Light O Rama doesn't..!! so time to purchase parallels and load it on to two of the macs. This was to be an experience..! i had forgotten how to use windows.! however it was not long before that was dealt with and we were off and running. The shipment arrived on pallets and some time taken to ensure everything was ready to be installed we loaded it into the vans and headed to Devon, a really great experience and something we would happily take on again. The results from Light O Rama are amazing, an excellent system and realising the potential of the equipment really has opened my eyes.


December brought with it the horrendous storms across the UK and our other project running in the south certainly felt the impact, however we all battled on and felt some relief when christmas day finally came, although i do know this was not the case for thousands of families still without power across this country.

January brought some structural changes to the firm, one of our crew members made a choice to venture to pastures new, this was slightly unexpected but created a situation for us all to evaluate and take stock. The work that Brian had been doing was going to leave a large hole to fill. In the same month one of our other crew members left to pursue a completely new career in rugby coaching...! again a member of staff that would be missed, however we wish them both the best on their chosen paths.

We had projects on the table and suddenly a shortage of engineers. It was time to restructure, rethink and access the situation thoroughly, this i did and with some coming together of smart thinking minds we created a whole new way of working......structure and forward planing. One of the projects we were working on was still many months away but by working smarter we could make up time ahead of ourselves and be ready for the busier periods that were to come. So we built a new workshop space....who needs a desk anyway..they are over rated and a lap top can be used......well on your lap....or a pub table.!

The new workshop was a revelation, large bright work spaces, new equipment the returning of all the lost or mislaid tools to a brand new tool store and roll cabs. Soldering stations, panel building facilities and cable spoolers. Our other workshop was also gutted out and we created a workspace for repairing sound equipment and other sensitive electronics....this really was a revelation..a place for everything and everything in its place, amazing. With orders coming in for control systems it would not be too long before the new facilities would be tested and start to earn some of the investment back.


February was an exciting month with us working very closely with Godstone Farm to produce the sound effects and and control systems for their new Dino Trail, a new interactive zone for children of all ages, incorporating learning zones, history and of course special sound effects, a great project to be involved with and is already proving to be very popular indeed.

March brought an opportunity for me to shoot across the pond again to meet some clients and friends in St Louis. The Transworld Halloween & Attractions Show, what an event, the last time i was at the transworld show was when it was in Las Vegas, it had changed a huge amount and would recommend this show to everyone. For more information please visit  http://www.haashow.com

April & May brought continued interest in our evacuation panels and also the start of a full refurbishment of the Creepy Cottage at Tulleys Farm.

I was also asked to talk at the NFAN open day at Godstone Farm, an informative day for all attendees, covering changes at Godstone and subjects such as relevant insurances, special effects and some very interesting anecdotes from farm owner Jackie and manager Richard, a really great day..... even with the inclement weather.

The Picture shows Layona Bungay,the customer services manager in full swing during her presentation.



So nearly up to date, new websites are coming, one highlighting the benefits of our evacuation panels and another for our sound editing studio along with a small revamp on the existing site www.funfear.co.uk

June brought Scarecon to Tulleys Farm and the project of "The Creepy Cottage" suddenly became a bit more of a priority than we had originally thought, they wanted to see a working version as part of the daytime events..!! some long nights were going to be in store for us all to get this attraction ready and functioning before the 19th. With my now famous team motivating speech and follow up emails, the task was completed on time. A walk through and a lights on option as well as a demonstration of the emergency system was offered to all the delegates. This was a huge amount of fun and an excellent chance to use some of the LED spots we have been developing over the last few years, some nice effects were created and to be honest a real change and the wooden structure lends itself to the "grungy old feel" that we had created. A slightly brighter option has been designed for the daytime visitors..!!

This attraction also allowed for us to instal our latest evacuation panel. A multi switching system that provides day and night time audio tracks, day and night time lighting, as well as our standard evacuation notice by default. But the jewel in the crown was our battery back up system that provides 35 minutes of emergency lighting as well as audio in the event of a total mains failure, we tested, tested and tested some more and then we installed. Tested again and the results were excellent.

The day time event for Scarecon ended with a tour of "The Cellar" with an acting team recruited for the day, it was to become a "live experience" for the visitors. A lights on tour was on offer as well and a few members of the my crew were on hand to answer any questions and give advise to delegates as they needed.





This led into the evening side of the event, The Scareball, a popular ending to the proceedings, offering everyone the chance to dress in their freakiest costumes and enjoy the fun, food and awards as well as our resident DJ playing into the night as part of the entertainment.










An excellent turn out and some superb comments in praise of the event on the social media networks, for pictures and more information please check
https://www.facebook.com/ScareCON







So whats next...?? We are currently working on projects for this coming halloween and i will keep you more up to date with those as the information becomes available, suffice to say, there will be at least three new attractions to visit by October with the FunFear brand on it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the team i have around me, they never fail to perform above and beyond the expectations that i have as well as the expectations of our customers. Many thanks.

Well that was the long winded short version, that brings us up to date.

Ian

www.funfear.co.uk
FunFear Facebook Page
FunFear Twitter


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