A huge to thank you to all that helped us this year in putting together the 2012 Stone Fireworks display. The evening was a huge success and I received rave reviews on Damion Aranda and guys as well. I plan to post some behind-the-scenes photos in the coming weeks. Until then, here is the video of this years show.
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Event - Tuesday, June 3rd, 8:00pm Live Music, Fireworks at dark
Location - Highland Trails Pond
Yes, it is definitely that time of year. I have been working on this year’s display for a few months now. Each year I’m amazed at how much planning and preparation goes into putting on an 18 minute fireworks show. The journey has been a fun one and this year’s show promises to be my biggest undertaking yet. We are adding a few professional items to the display this year which adds some additional hurdles but I believe the end product will be worth it. We are electronically firing the entire show. What does that mean? Safety! My number one priority is that every person attending is protected from harms way. Fireworks are enjoyed by millions this time of year but that doesn’t discount the danger they present. Be assured that safety is at the forefront of my mind with each decision made.
The 2012 show titled “A Soldier’s Journey” will take the audience through an exciting adventure filled with joy, hope, fear, and triumph. The evening begins at 8:00pm with live music by Dameon Aranda. The fireworks presentation will begin at dark. Seating around the Highland Trails pond is limited so be sure and arrive early. Make sure and bring a blanket and bug spray. The show music will be broadcasting on 100.9 FM for those wishing to watch from the convenience of their vehicles. Map to the Highland Trails Pond
Here are some highlights from last year’s display.
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[[posterous-content:jeuuaqCbtAIDjwigwaqm]]So glad you found us on the web. We assume you are probably looking for show times and directions so here you go! We are located at 7881 Lindsay Lane in N. Edmond near Kelly and Waterloo. Click here for a Google Map that you can print. Our light display runs from 6pm to 10pm, Monday through Thursday, and 6pm to 11pm on Friday through Sunday.
This year we are so excited to partner with OK Foster Wishes to help raise funding to provide Christmas gifts to the over 8,000 children in the Oklahoma Foster Care program. You will have the opportunity to donate while viewing the show and help make Christmas a little brighter for the kids in Foster Care. Our goal is to raise $5000 for OK Foster Wishes this Christmas Season! Click here if you would like to donate online!
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So it was our 3rd year to attend Pine Cove Family camp in Tyler, TX. I have to say the first year I totally didn’t know what to expect and to be honest was not looking forward to it. To me it sounded weird. Family camp….really? Camping with 6 people for 7 days sounds totally relaxing right? Much to my surprise my perceptions were way off. We arrive at the camp to meet 30-40 college counselors at the front gate jumping up and down cheering and chanting. They had us park our van right there and whisked us into the main camp building to register for the weekly activities. All while 4 to 5 guys parked our van and delivered all of our luggage to our cabin. Now the first year we attended we signed up for everything…and I mean everything. Horse back riding, wave runners, water skiing, ropes course, bikes, tennis, and the list goes on. Once Wednesday of that week came we quickly realized our rookie mistake….this is vacation, not a race to see how many activities we can cram into a 7 day stretch. But the point is, there are so many things to do that there is something for everyone. Here are a few pics from our trip last week. This was our 3rd year to attend and we’ve already registered for year 4. If you can’t tell…..we highly recommend this place!
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I finally have the videos posted for those of you that couldn’t make it by this year. And to those of you that did….thank you! We loved getting to see several of you and meeting so many new faces. We hope 2011 is filled with blessing for you and your family and we will see you again next December!
Joy to the World Handel’s Messiah Drummer Boy 2010 Announcements Video
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We have a website setup for our Christmas light display this year. We also have a Facebook page if you want to check that out as well. I hope to have pictures and HD video posted soon. The response since our December 3rd launch has been amazing. Thank you to everyone for your kind comments and support. We love sharing the message of Christmas with others. The picture displayed here is our display from last year. Come see us and check out this years display.
http://www.stonechristmaslights.com
http://www.facebook.com/stonechristmaslights
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We are full steam ahead on plans for Christmas 2010 decorating plans. For 2010 we have decided to go full commercial LED on the entire display. I won’t have a final bulb count until the first of December but it should be in the 8-10k range. I’ve also added 64 channels of computer control this year so my lights will be in sync with the music. We made significant progress this past weekend but there is much left to be done before our Friday, December 3rd launch. If you are near Edmond, OK in December please stop by and check it out.
10 ft PVC with 30 C9 bulbs. Each color will be independantly controlled via computer.
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We have two 3ft. wreaths and one 5ft wreath that have been re-wrapped with red, green, and white. They each hang on the front of the house.
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Adding 3 colors to the roof this year.
The roof will have 750 C9 bulbs for the 2010 season. Each strand was custom cut to length to fit my roof.
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Our neighborhood really knows how to throw a party. This was our 2nd annual 4th of July celebration. One of the many things we love about our neighborhood is the sense of community we are surrounded with. The weekend was packed with a parade, kids games, a cookout, lawn mower races, and of course a few fireworks.
Here are some of the fireworks I purchased this year. If you haven’t experienced 4th of July in Logan County you are missing out.
It rained all weekend but we had enough breaks throughout that all of our activities went off without a hitch and everyone had a blast. I’m already looking forward to next year. But first…..Christmas lights!
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The Background
Recently I was tasked with creating a persuasive artifact for my Persuasion and Social influence class this semester. For those of you that don’t know, I returned to school last Fall to finish my Bachelors degree in Interpersonal Communication. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the college experience so much more this time around. It is amazing how a few years and kids can change one’s perspective. Back to my project. I decided to create a video for an organization that my friend Ken Surritte runs called Water is Life. This wonderful charity provides clean drinking water to third world countries through the use of filtered straws. Each straw lasts a year and filters out 99.999% of bacteria and water born diseases. We look forward to becoming more involved with the life changing work they are doing globally.
The Idea
Since most ideas are borrowed and rarely original I decided to take the look of the popular “I Am Second” video series and duplicate it for my project. I shot it over a weekend in my dining room and spent two more days encoding and editing. I haven’t worked on a serious video project in several years so jumping back into the tools was challenging and refreshing at the same time.
The Technology
The project was shot on a Canon 5D Mark II. I cannot begin to express how I excited I am about this piece of technology. We bought it primarily to shoot photography but as you can see from the video, it does an impeccable job of producing quality moving images as well. The lens used was a Canon 35mm, 1.4. I love the crisp, razor sharp images this lens produces time after time. Can’t wait to add more L models to the tool bag. Audio was captured using a Zoom H4N on a Joby Gorillapod. One lesson learned during this shoot was to monitor audio between the different talent (kids). I have some soft talkers in my family and you can hear the hiss from me boosting the audio during their segments in the piece. Lighting used was a single softbox from Lowel (Lowel HC-44) hung overhead via a boom stand. Dolly shots were accomplished using a Glidetrack and Manfrotto head that I was able to borrow from my friend Mike Jones. Thanks Mike!
Once the footage was captured I used MPEG Streamclip to convert to Apple ProRes for editing in Apple Final Cut Pro 7. It is much faster and easier to use than Apple Compressor in my opinion. All title screens were created in Apple Motion. This was my first time in that program so I went with a default template due to time constraints on the project. I also used Apple Soundtrack to clean up some of the audio. The B-roll footage (Africa shots) was provided to me and was shot on a Sony Handycam (not sure the model)
