While doing visual effects for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Outer Limits, and the X-files, I was thinking about the many amazing, fantastical things that could be done “on TV,” but when it came to decorating the house for Halloween, I pretty much had typical paper, Styrofoam, and plastic decorations. Sure, I had rigged some clever gags and used black lights and such, but I couldn’t help but wonder how I could bring some of the stuff possible on TV into the “home haunt!” I decided to somehow incorporate TVs into the decorations and display. It wasn’t long before I realized that if I kept the TV image from crossing the frame of the TV (staying within raster) that I could use and disguise the TV to create effects. The first one was to use the TV in the age-old “Peppers Ghost” effect. Merely by lying the TV on it’s back, I could use an inexpensive sheet of rigid plastic (similar to Plexiglas) to reflect the image (by placing the sheet at a 45 degree angle in front of the TV). The effect was flawless. People never suspected a TV was creating the ghostly, transparent images “floating” in my windows. I also used an old theater trick wherein a cloth (called a scrim in theater) is used as a semi-transparent covering. Anything that is light will shine through it, but it “cloaks” the TV. By using the cloth (I actually used the porous weed-blocker garden mesh) I could completely hide the TV, but the image would pop right through. I then placed frames around some TVs, and also tucked TVs under porches and tables, in fireplaces, etc. I also used the Peppers Ghost effect with the sheet of plastic over a child’s plastic ball. The floating image looked as though it were in the center of the ball...that’s how we came up for the imagery used in the crystal balls.