Haunted House Eyes....

This is a fun project that will have strangers stopping to stare at your house and make your neighbors paranoid! 

What you will need:
Web cam
Video editing software
DVD Burner and software
DVD player
2 Televisions
Appropriate video connection cables.

This list is basic, not exhaustive. You will need to adapt this to your needs/resources.

Now on to the recording process.

Set up your camera so it is at a comfortable eye level and up close. I used my web cam because it was easy to focus by myself. Rest your chin on your hands to keep your head still and your eye in frame.

I recorded in a brightly sun lit room. You can use artificial lighting, but adjust the light to cut across your eye to avoid straight on shine and reflections.

When you get the look you want start recording.Start with a straight on stare for 3-5 seconds then try different things. Look left, right, up, down, glare, widen, circle. After a minute or so go back to a straight on stare for another 3-5 seconds.

Now go watch your recording to see how it looks. If all looks good go on to the editing process.
If not, do another take. Mine took about 6 takes to get the look I wanted.

Insert your eye video into your favorite editing software. You will be creating a loop, this is why you did a straight on stare for 3-5 seconds at the beginning and end. Trim down the frames on both ends so that when you watch the video it seamlessly loops.

Now you can play with your effects to get the look you want. Change it to black and white, add fuzz, border shadow (like I did). The only limit is your own experience with the software and your creative "eye".

Once you get the look you want render your creation down to a file to burn to DVD.

Now it's time to burn. Pull your file in and fill up the DVD  to max capacity with no delay between tracks. Select auto run in the options so it will continuously run . Don't worry if the quality isn't excellent because this will be viewed from a distance anyway.

I used 2 TV's, a 19" and a 27". These are spare TV's I had accumulated after upgrading to LCD. If you hunt around garage sales you may be able to pick up one or two on the cheap.

I got my DVD player at garage sale for a dollar.

Pick your windows. Upper level windows add the best effect in my opinion. Lower level got lost amongst my graveyard scene. Set your TV's on tables that put them somewhat centered and close to the sill. I split the RCA signal from the Player and ran inputs to both TV's.

Fire it all up and adjust if needed. 

Moo-Ha-Ha!!!!


If you want a copy of  my eye loop look for the link in the last step.

I'm sure you all have some great creative and technical tweaks. Here are some of my tweaks.

Add Eye Makeup for a spooky or sexy look.
While recording don't blink so your eye waters, giving it that glossy look or better yet rub onion juice below your eye on your cheek. 
Change the video to black and white or sepia, add fuzz and flicker for that old time look.
Burn 2 DVD's and use 2 DVD players, with the players out of sync the eye's will have that Wacky Shack Googley look. You can mute the effect with landscapers cloth or a sheer black drapery over the screens.

By no means is this Instructable absolute. Your results will vary based on your resources, equipment, expertise and creativity needs.

Have fun......


If you want a shortcut, try this link or PM me and I can provide you the loop section of my eye. All you'll have to do is burn it and use it. 

Lextone