DIGITAL MAGIC

By Patricia Canole

We all remember how it was back then: Halloween decorations were a mere cardboard skeleton, a few hanging rubber bats, and a jack-o-lantern. Right? Well, fast forward to the 21st century, and everything is digitized—including holiday decorations.

The biggest example of this is AtmosFX, a company that creates movie-quality digital decorations for your home. The AtmosFX DDK (Digital Decorating Kit) includes everything you need to set up your “otherworldly” scene—eliminating the usual mess and work of traditional decorations. The kit includes a high-definition projector and tripod for projecting one of the pre-loaded scary scenes onto any flat surface. Some of the added scenes are “Zombie Swarm,” “Werewolf,” and “Stalking Startlers.” Also included in the set is a remote that allows you to change the view on the fly.

AtmosFX DDK also allows you to work in some transparency to the display. A window film can be applied to any large window; it results in the right opaqueness for your projected images without shining straight through. It creates a fantastic effect, making it appear as if skeletons and ghouls are taking up residence in your home. The neighbors will love it!

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
AtmosFX was founded by Pete Reichert and Pete Williams, two former animators, and producers in the entertainment industries. Inspired by the high-end video installations they were producing for amusement parks, the two shifted their focus to develop a product line of animated content for the consumer market. The idea was simple. By using a projector or television, consumers could display originally animated vignettes on walls, windows, and objects, creating an entirely new way to celebrate Halloween. Hence, the AtmosFX DDK which is now sold worldwide.

We met with AtmosFX co-founder, Pete Reichert to find out more about this unique digital concept.

Does the AtmosFX DDK replace traditional decorations?
We always saw the benefit of digital decorations as twofold. First, it takes about 10 minutes to set up on your window, wall or TV. Secondly, because they are animated decorations, they are unique. At first, we thought people would replace all their decorations with our digital decorations. We found that for Halloween people have created entire themes and parties based around one of our digital decorations, like a zombie ward or an aging ghost-infested manor, and then use whatever else they can find to support that theme.

How does AtmosFX DDK enhance Halloween fun?
Halloween has a reputation for costumes, candy, and scary things, but we’ve always seen it as a community event. People host fun parties. Neighbors roam from house-to-house, congregate in the streets and enjoy each other’s company. It gives everyone a green-light to have fun and express themselves in really creative ways. And it doesn’t matter what age you are to enjoy the spirit of Halloween. By using the AtmosFX DDK, there’s not question it will heighten that spirit and fun for all.

Do you have plans to expand the brand into other areas? Other holidays?
We are doing that right now! We certainly developed our reputation creating digital decorations for Halloween. That said, we learned pretty quickly that those people who decorate for Halloween are eager to decorate for other holidays, too. We started with Christmas and New Years a few years ago, and have since created digital decorations for holidays like Valentine’s and Easter.

For you, what’s been the most favorite part of the AtmosFX journey so far?
The people who decorate for Halloween aren’t doing it solely because they love that particular holiday, they’re doing it because they’ve found it to be a creative way to engage the community around them. We see people in neighborhoods engage with each other when they create these elaborate Halloween displays. They are totally amazing and very creative in how they use these digital decorations.

For more information about AtmosFX DDK, visit atmosfx.com.