Science Department Halloween Theme: Clowns (2012)

(Audio supplement available at the end of this post)

Almost every Halloween our Science Department coordinates a group Halloween costume. It can get pretty crazy. Our school usually has a costume contest at lunch in the quad. Our department wins pretty often, with the heaviest competition coming from the Visual Arts department. Sometimes other departments win as well.

A number of years ago we chose "Clowns" as our theme.

Science Department Dressed as Clowns

Here I am trying out my costume at a local Jack In The Box. My daughter, who I often refer to as "Little Colby" was the cameraperson. I think she was about 11 years old at the time.

I got inspiration from an Electronic Music Producer/DJ known as Deadmau5. My idea was to produce a whole "rave" scene in my classroom on Halloween, with the DJ being "ColbyJack".

The main part of the costume itself was, of course, the head. I started with this idea from a Deadmau5 fan as to how to make my head from a 14" acrylic lamp post. I loaded it with sound-activated lights for the eyes, smile, and hat. The hat was made from a yellow traffic cone. Whenever I went "bump" with my voice inside the head it would cause the lights to blink. The whole thing is attached inside with a hard hat (as shown in the video.)

"Sound & Light Board" setup. Red step buttons caused different lights to turn on/off in my room.

In my classroom I used a LOT of black plastic to cover all of the windows. I used white Christmas lights on a step button, a strobelight, and black lights. I spent some time editing a 15 minute video to play on my classroom screen and brought in my full sterio system from home. Hooked it all up to my laptop. I played the whole thing as a "science demonstration" and it lasted about 15 minutes. Um, the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

Front of Sound/Light Board - A black, geometric shaped design with lights along the front.