Claim: Video captures home Christmas light display synchronized to musical score.
Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 2005]
I received this video from a friend. It's a video of someone's Christmas lights that appear to be choreographed to music. To me, it looks like photos of the lights could have been edited together to match the music. But, then again, with people spend $1000s on Halloween décor, it sure seems possible that someone would have taken the next step with their Christmas lights! Fun video to watch regardless. |
Origins: The video clip displayed above
shows home Christmas lights synchronized to flash in time to a musical score, in this case Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizard in Winter" (from The Lost Christmas Eve album).
This display was the work of Carson Williams, a Mason, Ohio, electrical engineer who spent about three hours sequencing the 88 Light-O-Rama channels that controlled the 16,000 Christmas lights in the 2004 version of his annual holiday lighting spectacular. His 2005 display included over 25,000 lights that he spent nearly two months and $10,000 to hook up. So that the Williams' neighbors wouldn't be disturbed by constant noise, viewers driving by the house were informed by signs to tune in to a signal broadcast over a low-power FM radio station to hear the musical accompaniment.
The rough quality of the video from Christmas 2004 led some viewers to believe it was put together in stop-action form using still photographs, but that appearance was an artifact of the high compression used in the clip circulated via
for recreating his "Wizard in Winter" sequencing, and another of his choreographed Christmas light music shows can be viewed here.
Carson's Christmas display proved so popular that it was featured in a Miller Lite beer commercial in December 2005. Unfortunately, it also proved so popular that after a
For 2006,
drive-in-theater style, again using FM radios to listen to the musical accompaniment.
Here's the 2005 Miller Lite commercial based on Carson's Christmas 2004 display:
Additional information:
 | Radio interview with Carson Williams (WGMD, Delaware) |
 | TV Interview with Carson Williams (The Today Show) |
Last updated: 23 December 2008
Sources:Brown, Jessica. "25,000 Lights Dance to Music." The Cincinnati Enquirer. 5 December 2005. Brown, Jessica. "Deerfield 'Light' House Pulls the Plug." The Cincinnati Enquirer. 7 December 2005. Kaper, Tom. "Meet the Light Show Designer, Carson Williams." The Oxford Press. 22 November 2006. Wilson, Richard. "Car Crash, Heavy Traffic Turn out Christmas Light Show." Dayton Daily News. 7 December 2005. Dayton Daily News. "Warren County Light Display Stars in Beer Commercial." 20 December 2005. Internet Broadcasting Systems. "Christmas House Video Is Quite a Sight." Local6.com. 1 December 2005.
