Christmas Lights

Bespoke Electronic Prop Engineering for Greater Anglia Trains’ “Christmas Lights”

MACHINESHOP programmed a highly specialized festive lighting prop for the holiday commercial campaign “Christmas Lights” for Greater Anglia Trains. Developed alongside leading creative forces, this comedic seasonal broadcast spot relies on a perfectly timed electronic reveal to bring its playful script to life in-camera.

Our workshop brought this unique visual asset to life by building a completely tailored, high-density custom Christmas lights prop rig specifically programmed to change its text display from “Hello Father Christmas” to “Hello Fart” on cue.

Advanced LED Matrix Programming & Custom Lighting Props

Executing dynamic, readable text changes with festive lighting props for television soundstages demands strict voltage regulation, flicker-free refresh rates, and seamless scenic integration:

• Bespoke Programmable LED Light Strands: Engineering an array of individually addressable LED nodes configured inside realistic holiday bulb casings to display sharp, legible text typography under studio conditions.
• On-Cue Text Transition Mechanics: Programming custom digital microcontrollers that instantly shift the illuminated pattern from “Hello Father Christmas” to “Hello Fart” via a remote operator trigger.
• Flicker-Free Soundstage Calibration: Calibrating the electronic circuits to match specific camera shutter angles, eliminating visual screen banding, strobing, or rolling black lines.