In lieu of pyros for panto

[ralphshephard]

The next panto calls for too many pyros for FGM (Fairy God Mother) entrances etc. Any ideas for an electric substitute? Xenon flash tubes, LED flash strips, smoke puff and lantern flash combined with audience blinders? I've never managed to achieve the same effect as a Pyro before - maybe I need a little more imagination?

[dbuckley]

I've never had a really satisfactory substitute, but have used strobes around the stage to act as distractants - flash a couple of strobes stage right and every eye gravitates there, meanwhile FGM pops out stage left, couple of strobe flashes stage left and all eyes then note that the FGM has arrived.

[GridGirl]

When I did Cinderella we used a bubble machine for every FGM entrance - she looked very pretty appearing in a shower of bubbles! Cheap and easy to achieve - although we did have a couple of disasters when the stagehand moving the bubble machine spilt the fluid out of the open reservoir - it's very slippery!

[dosxuk]

Have her come on stage on a bike, and complain her wand has run out of bangs?

[back_ache]

I've wondered if for small theatres if you could use a black balloon with glitter or confetti in it, you would hide just out of the audiences sight line from a lighting bar or whatever. You could pop it remotely with an electric match.

 

You might have to prepare some gags about it going off prematurely though ;-)

[Brian]

I've used CO2 jets mounted into the stage, firing upwards, before. Can be combined with fetti etc. I've also used smoke machines similarly fed upwards. Smoke feeding out right next to a small lamp (MR16) works particularly well.

[paulears]

A Mini-mist 'puff' works quite well, if they make a quick entrance.

[timtheenchanteruk]

vertical firing smoke machine works well, you can get relatively cheap ones from a few sources. a bit of jiggery pokery is required to bypass the pump cut out whilst its heating, not a problem for a quick blast for fairy entrance, not recommended if you want to keep your thumb on it.

 

I had one (got damaged in a flood) and installed a keyswitch so it could be either "normal" operation or "over-ride"

[Ynot]

a bit of jiggery pokery is required to bypass the pump cut out whilst its heating, .....

 

Er, the pump cut out on even cheap machines IS THERE FOR A PURPOSE!!!

That purpose is - surprisingly enough - to prevent damage to the machine caused by overheating!!

Sorry, tim, but suggesting that you bodge a 'fix' in this way is potentially dangerous - in the least to the machine itself - and SHOULD NOT be encouraged.

Anyone serious about having smoke on demand should buy/rent/borrow a pukka theatre based fogger which will do just that.

 

And before you go on to say that "Well, I've done it already and it works fine", it may indeed do. for now. And how long do you expect it to continue to work after being mistreated?

 

Oh - not to mention, of course, invalidating ANY chance of a warranty repair...

[timtheenchanteruk]

I wasn't talking about the heater cut out, I was referring to the bit that cuts off the pump when the heater kicks back in, I modified it so the pump didn't operate till up to temp, then stayed on so even if the heater came back on, the pump still worked, it was more bought as a disposable effect.

if someone can point me towards a pro end vertical blast smoke (not CO2) I will look into them, when I did this I could not find any other manufacturers making them.

[Brian]

vertical firing smoke machine works well,...

So does an ordinary smoke machine and a 90 degree plastic plumbing elbow. Or an ordinary smoke machine and a short length of the right sized hose.

[dbuckley]

So does an ordinary smoke machine and a 90 degree plastic plumbing elbow.

Will plastic plumbing stand up to the heat?

 

I have a 45 degree bend, but its a steel plumbing fixture, as I thought plazzie would fail immediately...

 

However...

 

Proel make acceptably priced fog machines with vertical output, example the PLFD150SG, its a Drago Heavy but vertically discharging.

 

We've got the "normal" horizontal discharge version; Its a 1500W machine but an oversize pump, so if you set it to full it can put out a huge wad of fog in the 40 seconds before the heatblock cooling down stops proceedings. Or at least that's what the manual says; I've never given it 40 seconds on full, even in the back garden, after about 10 seconds I feared for the fire brigade being called... (and this was on a crisp cold morning so the fog stayed lowish - nice) - here's a not fogged and fogged, the fog goes up to the trees...

 

http://davidbuckley.name/pix/yard_before_snow_400.jpghttp://davidbuckley.name/pix/fogger.jpg

[ralphshephard]

Thank you all for your ideas - I will certainly try them! Hope the chickens recovered from the fog by the way...

Now, to work on the moving giant with video projected face and a way to keep the actors face still in front of the video camera....