Smoke flash alternative

[guy.joseph]

Hi

 

I'm TD'ing for a school production of Cinderella next month. The director wants some "puffs of smoke" and flashes for when the fairy godmother magic's up the cart and so on. My first reaction was to look at using pyros, but that's not looking so promising. There are problems with the legal side of this, because of insurance, age and so on.

 

I'm wondering if anybody could think of anything that might create a similar effect, without actually being pyro!

 

Cheers

 

Guy Joseph

[law99]

Have a look at a smoke machine or two with quick dissipating smoke fluid and some strobes such as Atomic3000s that you can use on blinder mode... similar effect with minimal risk!

[DrummerJonny]

Alternatively, though possibly carrying some similar risks than Pyro, you could look at CO2 jets. A cloud of fast-dispersing, white smoke.

[slipstream]

What part of the country are you - or even which country?

 

We may be able to help

 

Sam

[Tris]

Build yourself a smoke box... Large cuboid container say 4ft base and 5ft high. Don't fix the lid but make it into a plunger. Line the inside with something durable - offcut of pond liner works well. Have a smoke in pipe from a standard smoke machine and fill. When you need large volume of smoke quickly drop the plunger and let it flow out of a large bore pipe (which was previously shut obviously) - bit of ducting or some such. Should be buildable in school and definitely legal and quite cheap

[guy.joseph]

Wow - Firstly can I say thanks for all the replies!

 

 

Have a look at a smoke machine or two with quick dissipating smoke fluid and some strobes such as Atomic3000s that you can use on blinder mode... similar effect with minimal risk!

That was the first thing I was going to look into. The idea of those strobes sounds ideal, because I want a very white light, not a tungsten white.

 

Alternatively, though possibly carrying some similar risks than Pyro, you could look at CO2 jets. A cloud of fast-dispersing, white smoke.

That also sounds like a good idea - what about glitter inside a C02/O2 cannon? The only problem I can see with that is I need 4 shots - does that mean I'd need 4 cannons?

 

What part of the country are you - or even which country?

 

We may be able to help

 

Sam

Warwickshire, UK. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Build yourself a smoke box... Large cuboid container say 4ft base and 5ft high. Don't fix the lid but make it into a plunger. Line the inside with something durable - offcut of pond liner works well. Have a smoke in pipe from a standard smoke machine and fill. When you need large volume of smoke quickly drop the plunger and let it flow out of a large bore pipe (which was previously shut obviously) - bit of ducting or some such. Should be buildable in school and definitely legal and quite cheap

That sounds like an ideal solution to getting quick bursts of smoke to go with some strobes (as above)

 

Thanks very much everyone!

[Dodgecaliber]

Out of curiosity and without going down the usual route, what exactly are the complications?

 

Really all you need is someone 18+ and 'competent' to push the button. Insurance should be covered as normal by the school (Science labs are a little more hazardous?)

 

Other than that it's fire alarm isolation by the school janny.

 

Dodge

[guy.joseph]

Out of curiosity and without going down the usual route, what exactly are the complications?

 

Really all you need is someone 18+ and 'competent' to push the button. Insurance should be covered as normal by the school (Science labs are a little more hazardous?)

 

Other than that it's fire alarm isolation by the school janny.

 

Dodge

 

Stage isn't huge, so the 2m zone around the pyro represents quite a large difference.