ScottishCol Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi Guys, I've been asked by an upcoming event if it's possible to make poppies rain down on the audience... Now I can think of many ways to make them "fall" but it's clear they want a gradual drop. Anyone got any ideas on how I can do this? Arena is about 60 x 30 metres, budget is... limited... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ynot Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 There are a few ways to do it and all depend on what facilities you have, how easy you can get into the grid, whether you have time/budget for pulleys and cloths etc.... Simplest in some ways would be a version of the snow bag - search here for that as a description in pictures was around somewhere. Or use CO2 fired confetti cannon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Limited budget means limited effect. What do you have above? Sky, load-bearing roof or white painted ceiling? And how high is the "roof"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishCol Posted July 18, 2011 Author Share Posted July 18, 2011 Thanks guys, Snow bag idea is good but should have mentioned that effect ideally needs to be triggerred by one person! Ceiling is approx 10m, with ample truss. Have seen a unit made by I think eurolight/eurolive or whatever - made for confetti showers (I can't find the link). I'm sure you've seen this effect but will it work with anything bigger than confetti? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 http://www.terralec.co.uk/confetti_cannons/confetti_distribution_machine/16724_p.html But it looks like £174 to see if it will dispense poppies then you may need several but at 6w they could be easily linked but as a mirror mall motor please consider using a switch rather than a dimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 no idea who makes it,but theres a thingy out there that consists of a length of drain pipe that sits in a frame.The tube has lots of holes in it and is friction driven from a DMX speed controlled mirror ball motor.Maybe somebody can put a name/source to the beastie,but it works a treat for leaf drops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 http://www.terralec.co.uk/confetti_cannons/confetti_distribution_machine/16724_p.html But it looks like £174 to see if it will dispense poppies then you may need several We own one of these machines, and I'm pretty sure it would clog if used anything big enough to be recognisable as a poppy. And you would need an awful lot of them to cover 60x30m! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mutley Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 How tight is the budget? One very cheap method would be a large tray, possibly fed by a hopper above, blown by a fan. You may also be able to vary the fan speed via a dimmer to vary the "flow rate". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishCol Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Think themadhippy may have the correct device in mind. Does anyone know suppliers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I believe the BBC have a machine that does this for the remembrance service? I worked on a different event at the RAH that needed petals to fall and they tried it manually.... it was not very successful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Also have you a source of poppies? You are going to need lots -probably 25 kilos plus. The Royal British Legion will likely have a supply for you but may take a few days. There is a known shape to paper poppies and rose petal poppies may not be right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I believe the BBC have a machine that does this for the remembrance service?They do although I'm not sure who looks after them these days. They've got about 3 of them but they are big at about 6m long for each one. They are basically a large diameter tube, something around 400mm in diameter, with a slot along the length. They rotate slowly along their long axis. The whole thing lives inside a square frame. None of the fetti type spinners will handle poppies. Are you planning on using 'standard' remembrance day poppies? They can be blown using larger CO2 cannons. A couple of years ago there was the poppy drop on The Mall from the Lancaster(?). All the poppies missed the target and dumped on St James Park. The ones you see in all the TV shots were from CO2 cannons hidden behind statues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitlane Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 http://www.terralec.co.uk/confetti_cannons/confetti_distribution_machine/16724_p.html But it looks like £174 to see if it will dispense poppies then you may need several but at 6w they could be easily linked but as a mirror mall motor please consider using a switch rather than a dimmer. That won't dispense poppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottishCol Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Thanks everyone, good to know the standard fetti spinners wont do it. Simon, the device used by the BBC is interesting... have e-mailed them via a link on their website but obviously it's a huge organisation. Does anyone have a more direct link to a relevant dept I could use? I am now speaking with a well known pyro company about the possibility of doing the same principle as glitter bombs... And madhippy's idea, does anyone have links to/contacts for such a device... leaf drop/leaf tumbler? Thanks again,Col Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 The BBC units are still owned by the them. Try BBC Visual Effects. But if you need them around Remembrance Day you will be out of luck. You can use Swirl Fans; they work. With proper poppies you need to crank them up a bit as the poppies are quite heavy so you have the fan noise to contend with. The other option is 2" CO2 powered aero cannons. These will fire standard poppies but you do get a bit of a 'pop' as they fire. PM sent with supplier contact details. [E2A]If you're feeling adventurous you could build your own; the BBC units are based around tumble driers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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