bigclive Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Strobe unit, apart from the possible, even anecdotal, problem of induced epilepsy, may not be a particularly convincing as a replacement for a glittery pyro. Strobes do cause epileptic fits. In my dark past I used to build really high power strobes for the fairground industry and went to great lengths to research photo-triggered epilepsy in the days before I even had access to the Internet. My research suggested that particular frequencies were a hazard, so I designed a computerised controller that skipped over the prominent trigger frequencies and also put the strobe into standby after a given number of flashes. I thought I'd built the first epilepsy friendly strobes. However, my moral warmth was somewhat dampened when a fairground worker casually said "Your strobes are great! You should see the number of foamers we get with them!" OK, I'll admit that with a peak power of 20kW my strobes weren't exactly low power, but it does show that strobing lights are certainly not an anecdotal factor in epilepsy. Interestingly during experimentation with the software I ran a strobe at 25Hz and it caused the visual effect of pulsating lines radiating from every edge in the room and caused an extremely nauseating feeling. Needless to say I immediately turned the strobe off and modified the software settings to avoid going anywhere near that frequency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavieDimmers Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 Have you considered using a Kabuki style mechanism to drop the fairy godmother from the grid? That way she'd appear suddenly on the stage with a loud bang without the use of any dangerous pyro effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Edwards Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Have you considered using a Kabuki style mechanism to drop the fairy godmother from the grid? That way she'd appear suddenly on the stage with a loud bang without the use of any dangerous pyro effects. That's made my morning. and of course lest we forget... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley R Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 That's made my morning. and of course lest we forget... And that's made my evening! - Some interesting follow-spot work, and then crunch! http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 The appalling followspot work and the bouncing wand are my favourite bits! A very good reminder of just why you should never go the DIY route for people-flying... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramdram Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Fallen Fairy...Without a shadow of doubt photosensitive flying wires. Digressing, as we do...The anecdotal comment on strobing referred to other sorts lighting effects which are held to be associated with PSE, because they may produce a strobing effect...not a disavowal of strobe related epileptic seizures as such. Interestingly, one of the causes could be related to "old" style 2:1 interlace TV scanning as in 50 frames per sec and 25 pictures a sec...which is the freq your strobe produced...but particularly if the TV is/was viewed in an otherwise unlit room (no bias lighting say). (Quick aside for the much younger readers...bias lighting was used as I recall to provide a certain constant background level of illumination so that the variation in luminance from the tube did not cause too much eye strain as the pupil tried to compensate. We are talking monochrome pictures in this instance. Some bias lights/lamps were a moulded plastic fish tank with multi-coloured plastic fish which were equipped with a very low wattage bulb (domestic usage, ** laughs out loud **) and were designed to sit atop the cabinet so the light source was as close to the tv screen as possible.) (Flouro' tubes may also be a trigger, especially as the tube itself ages.) We had a long strobe moment last season in a Toad v Weasels denouement scene and the Director was a GP! He was not too interested in the frequency per se, in fact he wanted as fast and as bright as the unit would produce. He was more concerned with the the length of time the effect ran for. Which was just about 30 secs. And yes the RA did provide for plenty of strobe warning notices before folk went into the auditorium...and when the tickets were sold. IF this is suggestive that the time element is as important as the frequency/pattern then it may be that a lot more folk might be affected if the exposure time was increased...which is a bit worrying to say the least. This might be of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive_epilepsy there is a remark in the text ref the imminent Olympic games. T-I-c warning...imagine the irony if the only person prone to PSE was the Fairy...and it became evident only during the tech... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelj Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 As we are very restricted by funds for hiring gear, for our Aladdin we're using 'carefully timed burst of smoke' with quick manual flash of strobe for the Genie and Slave (followed by snap fade-up of appropriate follow spot). Time will tell how 'carefully timed' the PM will be on the smoke with my quick flick-of-the-wrist on fader 24 for the flash. Whilst I think it'll work 'OK' I suspect they'll wish they'd spent the money hiring pyro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Whilst I think it'll work 'OK' I suspect they'll wish they'd spent the money hiring pyro.I often build smoke machines into the set as a substitute for pyro. It's a lot cheaper and look just as good. And it's not as if I don't know a thing or two about pyro..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjones2000 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 That's made my morning. and of course lest we forget... Amazing piece of follow-spotting there.... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gifHow can you miss someone coming on like that, seriously?? I like how all the audience start laughing...evil, evil people... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicktaylor Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 So how hurt was the fairy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Robinson Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Amazing piece of follow-spotting there.... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gifHow can you miss someone coming on like that, seriously??I assumed that it had been done intentionally- there's a lot of waving around of the followspot as if it were so? I like how all the audience start laughing...evil, evil people... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gifIt seems like its from a 'you've been framed' style clip show, though, and thus the studio audience are the evil ones rather than the theatre audience. TBH, though, I just wonder why it was filmed, specifically the show that went wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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