Robin Hood 'arrow effect'

[Dave m]

I guess you could do the sight gag of the cast flinching and looking at practical props smashing/falling spinning in the auditorium?

[Barney]

Just to close this one out...

The arrow shot effect had to be done in a mini blackout anyway (to set the arrow in the target), so the auditorium was totally dark. I ended up using 6x lasers with staggered cues to 'bounce' the arrow path around the auditorium before hitting the target on stage. Triggered with an audio cue to synchronise ricochet sounds with the lasers.

The scene before used a fair bit of low smoke so there was plenty of haze in the air to see the beams. Worked really well. Actually got applause most nights.

Hope that helps for others in the future.

Cheers,
Barney