a fire and doused with water effect

[DannyP]

Hello,
I'm sorry if this was asked before, I am new. I work at a high school with a very limited budget. We are doing Jane Eyre and there's a scene where Rochester is laying on the couch. The couch is mysteriously "set on fire" and then Jane rushes in and dumps water on him and "the fire." I want something that looks realistic enough, but won't be damaged by water and it can be close to the actor if need be.
Thanks for everything!

[sk8rsdad]

If the actor has to be visible to the audience it's tricky to do a convincing effect with a limited budget. If the back of the sofa is to the audience then you have more options, like using a fog machine and a few lights. There's also no need to use water at all, if the audience can't see the actress pouring it, unless the actor really needs to be seen to be wet. A few hand gestures like trying to clean up and check for injury can sell the effect.

[TupeloTechie]

you could go with a few of the "silk flame" units creatively hidden in the couch. These units have little lights and a fan in them and look very realistic, they could be cued from the light board and turned off when the water was poured.

Just use an empty bucket of water unless its absolutely necessary that the actors appear wet. You could maybe use large blue confetti depending on the distance to the audience.

Another idea is to just use lights, with a rotating-gobo fire effect.

[dvsDave]

you might be able to construct a copy of the couch cushion? Maybe a copy with a hole in the middle so you can place a small fixture in the hole to be the source for the light?


I read somewhere about those Compact Flourescent Lights and what happens if you put them on an dimmer... something about flickering.... hmm... might be a cheap way to pull off the effect?

[DannyP]

Thanks folks. You gave me some options to ponder. Break a leg!

[ruinexplorer]

Originally Posted by TupeloTechie

you could go with a few of the "silk flame" units creatively hidden in the couch. These units have little lights and a fan in them and look very realistic, they could be cued from the light board and turned off when the water was poured.

Just use an empty bucket of water unless its absolutely necessary that the actors appear wet. You could maybe use large blue confetti depending on the distance to the audience.

Another idea is to just use lights, with a rotating-gobo fire effect.

Only problem with the silk flame effect is stopping it quickly. While you can cut the power immediately as the water "douses" the flame, the fan needs to slow down and so you get the silk flapping for an extra second w/o light. We had to change our blocking when using one of these units so that the audience wouldn't see the silk slowly falling. Of course, if you are using fog for the smoke as it "smolders", that might hide it.

I would keep the flames hidden behind the couch if at all possible and just use a flicker module. If you do use water, make sure that your electrics are on a GFCI.