Are Hazers bad for actors?

[vincecr]

I was talking with one of the theatre supervisors at my school and when I recommended to use a hazer in our show they said that hazers are bad for the actors voice and even though its supposed to stay high up it will cause the actors not to sing well. I've never used a hazer before. Is this true? Does this pose a significant threat to the voices of actors.

 

[Footer]

Depends on the hazer in question. This was a large question of Actors Equity years back so they did a large study on it: http://www.actorsequity.org/docs/safesan/finalreport.pdf
and all the other documents on the subject: actorsequity.org | Member Services

It really just depends on what hazer you are using if it is "safe" or not. Yes, it is different to sing in haze, but it should not effect anything unless you have too much haze on stage.

 

[Les]

Actually, haze doesn't necessarily stay high up. It's designed to be evenly suspended in the air on all levels.

I once rented a Neutron XS for a musical and the rental house guaranteed that it wasn't harmful to breathe under normal conditions. I'm not sure of the validity of that guarantee, but I do know that we didn't get any complaints from the singers or vocal directors. I've found that when people cough in the presence of fog or haze, it's usually a psychological thing. Surely, the stuff they're breathing when crossing the street is much worse.

I did a long tech-in once where we inadvertently ran a haze machine the entire time. We had the console at the mid-house position and when we finally brought up the house lights, we found that we could hardly see the balcony. We couldn't tell there was anything in the air otherwise -- it was just after the house lights revealed how much haze was in the air did some people get that urge to cough.

 

[MNicolai]

Based on no science, just personal experience, I think when there's a heavy haze in the room, the air feels drier and might cause some vocal complications. By heavy haze, I mean you can't see more than several feet in front of you -- the sort of haze that works well in small rooms of haunted houses but would be terrible to use in theatres.

For practical applications in theatre, if you use the correct fluid for your machine and use a theatre-quality machine (not DJ-quality), you should not have any problems except for psychosomatic. People see haze -- the body thinks coughing is the appropriate response (because it would be if you were inhaling smoke from a fire).

I always hear someone complain that they're allergic to smoke, and the truth is that a hazer should not cause any allergic reactions -- the chemicals used to produce haze and fog are very different from the smoke of a combustible material burning.

However, I had a friend in high school with respiratory problems (specifically some variety of acute bronchitis) who on several different occasions over a couple years encountered a light haze in the air from an event and had to spend some time with her inhaler(s) as a result. Psychosomatic or genuine medical symptom, the pain for her was quite real. Whenever we did shows with haze, she was only able to watch or work them when dosed up from her inhalers.

That said, here's some science from SmokeMachines.net on the topic:

Can I use any brand of smoke fluid in my smoke machine?
Our job would be so much easier if the answer was 'yes', but the answer is NO and here's why:

Smoke generators are designed around a specific mixture of chemicals, with specific boiling ranges. Using a smoke fluid that, for example, is based on propylene glycol and water, which has a relatively low boiling range, through a generator set for glycerine / water (with a much higher boiling range) potentially can crack the chemical, forming unpleasant and potentially toxic compounds (acroleins, aldehydes etc). Even changing the % of water in a mixture can have an effect.

A few years ago all the major UK manufacturers prepared a joint letter stressing the potential dangers of mixing and matching smoke chemicals, stressing that so called 'generic smoke fluids' simply could not be relied upon to produce a consistent and safe smoke in every generator.

Safe smoke that is non-toxic to breathe in is your responsibility!

The use of generic smoke chemical in place of the manufacturer's recommended fluid leaves you wide open to all sorts of legal recourse relating to health & safety, reliability of your machine and servicing costs. It simply isn't worth the risk.

Do smoke machines make you cough?
No they should not - and if you have experienced coughing it may be due to the operator using a cheap 'generic' smoke fluid to save money - something we strongly advise against (see question above). If you have a respiratory condition or are asthmatic, we don't recommend you go into dense smoke. Occasionally people will experience a psychosomatic reaction to seeing smoke and cough for the sake of it (even though the smoke isn't actually causing this reaction in a physical sense).

 

[erichart]

Actors' Equity does regulate the amount of haze and fog that can be present around actors. Before a show can use haze or fog at our theatres, our head electrician needs to measure the amount in the air (he has a machine that does this) in the presence of an Equity rep.
There are different types of chemicals and methods used to create haze; before its use was regulated or the dangers recognized, certain chemicals were used that could cause you to develop asthma or other respiratory problems. These chemicals are not necessarily off the market. You need to do your research to ensure that what you are using is the best-known safest alternative according to the standards of our industry.

 

[icewolf08]

I have a couple things to add here. First, it should be noted that smoke is very different from haze or fog. Smoke is a particulate matter in the air that is generated usually through combustion while fog and haze are vapor. So, a website like smokemachines.net is very misleading.

Secondly, chemically generated fog and haze can be irritants to some people. They can often have similar effects on the vocal chords of singers as drinking juices with high citric acid content. Some people have a reaction to the chemicals themselves (like an allergy), and it is true that for some people it is all in their head. That being said, in high school and college there are no rules that govern the use of fog and haze, you can use as much as you want as long as you don't set off the fire alarms or send people to the hospital (the latter being not particularly likely, though possible). Will the use of fog or haze affect the performers vocal quality? Well, it varies from person to person, so you have to just try it.

In addition to all the study information that AEA publishes (linked in a previous post), they also publish "Time and Distance" guidelines for most fog and haze machines. If you wrk within those guidelines you should be able to create a good looking effect and remain safe for your cast. If you follow the T&D guidelines in a professional setting you don't have to do the air quality testing every time you use a fog or haze effect, though often the T&D guidelines are very conservative and you could use more if you did your own testing. I have been able to create some great effects while only working within the published T&D guidelines.

Another thing to consider is that there is almost never a time when you would want to run haze for an entire show (unless it is a rock concert). It generally gets annoying and distracting, and makes less of a statement when you actually want it. So you should have some times when you turn off the output of the machine and let the air clear for a bit in your show that will usually help actors a bit.

 

[kicknargel]

I'm surprised this hasn't been brought up yet. There are two general categories of haze: water-based and mineral oil-based. The industry workhorse (especially in rock and roll) is the DF-50 which produces tons of great haze with mineral oil. Anecdotally, I've seen this cause discomfort to singers. Also anecdotally, I've not experienced problems with water-based haze (such as with the Ultratec Radience) and that machine works plenty great in theatrical applications.

As a side note, I'm doing The Wedding Singer (so want a lot of rock lighting) at a small theatre with a Letter-of-Agreement with Equity, and the contract calls for a large hazard pay for any use of fog or haze, so we can't afford to do it.

 

[gcpsoundlight]

They can certanly be bad for people...

One show last year, one staging team member had a severe Asthma attack due to the smoke machine. She is highly allergic to some of the ingredients...
Don't know about singing tho

 

[josh88]

This is somewhat unrelated but I don't get to share this story enough.

I work for a major amusement park during their halloween event and we use a ton of foggers/hazers, the allergy/asthma reactions are hit and miss, we've had some people with no background of problems react badly to the fog (I know its not a singing scenario) and had asthmatics sit full on in fogger blast with no ill effects.

in either case the last weekend we had to burn off all the fog juice that was left so all the foggers, I think they had around 80 running at the time, got cranked up to full and we made weather. There was a thick enough fog over the peninsula that it showed up on the NOAA radar and registered as rain. One of our bosses still has the print out of the radar framed above his desk.

 

[Gern]

This morning I heard the news reporting on the "illness" that struck HUNDREDS of people @ the Playboy Mansion in LA: "The authorities are looking into possibilities, including 'fog' from a DJ haze machine."
At first I thought it could have been from the 'Grotto', but, it seems like too many people have gotten ill, so I doubt they all were in the grotto...
IMHO

Funny side note: my first time to the mansion was as a lighting tech for a party. We were getting the initial walk thru, "the band is over there, this is the dimmer tent," etc. My co-worker asked "Where is the power supply?". I jokingly answered, " Right there, those are 3 phase Redwoods!" "Yep." Said Ed, the head grounds keeper. Low and behold, I was correct. We were walked into the center of the circle of giant Redwoods, and yes, there is a 3 phase cam-lok can hidden right there!

 

[nate]

The main thing that is important is that you do not exceed the percentage of haze allowed. Actor's Equity will have that information for you.