Atomic Bomb

[gafftaper]

In the seventies a film called "Earthquake" I think toured the world. In selected venues it had "sensurround sound" they used subs and tuned them to the space. It was a factor of very loud sound and subsonic harmonics but it scared the hell out of me.

When I was about 7 the original Star Wars opened in this big down town theater with a monster screen the largest overall area in town (three times the size of the mall screens today), 70mm projection, the theater had a dome ceiling and Dad and I sat right in the center so all sound reflections were collected and focused on us and the place had been upgraded for the sensurround Earthquake. I'm telling you when those star destroyers flew overhead at the start of the film you thought the whole theater was going to shake apart. I've seen the movie 50 times since then, but nothing compares to that old theater.

 

[Van]

Look at this link;

http://www.mcrel.org/whelmers/whelm01.asp

This is a design for an "Air Cannon" they have been used to do lots of interesting things. If you could scale this design up and incorporate a few into your set you might get an interesting result. The nice thing about them is, the way they are engineered, they don't move the air fast, they simply "shape" it into a donut which rolls out the front of the cannon through the air. Firing something like a compressed air cannon, or confetti cannon, directly at an audience is strictly verboten, too many chances of sending projectiles along which the air. Air cannons, however work on the HVLP principle, they move a large mass of air and low velocity. Much safe and possibly more effective in the long run.

They're also simple to build and fun to play with.

 

[propmonkey]

i remember seeing a large garabage can with the bottom cut out and a rubber top that you would pull back and would "shoot" air at a wall of cards. i also know there are handheld versions of the same thing. ive seen around at various stores.

i would think having a dozen pars from an electric or some other locations pointed evenly at the house would cause a little heat and provide the blinding light.

make sure you give fair warning of all the effects you will use as to not startle young children and ederly.

 

[avkid]

i remember seeing a large garabage can with the bottom cut out and a rubber top that you would pull back and would "shoot" air at a wall of cards. i also know there are handheld versions of the same thing. ive seen around at various stores.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/60b6/

 

[thelightingmancan]

We tried the resonant frequency thing, and we couldn't quite get it, and our building engineer walked in and told us to stop because our building is 50 years old.

 

[thelightingmancan]

We post plenty of warnings about effects, almost excessively

 

[Hughesie]

simple some subs and a freq sweep audio file you made in the shade

just starting it right at the bottem it will scare the devil out of your audience

 

[RedmonwantsEOS]

David, whenever you and I figure this out, its gonna be amazing. BTW, the play isn't until March.

 

[thelightingmancan]

We should be prepared early so we can fix any problems

 

[Van]

We should be prepared early so we can fix any problems

Better words were never spoken!!!!!!
I've finally, after 4 years of begging, gotten our directors to start talking with designers way in advance of show. Proper prep time is ESSENTIAL especially in show dealing with a lot of effects. Constructing scale replicas and testing of effects in advance is crucial to a smooth production. Good on ya.