Can you haze an outdoor stage?

[030366]

A friend of mine planned to use a hazer in his most recent Shakespeare festival. I asked him if it was even possible to effectively haze an amphitheater ("Dude, seriously, can you actually haze the outdoors?!"), and it turns out that he'd never tried it before.

Well, ultimately the hazer got canned, so we still don't know if it's possible. Has anyone tried it? Is it possible, or does the haze just fall prey to the cruel and unconcerned hand of osmosis?

 

[DaveySimps]

It is possible, just a lot more tricky to do. You certainly need more robust units than you would need in an equivalent size space indoors. Then you really just have to deal with the wonders of outdoor wind / weather. A lighting company I see frequently working the summer festival concert circuit uses the MGD units with good success. Although, the cost difference from other units can be substantial, depending on what model you use.

~Dave

 

[Footer]

Depends on the stage. I have done this in a shed style amphitheater and it works pretty well. After you get DS of the plaster line it dissipates quickly. If you don't have walls and a roof, might be a bit harder. Even the roof a portable stage offers helps, along with a backdrop. No matter what, your going to be hazing pretty much continuously with multiple units.

 

[Brownlight]

Hey
A quick fix is a couple F100's with a hurricane fan to break up the smoke .This should give you a smilar look.

John

 

[Van]

It's all about the weather and the facility. A big outdoor, open amphitheatre is really difficult, but it can be done. However one slight breeze and POOF! there it goes. We usually had some really cool looking scenes after the Civil War portrayal at The Trail of Tears outdoor drama, but that was from the smoke from the gunpowder left hanging. I do kind like the idea of a regular fogger hit with a fan. Much more likely to hang than just haze in an outdoor venue.

 

[len]

With any atmospheric outdoors, there's no such thing as having too many of them. You can always turn them down, but you can only get so much output out of one of them.

 

[jxgriffi]

For outdoors, I put one in each corner (sometimes 2 in each depending on the venue) of the stage (UL, UR, DL, and DR). I put each on their own address and have 4 buttons for them (one for each corner). This way, depending on wind, etc. I can "direct" the haze as needed.

 

[gafftaper]

I've seen them try to use haze for musical acts at the local county fair. They have a grandstand then setup a portable stage for concerts and take it down for rodeo events. Well it didn't look so good. They were able to haze the stage up a bit so you got some nice looks on stage but it didn't effect anything out in the "house". The end result made it feel more like watching a concert on TV than being there in person.

"Hey it's really hazy down there... I bet the lights look really cool on stage".