Chemical Snow Machines

[gafftaper]

I've got a group using my theater who would like it to snow on the audience for about 5 minutes. I called my local rental shop and a chemical snow machine is available. My concern is causing a mess and/or damaging/staining the upholstery on my seats. The rental shop manager says that as long as I use the quick dissolving fluid and I position the snow machine in a catwalk at least 20' above the house, the snow will completely dissolve before it hits the seats below (and therefore, not be a threat to stain or discolor my seats).

I've never used these things before and don't want to take any risks of messing up my theater. Is this idea safe? Is the rental guy right about the quick dissipating snow fluid and placement 20' up?

Secondly, the rental guy says the snow will fan out to spray over a roughly 15'x15' area. I'm thinking about positioning the snow machine center house on the back of the first catwalk aimed toward the rear of the theater (which means the snow would come down right about center house). I've got about 18' between that position and the S4's at my second catwalk lighting position. Again, not being familiar with these things, is there any risk to the snow solution getting on my lights? I'm thinking that worst case scenario I might need to wipe down those fixtures and clean the lenses. I've got some decent sized box fans in the shop. I'm thinking maybe I could line those up on the second catwalk pointed back at the snow machine to help direct the snow away from the light fixtures and to spread it out a little more... Thoughts?

 

[porkchop]

Does a chemical snow machine use the normal soap like fluid that a True North machine from Ultratec does, or is this some kind of more sophisticated magic? If it's the soap stuff, use just plain water to wipe it off. Simple Green and the like just seem to cause more bubbling.

 

[TimG]

I have used a lot of snow machines, except chemical ones. I wouldn't use normal ones as after just 30 seconds of them being on the theatre was pretty much covered in a super slick film from them. It may be worth hiring for a day top test it, rig it to the height and see if it hits the seating, then you should be able to decide weather to use it.

 

[epimetheus]

We've got True North machines (or the equivalent from other brands) at my church that we use for Christmas shows. We've not had staining problems on the carpet or the seats. The only problem we've run into is in our new worship center we're snowing on a wood and tile stage rather than the carpeted stage in the old room. I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that snowing on a hard surface with a soap-based machine is very bad idea, especially with dancers involved. If we hadn't foreseen the problem during tech we probably would have had the makings of a viral video.

 

[Mac Hosehead]

I have successfully used a Little Blizzard snow machine on a smaller production of the Nutcracker. The machine uses a quick dissipating snow fluid which make small bubbles that appear as snow flakes when they drift down. I have heard the claims that the effect will dissolve before hitting the floor but in my experience this did not happen. I was able to adjust the machine so the "flakes" were very fine and would evaporate soon after hitting the stage. This prevented any slick buildup and I had no problem with dancers slipping. I did not notice any marking of light fixtures or stains on borders or legs. The effect looked good on stage but I wonder how it would look on an audience. I also wonder if anybody would be upset if the bubbles land on them.

 

[Luke Holliger]

This is a traditional effect that we use for our yearly Nutcracker. We have 4 Little Blizzard machines that run the quick dissipating fluid. We also hang a box fan above each one to help push the snow the desired direction. The fans are controlled through our dimmer rack so it can be triggered with the lights. (It is never a good idea to run the snow machines through the dimmers though.) It takes some tweaking but we are able to adjust the flake size to reduce it landing on the seats. We have never seen a residue from doing this. To increase the effect we always push from behind and back light with blue pars; it makes it look like it is appearing out of nowhere. (If you ignore the noise from the machines.) Every year our box office gets requests from patrons asking to sit in the seats that get snowed on because the kids always love it.

 

[ruinexplorer]

I don't think you should worry too much about staining the seats, but I would have some concern about it landing on patrons. If they happen to be wearing some outfits that might be unsuited to have the "snow" on them, that might cause issues. I would definitely ask for a demo. I'd also add a fan if possible to help push the snow out. If the machine isn't properly maintained, it will more likely clump the "flakes" together, making proper disipation less likely. You probably won't have to do much more than a surface wipe of any of your lights as well. It's doubtful that any will get on the lenses.