bobgaggle
Well-Known Member
For our upcoming production of Into the Woods, we're looking to have a tree fall over when the giant dies. Its designed to be a 12" Sonotube tree, 6'-4" tall (I'm working with a low ceiling), and will fall downstage. The effect is supposed to look like the tree trunk has broken, rather than it being uprooted, so a stump will remain upright, or rooted, after the main trunk has fallen. For the drop effect I've welded up a solid barrel latch that will be pulled with trick wire from offstage. This latch is mounted to the ceiling and the wire will be run across the ceiling offstage. The plan is to hinge the trunk to the remaining stump, so the two parts wont separate entirely.
The problem I'm having is figuring out how to actually make the tree tip over. After the latch is disengaged, without imparting some energy to get it falling, the tree will just sit there. I had 2 ideas and wanted some feedback.
The first is to add another trick line to the top of the tree that could pull it over, but I would want that line to detach and not follow the tree down to the deck. This idea seems too fussy for me.
The other is to put some kind of ram in the stump on the upstage side that tips the tree over from the bottom. But since we don't use hydraulics I would want it to be a manual mechanical operation. I would entertain the idea of an air piston fed from a tank offstage, but don't have much experience in pneumatics so wouldn't know exactly where to go with that idea.
Thoughts?
The problem I'm having is figuring out how to actually make the tree tip over. After the latch is disengaged, without imparting some energy to get it falling, the tree will just sit there. I had 2 ideas and wanted some feedback.
The first is to add another trick line to the top of the tree that could pull it over, but I would want that line to detach and not follow the tree down to the deck. This idea seems too fussy for me.
The other is to put some kind of ram in the stump on the upstage side that tips the tree over from the bottom. But since we don't use hydraulics I would want it to be a manual mechanical operation. I would entertain the idea of an air piston fed from a tank offstage, but don't have much experience in pneumatics so wouldn't know exactly where to go with that idea.
Thoughts?