Feather Drop in a Short Theater

[illeagle4life]

Im on tour with a small show that uses a snow bag contraption to drop feather for about 2 minutes of the piece. since we are in a 14' grided theater the bag is very visible during the feather drop. Theres no room to rig above the grid either. Thoughts?

 

[ruinexplorer]

Instead of the bag, can you do a snow-drum?

 

[MarshallPope]

Is there room for a black border in front of it?

 

[illeagle4life]

theres no room for a drum. im also concerned of sound and operation of it. the pipes are on 4' centers but have lights in between. above the grid are fluorescents and i beam to hold the roof up.

and there is a small border in front, about 18". the bag is about 3.5' deep so it has about 18" of room for feathers and 18" of holes for it to fall through. once the bag is lowered to allow the feathers to fall there is about 18-24" of bag exposed beneath the tiny border. the real issue is seeing the huge clumps of feathers fighting to make their way out of the bag. i had thought of maybe making 2x smaller bags, one for the first min and one for the second min, but rigging still is an issue.

 

[ruinexplorer]

How quiet do you need it to be at that moment? You could possibly be able to blow the feathers on-stage using a Venturi effect. This is the same principle as the compressed air vacuum that you might have in your shop. It will not have the effect of a confetti cannon, but a continuous stream blowing out and then dropping down.

 

[MPowers]

theres no room for a drum. im also concerned of sound and operation of it. ........ i had thought of maybe making 2x smaller bags, .......

Actually, a drum can be designed to take up less space than a bag, and if operated manually with a rope operating line, like a traveler track, can be silent. But, all that would be things to think of for next time, before the first opening. What I would really suggest, is, if you have time to make two smaller bags, make them out of a black fabric. That should help. Also, before and after loading give the bag and feathers a very light shot of anti-static spray and separate clumps as much as possible while loading.