Jack and the Beanstalk fx

[amain07]

any one know any good fx for a secendry school preformance of jack in the bean stalk. Our theater has no fly of any sort and my lighting/fx/sound buget isn what ever i can perswade the shcool to get hold of.

 

[MPowers]

A few years ago I designed a touring version of JITB. It played in every type of space from full auditorium stages to class rooms. The beanstalk, Jack's house and the giants castle were all fan inflated structures. It all started with a desire to make the bean stalk grow in full view. Solution, ripstop nylon in various green colors. A bare patch of dirt (dry crumbled cork) with a few dead flowers for the beans to be tossed into. Lights dim as jack and mom go to bed. High static pressure squirrel cage fan turns on and the beanstalk grows. Added advantage was that on a stage the the bean stalk grew to a full 12' high. In classrooms or "gym-a-toriums" and such, it just pushed up against the ceiling. Same effect, fit in any performance space the troupe came across. Jack's house was a series of tapered tubes, shades of brown rip stop, stacked on top of each other to form a false perspective log cabin interior. The Giants castle, dull pink rip stop with stones painted on in a dye solution, folded up, fit under Jack's kitchen table. the fan unit was actually US of the house but fed through a rip stop Tube that lay flat on the floor and was walked on by actors until the castle inflated. The set change to the giant's castle was all in full view, some performance venues had no power or hook up for lights so the fluorescents were on full the whole time. Jack simply lifted the table and moved it 3' US to clear and the castle inflated in view. It took about about 10-15 seconds to grow to full size and to brag a bit, was kind of impressive in the slow looming growth. Action and dialogue helped to make the segue-way to the castle part of the show. I.E. a cinematic style of change. The castle was basically a 10' wide by 6' tall wall with a 12' tall turreted tower at each end. When it came time to strike the castle, there was a 4'x4' flap/trap door on the back closed with Velcro that when opened allowed the castle to deflate in about 10 seconds, wadded up and stuffed back under the kitchen table.

The two things that were problematic, were finding squirrel cage fans with a high static pressure rating and quiet enough to continue running during the scenes. It was several years ago so I don't remember the exact model #'s but they were all Dayton from Grainger. As it turned out, the house and castle were fairly easy but it took awhile to find the right fan for the bean stalk. As it had a very small surface area (on the inside) for the fan to push against, it took a very strong (high static pressure, not High CFM) fan. For the Large castle it took a fan with moderate Static pressure but fairly large CFM. Jack's house was the middle.

A big plus of the design was that it played 400 plus performances over a 2 year run and required almost no maintenance. It was simple for the troupe, actors/singers, not technicians, (small budget, no crew, AFM or AGMA contract, not Equity, IIRC so doubling as crew was OK) set up and strike was fast and easy. Because the inflatables were fan fed, not captive air, small leaks or tears did not affect the units and a little gaff tape worked fine until the pieces got back to the shop for a couple of days. On the bean stalk, the tape had to be applied on the inside (turn it inside out through the fan opening) because of the higher pressure.

BTW, all the custom sewing was done by my Fabric Goddess wife who took my sketches and figured out how to make 3-D versions in fabric.

 

[peacefulone61]

I am doing "Into The Woods" at a high school and the bean stalk that grows before intermission. I was thinking about using an inflatable bean stalk as well. Thank you for the information

A few years ago I designed a touring version of JITB. It played in every type of space from full auditorium stages to class rooms. The beanstalk, Jack's house and the giants castle were all fan inflated structures. It all started with a desire to make the bean stalk grow in full view. Solution, ripstop nylon in various green colors. A bare patch of dirt (dry crumbled cork) with a few dead flowers for the beans to be tossed into. Lights dim as jack and mom go to bed. High static pressure squirrel cage fan turns on and the beanstalk grows. Added advantage was that on a stage the the bean stalk grew to a full 12' high. In classrooms or "gym-a-toriums" and such, it just pushed up against the ceiling. Same effect, fit in any performance space the troupe came across. Jack's house was a series of tapered tubes, shades of brown rip stop, stacked on top of each other to form a false perspective log cabin interior. The Giants castle, dull pink rip stop with stones painted on in a dye solution, folded up, fit under Jack's kitchen table. the fan unit was actually US of the house but fed through a rip stop Tube that lay flat on the floor and was walked on by actors until the castle inflated. The set change to the giant's castle was all in full view, some performance venues had no power or hook up for lights so the fluorescents were on full the whole time. Jack simply lifted the table and moved it 3' US to clear and the castle inflated in view. It took about about 10-15 seconds to grow to full size and to brag a bit, was kind of impressive in the slow looming growth. Action and dialogue helped to make the segue-way to the castle part of the show. I.E. a cinematic style of change. The castle was basically a 10' wide by 6' tall wall with a 12' tall turreted tower at each end. When it came time to strike the castle, there was a 4'x4' flap/trap door on the back closed with Velcro that when opened allowed the castle to deflate in about 10 seconds, wadded up and stuffed back under the kitchen table.

The two things that were problematic, were finding squirrel cage fans with a high static pressure rating and quiet enough to continue running during the scenes. It was several years ago so I don't remember the exact model #'s but they were all Dayton from Grainger. As it turned out, the house and castle were fairly easy but it took awhile to find the right fan for the bean stalk. As it had a very small surface area (on the inside) for the fan to push against, it took a very strong (high static pressure, not High CFM) fan. For the Large castle it took a fan with moderate Static pressure but fairly large CFM. Jack's house was the middle.

A big plus of the design was that it played 400 plus performances over a 2 year run and required almost no maintenance. It was simple for the troupe, actors/singers, not technicians, (small budget, no crew, AFM or AGMA contract, not Equity, IIRC so doubling as crew was OK) set up and strike was fast and easy. Because the inflatables were fan fed, not captive air, small leaks or tears did not affect the units and a little gaff tape worked fine until the pieces got back to the shop for a couple of days. On the bean stalk, the tape had to be applied on the inside (turn it inside out through the fan opening) because of the higher pressure.

BTW, all the custom sewing was done by my Fabric Goddess wife who took my sketches and figured out how to make 3-D versions in fabric.