Paper being magically sucked up a fireplace

I am getting ready to work on a production of Mary Poppins and there is a specific effect in which Mr. Banks tears up the kid's "advertisement" and throws it into the fireplace. It is then sucked up the chimney and it is very important that the audience sees it because this is the first instance of "magic" in the show.
For our production, the fireplace is a rolling unit, and the best idea I have come up with so far is to have multiple sets of paper. The first one is torn up and thrown in behind the logs by the actor. The second one is pre-torn, strung together with fishing line, pre-set behind the logs, and pulled up for the effect. My fear is that this is going to look terribly cheesy. Has anyone else done this effect before/has an alternative ideas?
 
Is there time between the non-rigged paper going in and the rigged paper flying out the chimney to do a switcheroo? A rotisserie-type flip of the fire could get rid of the thrown-in paper and reveal the rigged paper, so that you don't have "extra" pieces in there when the gag happens.

HTH,
Jen
 
I am getting ready to work on a production of Mary Poppins and there is a specific effect in which Mr. Banks tears up the kid's "advertisement" and throws it into the fireplace. It is then sucked up the chimney and it is very important that the audience sees it because this is the first instance of "magic" in the show.
For our production, the fireplace is a rolling unit, and the best idea I have come up with so far is to have multiple sets of paper. The first one is torn up and thrown in behind the logs by the actor. The second one is pre-torn, strung together with fishing line, pre-set behind the logs, and pulled up for the effect. My fear is that this is going to look terribly cheesy. Has anyone else done this effect before/has an alternative ideas?

This is exactly how I have done it, just make sure to add a special (maybe a light from up in the chimney) and a musical flourish to bing the audience attention to the gag. Use very fine monofilament so your lines do not catch the light. It won't look cheesy, it's a fun effect.
 
Stick a fan in the chimney. I would say a bathroom fan could work it's small and could fit in the chimney. Then just load the chimney with paper each show. If you want to spend a chunk of money and the chimney is big enough get one of those dyson fans without blades they pump out a lot of air and then you won't have to load the chimney.
 
If you go the fishing line route, I'd leave monofilament and pick up some spiderwire. It's high test (60lb) braided line without the bulk of monofilament of equal test. It does really well against catching light.

But I think the fan may be the way to go. It'll be more work to setup and troubleshoot, but it'll look more realistic than paper on string. Maybe a cone with the tip cut off could funnel the paper up the chimney and keep it there when the fan is off. Sort of like an insect trap. Goes in and can't come out
 
You could also use a venturi cone connected to a small Co2 tank, but the cones are expensive and the pressurized Co2 is loud...
 
My thought would be a loop of vertical black fabric with the paper attached the speed could be varied .
Translucent fabric so you could add a sparkling background, and flashing led to highlight the paper.
 
Stick a fan in the chimney. I would say a bathroom fan could work it's small and could fit in the chimney. Then just load the chimney with paper each show. If you want to spend a chunk of money and the chimney is big enough get one of those dyson fans without blades they pump out a lot of air and then you won't have to load the chimney.
@Amiers The Dyson blade-less fans are quite quiet as well.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
After re-reading what I wrote I think I went for cost effective. Those dyson fans go for 200-500$ And are round.

If I were to come back to this I would say DIY a homemade dyson style fan. There are many videos on how to make them. My only concern would be enough CFM to suck up the paper and shoot it out. So you might have to make a few.
 
I do it with flat black strings. I laminate pieces of paper so they catch the light and those are rigged on striges and hidden in the logs. The paper that gets town is tossed in and to the side and then the strung pieces can be slowly lifted. I also put a light in the logs that fades on when they fly so they get a bit of a glow to them. I've also put sparkles on the paper in the past, which looked pretty neat.

-Chris
More here: Mary Poppins Effects
 

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