Water dump help??

Adam Smith

New Member
I'm staging a show where water falls from above drenching one of the actors. We have no fly space and cannot attach anything directly to the ceiling. I'm trying to come up with something that we can mount to the lighting electric that can be triggered from offstage. We're ultra low budget. I'd be open to a bucket and pulley if someone has an idea of how to mount it effectively. I'm not the most experienced tech so the simpler the better. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Adam
 
I would strongly caution you not hang a bucket of water anyware near an electric... water and electricity NEVER

That being said all you need is a bucket and 2 points. dead rig the handle to one, and hang a puller on the second one, higher than the first point. run a rope through the pulley, and then to the bottom of the bucket. pulling on the string will dump the bucket. only issue is the non-rated bucket handle being overhead.

There is always the offstage stagehand approach.
 
Regardless of where you hang it, I suggest "dumping" the bucket with a toilet flapper. Drill the correct size hole in the bottom of the bucket and install the flap assembly (a little RTV silicone probably won't hurt here, either) just like you would in a toilet tank. Then, use a pulley to raise the flap on cue. This should have a bit more reliable effect than you'd get from tilting the bucket.
 
Less is more. You don't need a Gallon of water for the "water dump effect" a'la Flashdance in Wedding singer. If you light it from behind a a little bit looks like a rain shower.
 
Less is more.

Ah man, at first I thought you were giving me a compliment!

You don't need a Gallon of water for the "water dump effect" a'la Flashdance in Wedding singer. If you light it from behind a a little bit looks like a rain shower.

I worked on Wedding Singer a few years ago, which is where we used the method I described above. Not sure how much water was used (maybe a half gallon?), but it was more than enough. I believe we built a rolling booth for Holly, but of course that may not work for OP's show.
 
wish I had thought of the toilet flapper. 1 tilting bucket will drop water in an arc, not a good look. For wedding singer we ended up using a small bucket, maybe 20oz, she pulled the line, bucket pivoted and dumped into a 1 gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom. We stuffed a bunch of chicken wire and eps foam scraps in the 1 gal bucket to arrest the momentum of the falling water and let it drop straight down through the hole. Otherwise the water would swirl and still drain at an angle, hard to describe. try the flapper and a string.

As for electricity, you can isolate your rig from the sparky bits. hole goes below the lowest light, bucket has a tight lid, you can even build a box around it to keep everything safe...
 

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