Design You Can't Take It With You
- Thread startershakenblaken
- Start date
Forget the real fireworks. Really. Everything changed after the Station nightclub fire. If you were too young to remember...
The Station nightclub fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You can also search YouTube for videos showing the fire from the very start.
If your insurance company or fire marshal ever got word that you planned to use real pyrotechnics on stage, I would bet you'd be shut down in a heart beat.
The Station nightclub fire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You can also search YouTube for videos showing the fire from the very start.
If your insurance company or fire marshal ever got word that you planned to use real pyrotechnics on stage, I would bet you'd be shut down in a heart beat.
I have done the effect using pyro. We used a flash pot and technical director was a licensed pyro tech. Using normal fireworks are extremely dangerous and illegal for inside use. You are also going to have to demonstrate each pyro effect for your fire marshal. If you have a fire system you normally need at least one fire marshal and one firefighter to be at the fire panel to bypass any sensors. Whenever you have to bypass anything in a fire panel you have to have someone there to monitor and make any necessary announcements. I hate using pyro in shows if I can avoid it I will. I learned smoke and mirrors can go a long way and keep the audience guessing on how you actually pulled off an effect.
actually, more apt for the situation then you would think. Both could really help add to the effect.
shiben
Well-Known Member
Kids these days
Like kids those days were so much better... A theater I worked at had a huge trough that before The Station they would use as a reveal by filling it with black powder and set it off with multiple rocket ignition fuses... After The Station they started using flash paper, until the Fire Marshall saw that happen and nearly exploded with more force than a concussion charge. Now they just store them in the basement...
skienblack
Active Member
I remember when I was younger and my family was sitting on the back porch of our cottage during the July 4th weekend. We were lighting off individual fireworks called "Jumping Jacks". They were basically little firecrackers with a hole in the side. They were supposed to spin and whistle on the ground. Most did just that. Some didn't go off at all. But one that my sister lit was destined for bigger things. Instead of spinning on the ground, this sucker flew. It flew over our yard, over the cottage next to us, and into yard of the cottage 2 away from us. It was a thing of beauty, that is until it landed right into an expensive inflatable boat. It burned through 2 out of 3 of the air chambers. We couldn't do that again if we tried. That was an expensive 4th for us.
Actual fireworks are just too unpredictable. Who among us hasn't experienced the joy of following the detailed directions "Light fuse and get away" only to be disappointed by the lack of anything happening. Or lighting a fuse on something that IMMEDIATELY went off. The low quality and unpredictability (and danger) of fireworks makes them unsuitable for a theater full of people. If just one of those fireworks gets away on you and ends up setting Grandma's hair on fire, it would upstage the performance on stage.
Oh, yeah. You would get sued out of existence too.
Actual fireworks are just too unpredictable. Who among us hasn't experienced the joy of following the detailed directions "Light fuse and get away" only to be disappointed by the lack of anything happening. Or lighting a fuse on something that IMMEDIATELY went off. The low quality and unpredictability (and danger) of fireworks makes them unsuitable for a theater full of people. If just one of those fireworks gets away on you and ends up setting Grandma's hair on fire, it would upstage the performance on stage.
Oh, yeah. You would get sued out of existence too.
Sayen
Active Member
Isn't all of the action off stage, and the characters enter after the explosion? I worked a show where a speaker was set outside the door for the explosions, followed by actors entering carrying the charred remains. A technician filled a large trashbag from a fog machine, and blew the fog in through the door as the actors entered, giving a believable blast of safe smoke. There were probably lights too in order to complete the effect.
The audience knows there are no real fireworks (or guns, or fights, or deaths) in a play, and they will still believe what you want them to believe as long as you provide a decent attempt at selling the effect and the actors carry the rest on through story.
The audience knows there are no real fireworks (or guns, or fights, or deaths) in a play, and they will still believe what you want them to believe as long as you provide a decent attempt at selling the effect and the actors carry the rest on through story.
shiben
Well-Known Member
One hopes (Unless of course, if your watching a certain Shakespeare company, there are occasionally real stabbings and almost real deaths...). Also, if this is for a non-pro company (like a high school), the parents mainly want to see their kid in a show, not see them blown up in some sort of triumph of theatrical effect. Quite frankly, we have Michael Bay for that, focus on what he cant, telling a good story and entertaining people?
True, but is that something you want to rely on? What if there are bored kids? Wouldn't the best explosion you can do be more entertaining for them? Make it something they are then going to go tell their friends about? The more people that come to a show the better. I'm not saying start blowing things up to get people to come, but loud bangs and funny things flying out of doors is a lot more entertaining then just some smoke and flashing lights. Just my opinion.
There are 2 visual fireworks effects in the script. One is an offstage explosion from the basement, often staged with sound effects, smoke, and blinking lights through the doorway. The other is a scene between Paul and Alice, where Paul demonstrates his latest creation. There are a variety of ways to solve the second but most use some sort of up-lighting from a bucket or pan; using either a portable light, or prop with a hole in the bottom through which a stationary light shines.
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DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
Stayed out of it until now but for ours... The small unit between actors was a modified Halloween cauldron to use a battery pack. And fireworks were slap boards par cans and a blown speaker in our pit. No smoke or haze and the audience asked how we got away with using fireworks....
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tabithakeeling13
Member
I believe we did the same thing when we did this show in college. everyone just gathered around the 'door' and then jumped back when the sound cue went and then the dad came out with lots of 'soot' on him.
