CAMELOT Theatrical Special Effects

I hate running into those directors, and unfortunately they are legion, who equate the term special effects with killing people and blowing things up. They're the English teachers or drama majors who have found themselves pushed into directing student theatre as part of their job, hate every minute of it and usually aren't paid extra for it so they give us the requisite senior class play each year which barely passes the grandparent test. (The "grandparent test," if you're new to this blog, is when the audience consists mostly of family and everything and everyone is wonderful because if it weren't for the Drama Club, Billy and Susie would be watching 56 hours of television a week or, heaven help us, playing basketball!)

We take these directors aside and patiently explain that the script calls for a ringing alarm clock and a thunderstorm but at our best, we can show them how to download sound effects from SoundDogs or Mean Rabbit and play them over the auditorium PA. There is no budget and very little time expended so that's the standard high-school fare and it carries over into community college and eventually, community theatre. That's also why most amateur theatre productions look, well, amateur.

Occasionally, however, a school or community theatre finds itself blessed with a talented vocal director and/or choreographer and decides to tackle a show like Barbara Damasheck's Quilters. When a gem like this comes across our radar, we need to twist some arms and get involved. Quilters involves a great fire in Act II, the "Crosses and Losses" scene, in which the entire stage bursts into flames. (The same gag works for Gone With the Wind and Joan of Arc, along with many others.)

Obviously, open flames are out of the question and no community theatre has a deep enough stage to allow a wide, rear-projected fire behind the scrim. Silk flames, like the Le Maitre Le Flame are okay for campfires and torches but out of the question for setting the entire proscenium width on fire.

Along comes Technifex with their fantastic FauxFire illusion. Take a look at the video downloads; the effect is absolutely breathtaking! You will immediately notice that the eight-foot unit rents for $1000 a day and you would need at least three of these to cover the average stage width. Out of your budget? Okay, does the school have an industrial arts shop and a sheet metal press brake? Then build your own! You'll need some inexpensive galvanized sheet metal (aluminum is too soft and too expensive), some three-foot fluorescent fixtures (scrap,) orange/red/yellow gels (cheap), a fogger/hazer or two (rented) and some small desk fans for the agitators (borrowed.) As for the construction details, Technifex kindly gives us those here.

Remember: This effect is patented so you can't sell it or rent it out, but the law allows you to build it for your own use and you'll make enough modifications to the design (I already have in my explanation) to avoid any infringement. Oh, yes: DO remember to warn the audience, with signs, in the program and perhaps in an announcement that... hey, it's theater. But what a show you'll have!

posted by C. J. # 2:46 PM