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Saying
Goodbye To Ol' Man Winter: Part I
As
I write these words, the end of winter is less than twenty-four
hours away. For those of you who have been mired in technical rehearsals
for the past several weeks, tomorrow, March 20, marks the first
day of spring. Every culture has their own way of celebrating the
beginning of spring - planting new seeds, painting festive eggs,
drinking green beer - and at Theatre Effects, we celebrate by playing
with snow!
If there is one aspect of snow machines that retailers and manufacturers
seem hesitant to address it is the noise factor. In order to generate
a large number of small flakes, the snow fluid is pumped in front
of a high speed blower that forces it through a "sock"
on the front of the machine. This process allows the air and soap
to mix creating the many small conglomerations of bubbles that the
audience perceives as snowflakes. Unfortunately, affordable high-speed
blowers are not very quiet. They are, to be blunt, about as loud
as a Shop-Vac. As of this writing, this is true of all snow machines
on the market as they all work on the same principal.
There are, however, ways to counteract some of the noise generated
by your snow machine. The most direct method is to build a sound
insulating shell around the machine. I've heard of shells constructed
from foam board, and plywood, and I'm sure some creative types out
there have come up with other methods as well. If you decide to
attempt this, bear in mind that the machine must be able to draw
air to work properly. I would recommend leaving an air space of
two or more inches around the unit.
While insulating shells can reduce the noise created by the blower,
they do add weight, expense and bulk. A simpler, less expensive
method of reducing the impact of the noise is to combine the snow
cue with a music cue. Obviously, this will not work for every situation,
but can be a useful trick for holiday productions and concerts.
Finally, keeping the machine at the highest trim height possible
for your space and mounting it upstage of a heavy curtain will also
reduce the amount of noise that reaches the audience.
Of course, snow machines are showing up in lots of places other
than the theatre. Haunted houses especially have found the snow
machine a useful and different effect. By mounting the unit in a
"dark room" where the snow will only be lit with one or
two strobe lights, the effect of being lost in a blizzard or free-falling
through space can be achieved. When mounting the machine for this
effect, remember that higher is better. While snow blowing up into
the patrons' faces would definitely be startling, it just doesn't
look right somehow. Mounting the unit close to the ceiling will
give a more natural look and avoids the possibility of somebody
tripping over or kicking the machine.
The equipment I'd recommend to create the "haunted blizzard"
would be a BM60 snow machine (of course), one STV-701 strobe light
or two STV-701's using the daisy-chain feature, pipe clamps or bolts
to ceiling-mount the units, and our superb quality BM61 Snow Fluid
(because the snow that comes out is only as good as the fluid that
goes in). Add some eerie sound effects and a performer dressed like
Jack Nicholson from "The Shining," and you'll have an
effect that won't be forgotten.
*********************************************
Theatre Effects Customer Service Department
service@theatrefx.com
www.theatrefx.com
Theatre Effects, 642 Frederick St., Hagerstown, MD 21740
Phone: 1-800-791-7646 or 301-791-7646 Fax: 301-791-7719 *********************************************
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