So yesterday, (and today actually) I was working for a theatre in the area, because I didn't have anything particularly important to do at my place... Its the same place that threw me off the stage last show, and consistantly does really odd things... So at any rate, not much tends to suprise me when I go there... So this isn't about me being shocked this time... This is about me just venting a bit about the utter stupidity...
This show needs snow to fall at some point, and therefor, they specified a snow bag arrangement... Excellent... Very simple system, and very very reliable... The show also needs leaves to fall at another point... Here is where the sensibility left everyone... The origional design called for this very cool, but incredibly expensive mechinized device... I had never seen this style before, but it would have been my job to make it, so I priced it out, and they promptly choked... So they went in search of other ideas... (incidently, I have been telling them from the start the simple solution to this, but I'll get to that in a minute or two...) They looked at drop boxes (wood box, with a trap door in the bottom to dump the leaves), and they looked at a "snowroller"... Now a snowroller is a round drum made of wire mesh, so that when you spin it, the "snow" tumbles around like in a lotto machine and sifts out through the holes gradually... Its an ok system in the right circumstances, but they tend to be a little noisey, and difficult to rig... So that's the direction they went... Yesterday, I hung the masterpiece, and ran the opperating system, and yep, just as I suspected, it spins about half as much as it should... It gets hung up on the operating system lines because the angles are so severe from the pullies... (they welded the pullies, so I can't move them) Now, there is a problem beyond the issue that the operating lines get tangled... The holes in the mesh are tiny, so they need to cut bigger ones... No big deal, just annoying... The biggest problem however, is that when the unit spins, the leaves get pressed up against the mesh, and they don't move... So rather than tumbling in the drum and filtering through the holes, the leaves just stay in place... Spin it fast, spin it slow, the leaves just stay there...
Now, if I may. (and of course I may since I'm the only one with admin access here...) The solution to this whole issue is this... Make a snowbag, with bigger slots, and the leaves will fall out very nicely... I've done this before incidently... I've done this before in that space incidently... I've done this before in that space, for this director incidently... All I keep hearing is that they need a "high tech" solution to the leave problem... Um... Why?... Nobody sees this damn thing except the opperator... Who are they trying to impress?... So what will happen, is they will spend a lot of time on this, on top of the money they've already spent, and it won't work... They'll have to pull down the snow roller, and put up a snowbag... Incidently, it would take someone about 1 hour to make a snow bag deal... The snowroller thing took 2 whole days for someone apparently...
Oh well... They'll bitch at me for it getting tangled, but they're not able to set the unit up on their own... (well they could, they're just convinced that I sprinkle some magic rigging dust on things and they always work) After they're done bitching, they'll come to their sences and put op the bag, or cut the effect all together... I guess I shouldn't care since it just pads my paycheck, but I hate to be a part of stupidity even when I have tried to steer them in the right direction...
Posted by Backstage at November 11, 2003 10:40 AM