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Special Section: Special Effects
A Special School for SFX
Look at it as the old “give a person
a fish/teach a person to fish” scenario—only
for special effects. Orlando
Special Effects offers fireworks, fog,
cryogenics, confetti and streamers
and more, sure; but now they
are offering tools for theatre people
to mix with their imagination for a
lifetime of great productions. Andy
Nicholls, Orlando’s CEO, has launched
a school that is “trying to create something
that if I had taken 20 years ago, it
would have saved me a lot of time and
trouble!” He adds: “It’s about learning
and being innovative.”
In this school, stagehands will learn
the nuts and bolts of special effects.
This includes hands-on experience
with what compressed air can do,
basic pyro skills, how to use fog effectively
and even how to get work. The
school will emphasize that there is a
lot more to special effects than just
pyro and fire—skillful and imaginative
use of compressed air can create
a simple air cannon that can shoot a
bowling ball across the stage.
“We’ll also be teaching about electrical
and plumbing components, and
understanding application of basic
hardware material, so in their future
productions they’ll be inspired to
make their shows a huge success.”
There are other perks too: the attendees
will come away with the necessary
skills to create a most awesome
haunted house.
Courtesy of Ben Nye Makeup
4 - Think film.
“In a typical production, there’s not
much going on in the upper part of
the stage,” says ZFX Flying Effects
President Terri Kirsch. “We like to get
Ben Nye’s Old Age Kits are helpful for letting younger actors look age appropriate for their roles.
somebody in the air.”
For Kirsch, all is fair in love and war,
especially when it comes to applying flying
possibilities to enhance a production.
“We’re doing a lot of fight scenes typical
to what you might see in a Matrix
or Batman movie,” she says.
“By applying flying techniques
with the right kind of lighting,
it creates a film-like effect that
is stunning and exciting.” That
stage punch takes on a whole
new meaning when the person
getting punched flies across the
room, or when two lovers are literally
torn apart from each other
and are flown to different parts
of the stage. “These aerial dance
numbers add another dimension
to the production—and people
go nuts over them!”
She says that these applications—and
things like dream sequences—are becoming
a trend, one that ZFX is anxious to see
continue to grow. “We have staff choreographers,
and we pride ourselves not
just on flying people, but teaching them
how to wear the harness, where to place
their legs and how to move their bodies.”
When done right, “audience members forget
about the wires and get wrapped up in
the moment.”
5 - Age your actors, and then make them
bleed.
Ben Nye’s Patricia Saito-Lewe says
they field questions from high school
theatres a lot when a 16- to 18-year-old
actor is playing a Mom or Dad and wants
to look the part. “We have an old age
kit, which works well for theatres large
and small.”
But perhaps more important is the
hair, where just a touch of gray can
add believability to and actor playing a
40-something character. “Last year we
developed Ivory, a new color designed
to work on darker hair,” she says. “When
you put a Snow White-type color on
dark hair it would have a tendency to
36 June 2010 • www.stage-directions.com