# Magician Disappearing Effect



## khym (Jan 18, 2011)

Hi,

I'm production/stage managing a show which calls for a Magician character to disappear in a puff of smoke. I'm looking for an effect which is fairly simple and harmless as it will be in close proximity to the actor, but also happen very quickly and without noise (if possible). Nothing pyro-related as our budget doesn't stretch to cover training/equipment/licences. She doesn't need to disappear per se, we are happy if she is seen fleeing the scene and pretending to disappear (perhaps her character is just not a very good magician).

We're looking for something super cheap - I guess I'm looking at using a hidden fog machine? I was also looking for smoke pellets but am having trouble finding some in Sydney. Any suggestions/other ideas?

Thanks!


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## gafftaper (Jan 18, 2011)

Have you considered some sort of misdirection? Typically this is a flash pot pyro effect, but as you said that adds a whole new level of legal and financial complications. But the flash pot essentially does two things. It attracts the audiences attention and it briefly blinds them. You can do the same thing without pyro. Find a way to draw the audience's attention to another part of the stage and/or hit the audience with a flash of blinder lights. If you want to cheese it up a bit the old, "OH NO! What's that over there?!?" gag could be a great comic gimmick to "disappear".


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## CrisCole (Jan 30, 2011)

I've done "pyro without pyro" for years. Most insurance companies determine that Pyrotechnics uses combustible reactions to produce a quick explosion. 

That means fog does not qualify as pyrotechnics. 

If I were you, I would use a 1000 watt fogger with some ducting to force the fog to spray out in front of him.

Another easy way to get a quick burst of fog is cryogenics, or CO2. I've actually seen shows where they use a CO2 fire extinguisher to make someone disappear. 

I must say shame on them.

Anyway, many theatrical effect companies offer smoke in a can, which is just compressed fog, and can give you a quick burst of fog. Or you can simply blast some fog in front of him, and have him disappear. If you use small fans to make the fog go away quickly, then you can easily make it look like he disappeared.


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