# why isn't the Fog to going across the stage.



## MircleWorker (Mar 18, 2006)

My first show in this space was Les Misérables. During Javert's suicide I had C02 fog shooting across the stage. In rehearsals it worked great flowing across the stage, awesome effect. Well, opening night comes and Javert's scene, fog starts to flow and bam hits an invisible wall center stage and flows into the pit. On the headsets everyone started to question the problem. knowing what is happening I started to laugh. During rehearsals the HVAC system wasn't running so no effect on the fog.

I ended up putting the fog machine in the orchestra pit and placing the outlet tube on the DS center edge and shooting the fog upstage.

Also, found out that the smoke detectors go off with chemical fog.


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## soundop (Mar 18, 2006)

MircleWorker said:


> Also, found out that the smoke detectors go off with chemical fog.




let me guess they went of fin the middle of the show? yooure supposed to disable the theaters smoke system for when you shoot fog, also another way to get fog to go is to hide fans on stage so they keep blowing the fog


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## Chris15 (Mar 19, 2006)

MircleWorker said:


> Also, found out that the smoke detectors go off with chemical fog.




soundop said:


> let me guess they went of fin the middle of the show? yooure supposed to disable the theaters smoke system for when you shoot fog, also another way to get fog to go is to hide fans on stage so they keep blowing the fog



Just be careful, in some situations only certain people are authorised to isolate areas of a fire alarm. It has something to do with being liable if the building burns down whilst the alarm was isolated. I believe that in some cases only the fire brigade is permitted to isolate areas of the alarm.


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## cutlunch (Mar 19, 2006)

MircleWorker said:


> My first show in this space was Les Misérables. During Javert's suicide I had C02 fog shooting across the stage. In rehearsals it worked great flowing across the stage, awesome effect. Well, opening night comes and Javert's scene, fog starts to flow and bam hits an invisible wall center stage and flows into the pit. On the headsets everyone started to question the problem. knowing what is happening I started to laugh.



Just a reminder CO2 fog also known as dry ice is heavier then air and if it gets into a place lower then the stage eg orchestra pit it can displace any oxygen there. Normally you won't use enough to be dangerous but it is something to keep in mind for your safety plan.


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## soundop (Mar 19, 2006)

thats the other reason you put a fan down there-the way they designedour school is so only the fire depratment can shu down smoke alarms


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## BillESC (Mar 20, 2006)

Radio City Music Hall in NYC is the same way, there is about a 2 MPH draft from stage left to stage right. You have to create fog from stage left otherwise it just reaches center stage and returns to where it comes from.


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## MircleWorker (Mar 21, 2006)

all I know is that I can't fog the piss out of the stage. Haze will give me problems also.

As For dry ice in the pit thank goodness that the "Theater Consultant" didn't consulted the HVAC system too. There are air supply and return vents down there.


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## saxman0317 (Apr 9, 2006)

soundop said:


> let me guess they went of fin the middle of the show? yooure supposed to disable the theaters smoke system for when you shoot fog, also another way to get fog to go is to hide fans on stage so they keep blowing the fog


one word....ILLIGAL!!


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## saxman0317 (Apr 9, 2006)

Chris15 said:


> Just be careful, in some situations only certain people are authorised to isolate areas of a fire alarm. It has something to do with being liable if the building burns down whilst the alarm was isolated. I believe that in some cases only the fire brigade is permitted to isolate areas of the alarm.



now federal law...no permemnant instailations in a public building may be shut down, deactivated, or tampered with in any way shape or form...FELONY!


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## Foxinabox10 (Apr 9, 2006)

SaxMan, you are wrong on this one. It is legal for certain people with certain permissions to disable certain parts of the building's smoke dectectors for a temporary period of time. It is also legal in some circumstances to cover the smoke dectectors with covers. Talk to your building supervisor to find out specifically for your area.


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## Chris15 (Apr 10, 2006)

saxman0317 said:


> now federal law...no permemnant instailations in a public building may be shut down, deactivated, or tampered with in any way shape or form...FELONY!



Be careful what you say. Here in Australia I believe that this is NOT the case. Certain people are permitted to temporarily isolate areas of a building's fire alarm. Fire alarms can be set off not only by theatrical effects but by construction - eg. wood dust obscuring optical detectors or by say carpet laying. Now if it were not legal for anyone to isolate a part of the fire alarm system, fire fighting agencies would forever be getting called out to false alarms. Not even politicians are stupid enough to legislate that. 


Foxinabox10 said:


> It is legal for certain people with certain permissions to disable certain parts of the building's smoke dectectors for a temporary period of time. It is also legal in some circumstances to cover the smoke dectectors with covers. Talk to your building supervisor to find out specifically for your area.



This would be the case in most of the world I assume. Its like here in Australia, only members of the fire brigade are permitted to reset a fire panel after an alarm. Now given that most people here are linked in with schools, you would need to check who is authorised to isolate the fire alarm. Unfortunately, I believe that in most cases, students would absolutely be forbidden to isolate alarms. It may be that only maintenance people can perform the isolation.

It goes without saying that if a fire alarm has been isolated, then when the activity for which it was isolated has concluded, the fire alarm needs to be restored to a fully operational state.

Note that throughout, I have used the term isolate. Saxman may be correct. It may be illegal to shut down, deactivate or tamper with a fire alarm, but by isolating, the fire panel will still detect the "fire" but it will not begin alarm procedures and when isolation is performed, it will only be for the ares in the building in which the reason for isolation is occurring, thereby leaving the rest of the building protected.


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## JahJahwarrior (Apr 16, 2006)

Ihad a very similar thing happen to me once, the fog just stopped at a certain point...I didn't even notice it from my spot in the wings very well, but afterwards, several people were blown away by how I could control the fog. Turns out, well let me explain, it was for a "human video" (skit/drama with no words, done to music), and on DSL were the demons, smoking, drinking, etc, trying to entice this one guy to follow them. the fog had stopped between them and guy, making it seem very much like, i dunno, hell or something? red lights, fog, and it all stopped at a very definite point, thanks to HVAC that was apparently running. But like I said, everyone loved the effect and complimented me on it for a good while before I even figured out what they were talking about


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## BillESC (Apr 16, 2006)

In most situations, turning off of a smoke detector or fire alarm system can be done but requires a "Fire Watch." A Fire Watch is simply one or more firemen on site with extinguishers in hand. 

NYC which has very strong fire protection codes required us to have 3 firemen on hand when we did a pyrotechnic show in the Hilton's Ballroom for a private party.


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## CHScrew (Apr 16, 2006)

They probably turned on the air conditioners for the shows, that they never had on for practices. Maybe there was a vent center stage and blew it into the pit??


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