spectrum.rosco.com: Since their introduction in the 1970s, fog machines have remained among the most commonly used piece of special effects equipment in the entertainment industry; including stage, film & television, and theme parks. Prior to the fog machines we use today, fog & smoke effects were created by incinerating flammable materials such as mineral oil and even used tires. Using a professional fog machine is a much safer and more effective way to create a smoke effect on set.
12 comments:
This is an interesting superficial look at how fog machines work, but it gave me a baseline understanding. It’s interesting that they didn’t mention the era of dry ice when talking about historical ways of creating fog and haze onstage. They have lots of different styles of fluid and machines, but it’s interesting to me that they don’t sell some sort of more efficient delivery system. Many times when you go see a production, they either have the machine sitting right off stage and it very clearly comes from one point or it’s piped (which I imagine decreases the efficiency and pressure.) Unless I haven’t seen this product, there seems to be a hole in the market for efficient and stylish delivery systems. I’m imagining some sort of disperser much like a garden hose that has holes in it so it’s very even and seems to come from everywhere. I’d be interested to see if that product exists.
While this certainly wasn’t the most riveting article out there, it was interesting to learn about how fog machines work. My only previous knowledge of fog machines was that the one that was my cue to enter in a show junior year didn’t work and got me all flustered. Now, I know a little bit more about how they work and process. I guess it makes sense, but I didn’t realize how many different types of machines and fog fluids are out there. I think it would have been interesting to explore more about the history of fog machines and how they have changed throughout their beginnings. It makes me think of dry ice and how that might’ve been used to create fog effects in the past, though the article didn’t mention that at all. Another aspect that I hadn’t thought about before was how audiences and crew members might make the distinction between fake fog and real smoke. It makes sense that crew members would know if there is supposed to be fog or not, but I suppose anything can happen. It’s fascinating that this brand added a specific scent to the fog fluid so that people can be assured that the fog is fake, although I’m not sure I would recognize that as an audience member who hadn’t smelled the scent before.
We have talked a lot about the use of fog machines as stage managers in classes. This is especially since there are so many rules and regulations in Equity about how they are used because there have been so many cases of long term illness from actors who were around the old style (and much less safe style) of machines. I think that this was an interesting article to explain how fog machines that are safer work and how the industry has progressed. I am really interested in where our industry goes from here and to see if we can come up with even safer methods. I also think that fog in general is an interesting topic when it comes to a show because it’s such an overlap when it comes to departmental jurisdictions. Scenic is normally who brings it up, then lighting has input because it messes with their design, sound has a bit of a say because it can mess with sound levels depending on how much is used, and the list continues.
For someone who has used fog machines in anywhere between fifty and a hundred percent of theatrical productions they have ever worked, I know embarrassingly little about fog machines, haze, and how these machines work. Working with smoke machines has led me to one of two conclusions: One, they seem to malfunction a whole lot or two, maybe they do not malfunction all that much and literally everybody is just really bad at using them and getting them to do what they want. Like Owen, I am a little surprised dry ice was not included in the history of making haze, because, even in high school, dry ice was a way that my troupe made haze for shows. There was also a guy who put dry ice directly in his mouth. I do not really know how he managed to get out of that one unscathed, but he did.
I suppose I never really thought about how a fog machine works before. On my end of the process, it is just something I ask the lighting folks to turn down when haze goes crazy in a space. I can't believe people used to just burn things to get this effect, and the detail about tires being one of those things was mind boggling. The description of the elements of the machine was really helpful, although I've never met a fog machine that works perfectly so I'm not sure what that curse is about. I think some of the challenges around fog often make me less excited to work with them, but this article did a good job of explaining what should happen. I'd be interested in more of the history part of the article, like other solutions they came up with before the modern machines we use today.
This was an interesting read, but more due to me having very little knowledge on how a fog machine works. I’ve used fog and haze for a good number of productions I’ve worked on. And while I know there are number of rules and regulations from AEA, I did not know the fundamentals on how a fog machine works. I’ve heard stories on how fog machines can malfunction a lot, though that is something I have personally never experience. Plus, base off the article, it seems that every machine requires certain things in order for them to function properly. So maybe these stories come from people who didn’t properly read the instruction manual and just assumed they can use any type of fog fluid in their machine. I also appreciate the little history tidbit on how people used to burn things in order to get a fog effect. It’s good to see how far we’ve come from doing that.
Oh, this was interesting. I'm the curious sort who likes to have everything broken down, knowing the mechanics helps me understand how to put things into practical use. It's never enough to just "press the button", I want to know precisely what pushing the button does! So, I enjoyed how comprehensive the article was without losing me in the technicalities. I think it's also important to know as a stage manager who will likely work with fog machines throughout my career; if one is malfunctioning, I might be able to sort out the issue or at least pinpoint the likely cause of the problem for someone else to sort out.
It reminds me of using "dry ice" machines for a ballet and it breaking just before a dress rehearsal performance. This was the "large metal barrel with a basket that gets filled with dry ice and dunked into hot water" technology. One of the barrels sprung a leak and shorted the circuitry. I wasn't an electrician so I couldn't solve the problem, but understanding enough about how the machine was constructed allowed me to find the right people to swiftly fix it. Communicating the exact problem to them effectively saved some valuable time.
I always love learning about how things work, and I thought that this was very interesting. It was surprising to me how simple a fog machine is. I thought it would be much more involved (and maybe machines exist that are). Myself, I have never used a fog machine on a production I've worked on, but one summer when I was in high school one of the employees at the company I worked at overfilled one of the fog machines, and I guess they couldn't drain the fluid so we had to leave it running nonstop in the backroom of our shop. I've seen them used in a few productions and it's impressive the effect they have on an audience member. When I first heard of fog machines in theater productions, I figured they would just swamp the stage in thick fog. I didn't know they had so many controls and could be used so effectively in drama.
Taking a bit of a diversion from the usual social-justice articles I tend to read, this specific article breaks down the fundamentals of how a fog machine is composed/works. Fog machine technology of its current iteration was introduced in the 1970’s, and it is said to be one of the most used special effects elements even in the present day. One of the things I found especially interesting was the mass amount of different types of fog fluids for different applications of usage. There are a multitude of fog liquid types that produce a fog ideal for anything between lighting fog to atmospheric fog to clear fog, and so on. When thinking about fog machines on a basic level, you never really stop to think about whether or not there are more ideal productions of fog for specific usages, but taking a step back after reading this article, it makes a lot of sense that this technology has developed a way of idealizing it for a multitude of usages, especially with how common its usage is in modern times.
Most of the time, I don’t think it’s too important for a stage manager (or a production manager) to understand the inner workings of a tool, but I’m surprised to say I’m glad I know more about how a fog machine works now. For example, knowing that, “If the fluid is pumped too quickly, for example, too much fluid will flow across the heat exchanger and cause it to cool down too rapidly,” could help explain why the machine needs to be on beforehand and warmed up, and why certain cues need to be called when. I also like being reminded that the fog fluid is non-toxic and should not be harmful when purchasing the proper fluid for the proper machine. I love that Rosco got a cute little Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for their development of fog fluid for production—I didn’t know this kind of honor existed!
I did not know that fog machines were the most used special effects equipment in our industry but thinking about it, it makes sense. I also did not know that people used to burn materials to make the effect. I am glad that we have put a lot of research into making this effect happen in a safer way. After looking into the descriptions of how the fogger works, it seems extremely simple overall for something that is such a cool effect. Another thing that I hadn’t researched into too much is all of the different fogger fluids and the different effects that they can make. I wish that I knew more about this when I was a lighting manager in my undergrad. It can be important to get the right liquid for the effect that you are going for. Otherwise you can waste a lot of time trying to get an effect that isn’t possible with the product that you are using.
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