For those performers, crew, and curious audience members looking to add some knowledge of pyrotechnics to their toolbag

One oddly vivid memory I have is from the end of the 2002 movie Big Fat Liar.  In the final chase sequence (spoilers!) Paul Giamatti is chasing Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes through the Universal Studios backlot, onto and off of various sets (must have been a busy day at the lot!).  One of the… Continue reading Foam Snow Machines

In ‘celebration’ of my final semester (where every one of my classes has one or more projects), I thought I would look up Murphy’s Law as well as any other bitterly humorous law relating to projects.  Do keep in mind Stigler’s Law though: “No scientific discovery is named after its original creator”!   Murphy’s Law:… Continue reading The Laws of Projects

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go on a backstage tour of Disneyland with my trade school.  We had an awesome weekend poking around backstage and learning about how permanent shows differ from the temporary shows we were used to, then, upon learning that we had a few Marvel nuts in our… Continue reading Thor’s Hammer and Electromagnetism

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a short lecture on turntables, which spawned the basis of this article.  I just spent some time doing additional research, and now I hope to create a guide for those first learning about theatrical revolves.   Types of Revolves In general, there are two types of… Continue reading Stage Revolves

Fog.  Smoke.  Haze.  All words for the same thing, right?  Well, no. Smoke is rarely used to create any sort of visual effect in the theater: the particles in smoke are just not healthy for anyone to breathe in over an extended period.  Smoke is defined as solid particulates in the air, created by the… Continue reading Theatrical Fog, Smoke, and Haze

A History of Fireworks The history of fireworks begins with the history of gunpowder in 9th century China.  Gunpowder was probably invented by accident (the compound is a mixture of only three components) but was soon used at both wars and festivals.  Within about a hundred years of the invention of gunpowder, some form of… Continue reading Aerial Fireworks

Researching fire stunts last week got me into a ‘stunt-y’ sort of mood, and what is one of the next logical stunts to examine?  Falling from height! My initial research only brought up people who had performed incredible high fall stunts.  In the Assassin’s Creed (2016) movie, stunt performer Damien Walters jumped from 125ft in… Continue reading Stunt Falling from Height

One of the main reasons that I chose to go to school in Middle-of-Nowhere, Missouri is that my school offers pyrotechnics classes down at the “on-campus” experimental mine.  It was during one of these classes (the very first day, actually) when I got a second-degree burn by wearing pants with too much spandex in the… Continue reading Full Burn Film Stunts

I’m not a girl scout.  Nor am I a girl scout leader.  But I was a girl scout growing up and I’m working to become an ‘entertainment engineer’.  I was cruising around for topics this morning and came across the Girl Scout’s Entertainment Technology badge for Juniors and realized “Yes!  This is something I can… Continue reading Girl Scout’s Entertainment Technology Badge