Live entertainment visual effects are always a great success with audiences. They can add a whole new dimension to your production, whether you’re producing a play, music concert, dance party, corporate event, sporting event, awards ceremony or PR launch. Live special effects can transform a production, creating memorable experiences and can enhance the mood and elevate your event from great to exceptional. Which is why they’re so enduringly popular across the board.
How events benefit from using live special effects
Effects can look stunning, add excitement, suspense, thrills, or jump scares; they can enhance your story, emphasise song beats, or celebrate victories and will help captivate audiences, putting them in a great mood and encouraging them to clap and cheer. Use them at the beginning of your event to introduce the key players, or to build to a crescendo at the end of a show, ensuring the applause goes on and on. The right special effects could even make the difference between your production getting a round of applause and a standing ovation.
Things to consider before adding special effects to your event
However, before you get trigger happy with the ‘Buy Now’ icon and flood your event with sparkle, fire and water, there are a number of things you need to take into consideration, the most essential being safety.
The safety of your stars, staff and audience is paramount
There’s no getting around it, special effects can be dangerous, which is why you need to take a lot of rigorous safety precautions when adding them to your event. The effects you can consider will depend a lot on the size of your venue and whether or not it’s outdoors or indoors. For example, a big sporting stadium has all the space you need to put a great deal of distance between people and effects, which means you can really go to town on the stadium pyrotechnics.
However, if you’re using a smaller venue, your options obviously become more limited. But that’s not to say you can’t employ some stunning effects for maximum impact. The Sparkular, for example, was invented specifically to bring the excitement of a flame jet indoors but without the dangers from the extreme heat, which is why you will also hear them referred to as cold sparks machines. So although you won’t have fire itself, its safety measures ensure you will have a much safer jet of sparkles that you can use in indoor venues of almost any size because it’s safe enough for your performers to get a lot closer to.
By taking essential health and safety into account in the planning stages, you can work out which effects you will be able to safely use in the venue.
Effects to match the type of event you’re producing and its staging
Depending on the producer’s artistic vision, some effects work better than others for different event types. For example, if you’re putting on a stage show, your effects will need to be confined to the stage area and placed so they contribute to key moments in the storyline but don’t interfere with the performers. For a club or dance event, you’ll want the effects to be all around the space so they will work wherever people are; however, the effects will need to be kept at a safe distance from the public which will have a bearing on the size and number you can use, as well as where you will be able to install the equipment.
It’s also important to work with the sound and lighting teams to make sure your planned effects will work in tandem with the acoustics and the stage lighting effects, not against them. Dynamic lighting and even strobe lights could work brilliantly alongside your special effects, but could clash horribly with them if the lighting intensity is misaligned. It is also important to ensure that where you locate the effects machines is in harmony with the sound and lighting equipment.
A good example of a client where there were many challenges to overcome when it came to staging was when we worked with Winchester Cathedral’s ice rink to install Sparkulars for their ice show one winter. The rink was in a marquee that had hanging decorations, so we had to take those into account as well as the performers and audience, and the large Christmas tree that was placed in the middle of the rink. With careful planning, different sized Sparkular machines and the right positioning, the Sparkulars helped the organisers produce a spectacular show.
Best effects for events
The good news is that the majority of special effects come in a variety of sizes, meaning whatever the size of your venue, there will always be a way of adding atmosphere, energy and thrills to your event production. Here we take a closer look at our most popular high impact effects that will help you tell your story, enhance the atmosphere, excite your target audience, and make your event even more memorable.
Making sparks fly
Creating spectacular sparking jets from cold spark machines that simultaneously add bursts of bling will really zhuzh up the event you’re producing. Sparkulars can produce jets of ‘fire’ that can be anything from 1.5 metres up to 10 metres tall, making Sparkular effects very popular across the board. They’re often used in music and sports events, especially when the stars are introduced and make their way on stage, as a way of adding visual excitement by being fired to the beat during songs.
Water effects
Water effects can make a huge impact too. With fewer safety risks than fire and sparks, people can get closer to them, making them a very popular backdrop at exhibitions and PR launches, as well as on stage. Digital waterfalls and water projection screens provide an interesting talking point and you can play with the flow of the water as well as the images being projected on it.
Dancing fountains are always popular, especially on light trails around stately homes and grounds. We have worked with RHS Wisley, creating computer operated dancing fountains as part of their winter light walks which have always gone down extremely well. And the best thing about the fountains is that they work as well in the daylight as they do when it’s dark and the coloured light displays are on.
Fog and smoke
If you want to create a foggy day or a smoky atmosphere, CO2 effects will allow you to create exactly how much you need. Smoke machines can produce anything from a low lying fog across the stage floor to powerful jets blasting smoke up to 15 metres into the air. Combine the two and you’ve got a great way of introducing the next act or sports star, building a sense of anticipation, then releasing excitement as they appear through the mist.
Confetti bursts
It’s the end of the show and you need that final burst of energy to get the crowd on its feet and encourage enthusiastic applause (and possible whooping), you can’t beat the transforming magic of confetti. Confetti machines can blast up to 20 kilograms of confetti across your stage, dance floor, or arena (including something the size of the O2) filling the space with fluttering colours that create an immersive experience, bring a song or a grand finale to life, and leave a lasting impact. They work equally well whatever size your venue – it’s just a matter of scale. You can also use battery-powered confetti guns allowing performers to fire out confetti themselves – they have become very popular with DJs and in clubs.
Special effects from EntFX
We have been providing special effects for a wide range of indoor and outdoor events – from product launches and PR shoots to arena concerts and international sporting matches. For nearly 20 years, our specialist team has worked with event planners around the UK and are well placed to help you create the perfect effects for your production, venue, stage design and lighting. Whether it’s Sparkulars, water effects, smoke machines, confetti cannons, pyrotechnics, or other special effects, we have the expertise and equipment to elevate your audience’s experience at the same time as taking all the safety considerations into account.
Contact us to discuss your vision and ways in which we can help keep your audiences entertained safely and create a lasting impression.
