Dani Christ Sarah Ebmeier
Marilyn Markowski Ashley Simmons
Designing Special Effects
• Our task was to design five special effects for a play
called “Mario and Luigi on Sabbatical.”
• Our effects enhanced the play by adding visual aid and
increasing the humor of the play as the characters
reacted to our effects.
Operating Under Constraints
• Our team
successfully
accomplished the
set-up and take-
down of the effects
within the 5 allotted
minutes.
• Each member had
a responsibility
which she
successfully
fulfilled.
• Our team operated our
special effects using a
switchboard located
twenty feet from the grid.
•The board was
connected to a
control box from
which wires ran to
the effects.
Enhancing the Play
• We hid our effects behind bricks made from red poster board, which
made the set look like a room in the Nintendo game.
•They went off on time and added humor, surprise, and visual
aid to the play as the audience and the actors reacted to them.
Effect #1: Falling Bottles
• The bottles added
humor and surprise as
they fell directly onto
Luigi’s head at the cue
of Mario’s line.
• The bottles were
oversized and
decorated with “Jump
Cola” labels to make
them seem as if they fit
in a Nintendo game.
Design
• Fishing line holds
the bottles at the
top of a cardboard
ramp.
On cue, a switch controlled solenoid
with a razor blade attached to the
plunger contracts, cutting the line and
releasing all six bottles at once.
Effect #2: Falling Snow
• The sudden, unexpected snow
shower surprised the
characters and the audience.
• It added aesthetic appeal to
the scene as sparkling white
flakes fell softly on Mario and
Luigi.
Design
• Our team drilled holes into the sides of a mailing tube
and attached a motor to the end of the tube. We
mounted the tube horizontally onto a wooden frame.
• As the motor turns, the shaft of the motor revolves the
tube, releasing snow though the holes.
Effect #3: Flying Clouds
• The flying clouds surprised the
audience and the characters
as they seemed to magically
appear on the set. We cause
them to move out from behind
brick barriers by the command
of a switch.
Constructed two dimensionally
from poster board, they looked
like the clouds in the real
Nintendo game and seemed to
drift back and forth across the set.
Design
• We built two apparatuses and mounted one
to each end of the grid.
• We attached a revolving wheel to each
apparatus and tied a rope in a loop around
the wheels.
• The clouds hang from the rope and drift
back and forth as a motor attached to one of
the apparatuses turns the wheels.
• The motor is switch operated and can turn
the wheels in forward and reverse
directions, depending on the command we
give the switch.
Effect #4: Flashing Light
• The flashing light
shined a alternating
red and green spotlight
on Luigi, making his
body seem “blink” and
creating a strobe effect
• They added to the
chaos and suspense of
the scene.
Design
• We constructed the
spotlight by
constructing two
triangular cardboard
frames around two
small yet powerful
lamps
• We mounted two of
these spotlights side by
side on a wooden block
which hung from the
grid.
• We covered the opening of the cardboard
frames with red and green saran wrap to
make the light shine red and green.
• We used switches to turn the lamps on
and flash the colors alternatively.
Effect #5: Balloon Popping
• The balloon effect
surprised the audience
and added to the
abruptness of the play’s
finale.
• It was activated on cue to
create the sound of the
mother pulling the plug of
the game at the end of
the play.
Design
• We constructed an
apparatus in which a
balloon is held on a
wooden block.
• Above the balloon lies a
hollow tube with a small
screw held at the top by a
washer and a solenoid.
• Attached to the solenoid is a
nail which is positioned
horizontally across the tube
through two small holes.
•When the solenoid contracts and pulls the nail out of the
tube, the screw falls onto the balloon, popping it.
Safety
• Our team took several precautions to
ensure the safety of the actors as well as
the engineers.
•Affixing caution labels to
areas of danger on the effects.
•Constructing a guard to place
over the blade on the bottle
effect
•Emptying the liquid from the
Jump Cola bottles to prevent
them from hurting the actors
•Encasing our relays in a
plastic box to prevent
electrocution
Pow!