TSM 08 Rain without water

Outline

This is a project by Susan Scott, created as part of the TSM 08 classes, to research a way to achieve a rain effect on the New Athenaeum stage without using water. This page will give details of the process as well as equipment used, it's operation and approximate costings.

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Materials

The 'Rain'

As my project is about making rain but without using water, the first aspect i needed to look at was what material could be used to simulate the rain drops. After looking at several references online i have settled on using uncooked rice to achieve this effect.

pros

The rice (when falling en mass) gives a convincing 'downpour' look and it also bounces off of set pieces and people similar to how rain splashes. Another positive aspect to using rice is the sound it creates as it hits the ground - it is basically a large scale rain stick - and is therefore saving the need to source a convincing sound effect.

Cons

There are few cons to using rice in comparison to the pros.