Foggers - Hudson sprayer
 

Charles Papert mentioned in another thread that there were foggers operated by a hand pump called Hudson sprayers.

Has anyone used these as fog machines? If so, how? What do you put in for the. . .um. . .fog solution? Can I cover a decent sized area of ground (trying to create a ground mist) with this thing?

THIS WILL BE FOR AN OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENT

Also, someone recommended a bee fogger. Where do you get these? What's the cost? Fog solution?

I have worked with a number of fog/smoke/haze machines for stage use. Be aware that this whole topic has become emotionally charged with various lawsuits and new regulations for performers unions. A new report came out just recently "Atmospheric Effects in the Entertainment Industry: Constituents, Exposures and Health Effects". You can read it by following the links at http://www.soeh.ubc.ca/research/reports.htm.

> Can I cover a decent sized area of ground (trying to create a ground mist) > with this thing?

My experience has been with indoor stage use. In this situation, the type of machine that makes smoke wouldn't give that low lying mist... smoke rises. We would use a dry ice machine to get a ground-hugging fog. You can also get "chiller" units that work with the smoke machines to create this effect. Perhaps smoke would behave differently out in the open if the ground itself is cold?

LeMaitre makes some nice fog/smoke/haze machines. You might be interested in their LSG (low smoke generator). For more info see http://www.lemaitrefx.com/fog.htm. Other companies to check out at Rosco http://www.rosco.com/main.html and CITC http://www.citcfx.com. There's also MDG http://mdgfog.com but their site seems to be "under construction".

You should be able to rent these machines in most major metropolitan areas from theatrical supply houses. I guess that using smoke/fog outdoors may be less of a health issue than working with it in an enclosed space, but you should still be careful. I imagine it can be challenging to get fog to behave the way you want outdoors considering the variables of temperature, humidity and wind. I know that we go to great lengths to make it do what we want on the stage!

I shot a movie trailer that required low lying mist for a "morning fog" outdoors. We used the standard oil based fogger, electrically powered.

It was shot in a meadow, early one october morning. The mist clung to the ground and rose slowly. Worked perfectly, There was however, NO BREEZE. (Thank God) and it was very cold that morning. ONe fogger, with the tech walking around on an extension cord, seeding the meadow and the camera view.

Good luck
Bill

Ridley Scott uses smoke and steam all the time. If you watch Black Rain you'll see distant smoke in lots of street scenes. I've wondered what he uses to produce so much white smoke.

I think he uses Dragons.

Jeff! HAHAHA!

Cheers
Aaron