History

The prototype for the Genuine Imitation Steam Controller™ was born of frustration resulting from yet another late night struggling with an existing home made cracker fogger. Each time that old machine was fired up the studio filled with dense smoke of which a fraction was then crudely forced through tubes to the set. The resulting effect was inconsistent, at best. The director urged, "More steam!" then, a moment later,"Less steam!" He became agitated, exclaiming, "Can you make it go slower?" and, as he stepped away from the camera in frustration, "I've got a forest fire, here!" Our shooting ratio, as it related to the steam effect was less than 6:1 not counting the problems with lighting, camera, and client complaints.

We were using what was considered the "state of the art" cracker for tabletop at the time. Indeed, that old machine had gotten us through many shoots. Conditions were changing, however, as our clients now wanted steam on every shot and the ever-demanding production schedules could not accommodate the poor shooting ratio. That fateful night, our frustrated director resolved to address the problem, once and for all. Soon after, he initiated a sort of design competition amongst several tabletop special effects riggers.

Several months later the studio received three workable prototypes from three different special effects riggers. All represented significant design improvements. Each was ingenious in it own way, as each rigger had his own unique approach. Over time, however, the prototype that evolved into the Genuine Imitation Steam Controller™ prevailed and is now finally offered here.

The technology behind the Genuine Imitation Steam Controller™ continues to evolve. Early in 2010, Jerry Svoboda manufactured a third generation model of the Steam Controller - Studio Model™. Click here for a short description and slideshow related to the construction of the ultimate tabletop effects machine.