The Full Story
(March 2008) Foam City Commercial with Sony
We had to build a foam generator that would fulfil a this tight brief, namely; it had to fill whole streets 3m high and 100’s of meters long in just a few minutes as the time was tight with limited shooting hours per day before the sun went down or the shop and business owners wanted their premises back! The system also had to be capable of pouring foam from the roofs of buildings so had to break down into components that were small enough to fit in a service lift or be lifted to the roof tops by “cherry pickers”.
We came up with a design which copied a concert speaker system we had seen, i.e. the complete system was made up of many smaller systems that were simply bolted together. The foam machines were made in such a way that they became modular and, like the speaker systems, could be bolted together on location and suspended in arrays. In this way we could create a foam generating system that was both portable as well as giving us the flexibility of suspending as many “heads” or “generators” as we wanted to give the Director (Simon Ratigan) the effect he desired.
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Having created the foam machines we now needed the foam concentrate. A standard detergent was not suitable as the Miami Authorities did not want this in the water course. We therefore developed a bio-degradable product which was mixed with water in such small volumes that the potential for any ill effects was virtually zero. Never-the-less, we also developed a food grade, de-foaming product, which when sprayed onto the foam caused it to “fizz away” which then made it easy to suck up some large road sweeping vehicles. We developed several versions of the foam product, one which was heavy, wet and poured like lava and one that was light, fluffy and was easily blown into the air - combinations of these two products enabled us to create the effect needed for each days shooting.
With the shoot over and the commercials due to be launched throughout Europe, under the banner “Foam City”, Sony is destined for another successful ad campaign and we have one of the largest, if not The Largest, portable foam generating system in the World - in stock!
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Facts and figures:
Minimum foam output (theoretical) 100,000 lpm (100m³)
Maximum foam output (theoretical) 2,000,000 lpm (2000m³)
Size when assembled 6m(w) x 3m(h) x 1m(d)
Water consumption (at maximum output) 1,000 lpm (1 ton)
Power requirements (pumps) 120A 415V 3ph
Power requirements (fans) 63A 230V 1ph
The “Foam City” foam generator is available for hire in whole or in part for large events, indoors our out, concerts, festivals, special effects, promotions, snow simulation etc. Please contact our office for availability and hire rates. Foam machines are available, ex-stock, with the following (*theoretical) outputs.
3,000 lpm (3m³ per minute)
10,000 lpm (10m³ per minute )
30,000 lpm (30m³ per minute)
100,000 lpm (100m³ per minute)
250,000 lpm (250m³ per minute)
500,000 lpm (500m³ per minute)
1,000,000 lpm (1000m³ per minute)
2,000,000 lpm (2000m³ per minute)
*note: We state “theoretical” outputs as some foam will obviously burst when it hits the ground or with people playing in it, also humidity and heat play a part in how much foam is produced and how long it hangs around for.
Live Video Clip... more pictures from SONY