Hellfire is one of the more badass names for a side project, wouldn’t you say? Sounds like something you’d hear in a war movie. This project is a lot sillier.
Arcane Season 2 began airing on November 9th, 2024. Episode 3 opened hard to a montage of Caitlyn and Vi, decked out in Hextech, with two other enforcers (and the traitor Maddie), storming the Zaun sewers in search of Jinx. The scene is meant to foreshadow Caitlyn’s descent into authoritarianism - the ventilation ducts were designed by her mother to purge the Gray (toxic smog) from the Underground, and Caitlyn weaponizes the humanitarian invention to search the depths while terrorizing any unfortunate soul that gets in the team’s way. The infiltration happens to the song “Hellfire,” and you quickly forget that Caitlyn is violating some fantasy version of the Geneva convention because the song is so damn catchy. It immediately went on my showcase playlist, and for months the idea on how to execute the song in a theatrically chaotic way has been rattling my brain.
This blog will go over the engineering and development for a series of props and theatrical devices that I’ll be making to recreate elements of the music video:
Caitlyn’s Gun, Vi’s Gloves, and the Enforcer Masks - although most of these will only be used briefly, they’re meant to set the scene on stage. My duet partner and I will enter from behind the curtain as if we’re infiltrating the stage - the only sources of light being the lenses of our masks and the glow of the hextech weapons on us.
Fog Machine in a Smoke Grenade - one of the lines in the refrain is, “pull the pin and watch it blow.” This is meant to be the first surprise of the show - the props we have on us will lay out the layer of smoke that’s meant to represent the Gray. There are already several handheld smoke machine in the market, so this is a simple task of converting one to fit in a prop and have it able to drop it from 20 feet up without it breaking.
The Kabuki Drop Machine - In the music video, Caitlyn stands in front of a series of wanted posters, each showing a sketch of Jinx. While I could begin the act by setting up a new backdrop, that’s boring and doesn’t add the element of chaos. When the first refrain hits, the kabuki drop will fly a new backdrop down.
The Hellfire - The final apparatus. At the end of the song when the refrain hits a second time, hellfire will rain on the stage. For safety, I can’t rain actual fire on the stage (pyrotechnics are definitely not allowed indoors for a space adorned with a bunch of fabric), so I’ll be designing the next best thing - a confetti tumbler.
So why make all these props? Confetti tumblers commercially available, and commissioning props be more time-efficient. While it’s possible to purchase a kabuki drop device or a confetti tumbler, neither would be custom-fit to the performance space, and nothing commercially available (as far as I’m aware) has the ability to sync with performance lighting routines, which is the unique aspect of the third and fourth prop I’ll be designing over the next six months. The major technical devices will sync with the studio’s hardware for light changes, ensuring that they trigger in sync with lights.
That’s the rough kick-off summary for this project. Will try to target weekly design status updates - lots to accomplish in a short time!