Manic

Wilkie's Law: the greater the intensity of a situation, the more likely it is the surrounding machines will go down.

Soil the shirt you need to wear tonight and the washing machine will immediately go kerfutt! An urgent letter must go outwithin the hour: the printer will shed a belt.

In real life these inevitabilities are crushing, frustrating, maddening. But for the comedy videomaker such screwups can be a source of inspiration.

Not that simple breakdowns are the stuff of comedy-oh no. For true laughs we need to see the vacuum cleaner not simply cough to a stop, but explode in a great billowing cloud of dust. The dishwasher must not just clank lustily, but fully flood the kitchen floor.

This month we examine ways in which things fly apart, leap into the air, shake, rattle and roll-but always under our direction.

Vacuum Storm

Every vacuum cleaner has an outlet from which the air emerges. Some feature a hole in the back where the hose can befitted to blow back and remove blockages. This can be very useful for raising a cloud of dust that suggests the cleaner has destroyed itself.

The same gadget is a useful means of simulating such disasters as a window flying open in a howling gale or a tent flap lifting in a sandstorm. Look: Junior winds down the auto back window; the handle comes off he can't wind it up again. Outside rages a blizzard. Causing the terrible storm is the cleaner reverse jet directed at a tray of tom-up paper.

Or how about a scene outside the henhouse?

Pa, trying to gather the eggs, must face down the fearsome cock. From a skylight in the roof flies a sudden burst of feathers, testifying to the awesome battle occuring inside.

Because the hose is instantly directional, for such brief sequences the cleaner is a bit more versatile than a standard wind machine.

For clouds of dust Fuller's Earth is the recommended material although cement may be used on outdoor locations.

With cleaners where the vent is less defined it's often possible to channel the flow of air with baffles of hardboard or plywood.

To create a sudden whoosh it's only necessary to place a deflector in front of the flow, then pull it away on cue.

In some sequences the cleaner itself will have a starring role. Say it sucks up something accidentally, like the family cat.

Then, of course, we must see a bulge in the hose.

Such a bulge can be simulated by wrapping with cloth or foam plastic, covering the lump with material similar in color and texture to the hose. If it can't be matched exactly, adopt the special effects trick of coloring the old to match the new-paint the hose and lump in one color.

It might be amusing to see some wriggling in the bulge. This can be accomplished by setting the hose on a board, through which an operator sticks a…