A Tiny Puff Of Smoke

GenJerDan

GenJerDan

Veteran
Any suggestion on how to make it? What I need is a real tiny puff or stream of smoke, possibly accompanied by a small flash of light.

The effect I'm looking for is like a plane that crashed in the distance, beyond some hills, but a somewhat comedic one...so just a little puff, not big black oily smoke...

I do not have any of the fancy-schmancy computer programs for this (unless someone knows how to do it in Blender), so it should probably be a practical method. :)
 
Is the effect in the distance? Has it got to be quite a big puff of smoke that looks small compared to what would happen if a plane crashed?
 
I just used the plane crash as visual desciption of what I need. It's not really a plane crash...unless it's a cartoony crash.

But I think I figured out how to do what I need. A flashlight bulb with no glass + a nice shot of DC, and I should get a flash and little wisp of smoke. Then I just composite it into my scene.

Sound reasonable?
 
Not sure how much "a tiny puff of smoke" is, but here is an idea.

A small body carbon film resistor will make a very controllable and repeatable amount of smoke if over driven. You will need a decent power source (a lantern style 6V battery would be fine) a switch and the resistor. Assuming that you use a 6V source, then a 1 Ohm, 1/2 Watt resistor would be 72 fold over loaded by applying 6 Volts across it. If you need more burn, you can parallel a few resistors, or to lessen then burn, put a few in series. The resistors will cost a few cents each purchased retail.
 
Any suggestion on how to make it? What I need is a real tiny puff or stream of smoke, possibly accompanied by a small flash of light.
Click to expand...

I think you could do it in post. I shot this with a small Panny GS120 (not for a great image, just a test):



http://www.foroflamenco.com/movies/internetshopping.wmv (Windows Media <1Mb)

I brought in some free footage of a spark and some smoke from http://www.detonationfilms.com/free_stuff.htm

I used Vegas to set up the master video as an alpha source, together with the sparks, as compositing children of the smoke.

Note: Smoke and sparks were dodged in compositing.

Then Event Pan and Zoomed them to the right size and postion.

Not sure if that is technically correct, as I was finding my own way around the evaluation software but with some free sound effects, it worked for me.
 
baby powder on a black matte. key out the black. squeeze the baby powder to get the puff. they used it austin power's Goldmember to get the puff of smoke that comes out of the ejection seat of his shaguar in the beginning of the movie (the part with cruise and spacey and the helicopter).
 
GenJerDan said:
Any suggestion on how to make it? What I need is a real tiny puff or stream of smoke, possibly accompanied by a small flash of light.

The effect I'm looking for is like a plane that crashed in the distance, beyond some hills, but a somewhat comedic one...so just a little puff, not big black oily smoke...

I do not have any of the fancy-schmancy computer programs for this (unless someone knows how to do it in Blender), so it should probably be a practical method. :)
Click to expand...
:thumbsup: :beer: :thumbsup:
Get ready for this
It was suggested by an old book in the Margret Herrick Libaray in Los Angeles (that is part of the academy library)
1)Take the distant part of your scene a photo or a zerox photo or a painting and turn it up side down ,
2)put the dvx on 60i(for slowmotion ) or (24p for somewhat slow similar to 32fps in 36mm) in front of an aquarium.
3)THE AQUARIUM
is topped with water and or water and glycerine with clear flat glass on all sides
4).The surface of the water at the top of the aquarium is sealed with celophane to prevent wave form disturbance .

5)using your assumed story board frame .Locate the area for the flash and the puff of smoke with the dvx finder on ( no tape in camera as yet )

6)using a penlight or lazar light penflashlight with the desired area which lines up with the upside down background scene ,
7)you must rig something like a mini c stand out of a wire coat hanger and the battery is removed and wires are run to the contacts on the penlight to complete the circut without shaking the damned pen light all over the place .
the penlight can flash into the lens or flash onto some scotchlite which has a overlayer of a fire scene .

now for the trick
8)load the the dvx with tape
9)Place it the dvx upside down in a cinesaddel or placed in a nook of sandbags for a locked down shot .for a pan shot put the sand bags on a piece of round plasctic and a larger square cooking tin under it.The interface is coated with stp oil treatment . Now you have a rube Goldberg fluid head (something like Disjectas towel dolly!! )

8)do a test dropping india ink(thicker ink is better ) into the hole in the celophane at the top of the tank .You should see a nice uprright scene with a flash from the penlight and the resulting smoke (india ink ) rising from the crashed plane .
10)of course film or should I say tape every single test.
as you continue this test the water will get darker which may help or hurt your scene .
It is possible to backlight the xerox or transparency scene with an apropriate light .
Good Luck
I am using these effect in my sci fi often .The framing does not need to be flat procenium or stage -like framing .So work hard with your number 2 pencil and paper or a storyboard artist before your rig all this messy crap .
Good Luck and Happy Filming
Cheers
Bruce



:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
GenJerDan said:
Somehow, I think it would be easier to just crash a plane.... :grin:
Click to expand...
:shocked: :laugh:
you are right except that i have felt that many people see digital effects as digital so
I just offered an anolouge or low tech method .
If you saw "independance day : the sci fi there was an effects supervisor ,Volker Engel ( from Germany !!) who I spoke to on that production.
They did a suprising amount of low tech - cloud tank and penlight effects .
I too would statr wit the digital effects first ..but if it looks "digital" Id statrt considering these home brew remedy issues .
Good Luck with your project
Bruce
 
Might be too "violent" a combustion for what I want. I think I'll try the light bulb first and see how it goes. If I remember correctly from doing it accidentally, it might be just what I need.

But magnesium is SO much fun. :)
 
Or put some potassium into a gelatin capsule, then flush it down someone's toilet.

Oh. Wait. That won't give the effect I'm looking for.

But it sounds like fun, anyway. :)
 
Hehe I was just joking Bruce =D

Cesium is an alkali metal, in the same group as lithium, sodium, potassium, and rubidium, and is similarly reactive, but to a much higher degree due to its extreme electropositivity. I've seen video of this stuff dropped into water and even a gram was enough to blow up a gallon ceramic container. I'm sure it could destroy more. It reacts explosively with water, and with ice down to -116 C. In air, it catches fire spontaneously and burns with a purplish/blue flame (Cesium come from latin caesius "sky blue"). I believe it goes for about 30 USD per ounce.

Of course, potassium and, say, sodium are more than enough for those of us inclined towards explosions and it's much, much, cheaper and a hundred times safer (though incredibly dangerous still). Of course, I can't recommend blowing anything up with these chemicals as it's insanely dumb without a pyrotechnician. If you have the right people and training though potassium and/or sodium would do the trick splendidly.

For instance (the following is "weaker element" sodium).....

LakeExplosion.JPG


And a video clip or two.....

http://www.tb3.com/pyro/Sodium01.mpg
http://www.tb3.com/pyro/Sodium02.mpg

Of course, sodium nitrate is used in all sorts of explosives and is commonly known as "saltpeter."
 
This a great reply .
Very informative .
I noticed the quote by Churchill which i love .
Have you any roots from the UK?
Many people forget that where chemistry is concerned that it was this "neck of the woods" was tops !! .
I believe that sometime early in the last century, it was a British Chemist, who started the discovery of industrial "dye stuffs"
..Was it Indigo ?
then Aneline ?
thence it was taken over by a German Chemical lab for asprine and explosives?
Also
I think
GETTING BACK TO DVX MOVIE MAKING
So much now adays LOOKS digital so.....
That someone may start a thread on safe Special Effects Chemistry
using such catagorys as :
crystal growing(time lapse)
and more tame reactions between sugar and certain solutions that could be seen in (slow motion ) .
Again ...Thanks for taking time to post a great reply !!!
Cheers
Bruce
Blast I forgot all my chemistry by memory notes it has been so long
I look them up in my notebooks and post them here .:) :shocked:
 
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