Breaking out window on second floor

Andrew, again, being honest. The people on the wire won't look like they are falling. Also you are going to have to connect that wire to somthing outside of the window. And I just read the synopsis of your show. I would re-think this whole big shot that you have planned. It involves or seems to involve your cast of 12 "teen-age characters". Depending on what you are trying to do, you will have to stunt double ALL of them. Because you are dealing with minors you are going to have to have set teacher/welfare workers there to protect them. You will also have to have a guardian on the set for each of the minors. Then you have to find either stunt double kids, or better yet, adults that meet size and "the look" to double the kids. Again, to be really honest, you are painting yourself into a corner that has a large "can of worms" in it. But that is just my opinion.
 
I would try to think about different angle of camera. Can you use a corridor in the first floor? So you can let them jump safely? You dont have to be right behind them with camera, it will be enough to have wide shot of the corridor, you only see twelve silhouettes jump out of the window then cut to the landing shot.
Actually, if you wont miss the stunt, the noise of the shattering glass, medium shot of the ground with pieces of glass falling in, and then people landind with more glass would be a powerful shot even without seeing the window. There is so many options...
 
It doesn't matter if they are related to you or not. The Welfare people probably won't allow you to use kids. I know, i do stunts for a living, I have used kids, I have used both of my daughters. Even if I am the stunt coordinator, I cannot be the guardian for my child on the set. It has to be someone that is not working that is designated.
I think I have about played out on this thread. I have tried to help you, but seriously at this time it is all conjecture as to how you should do it. Best of luck to you.
 
Could you not just suggest that this has happened rather than show it... You could have the camera on the outside of the building, framed on the window, and the actors jump out and land straight on the ground, as this would be a first story window. this would look like they were jumping out of a window and you could use the sound of them landing and afew shots of them landing on the ground to show what had happened....

What you are proposing sounds like a minefield of organisation and safety....
 
just build a padded ramp/slide (with padded little side walls for saftey) that comes up to just beneath the window .. since this is only a one story jump, youve only got to get the people to jump slightly out and they just slide down the ramp to the ground. if you use green screen covered padding, you can key it out and do a clean plate motion track of the real ground below to replace the ramp when you look over the edge. using a slide, stunt people can pretty much just run/hop off the end of it when they get to ground level. curve your slide enough to take away downwards momentum and push the people forward at a level where they can stand up at the end and move away.

anyway, by using a slide your really reducing the chance of someone getting hurt from a direct fall of the full height, or landing directly on top of someone. of course someone can slide into someone else, but that not nearly as bad as getting landed on. it also serves as a way to keep people moving through at a higher rate than having them try to get up and out /off of something before they get squished. saftey is still a must as always, but they really only need to practice sliding down and running off together one group after the other. its just safer all around.
 
Just a question... if you're going for realism here have you thought back to how realistic it would be for 12 people to jump out a second story window to begin with? That doesn't seem like something anyone would take seriously in a movie, even if you shot it well and it looked real.

Why are they jumping out at all? I don't know the story, and in fact I have only read your first post since all your others don't show up for me here. Could you maintain the same dramatic pulse if you had the actors form a line and climb down a rope, lattice, drain pipe, etc. to get to the ground? Or maybe have a pond or body of water (or a dumpster) under the window, and have them jump in groups into that.

Making the shot safe doesn't have to be done completely behind the scenes... think of practical ways to make this easier without losing the intensity.
 
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