Create a building exploding

JonB

JonB

Well-known member
I'm working on a video, and in one scene, our actors make it out of a building just before it explodes. What do you think the best way of doing this would be? I thought about using After Effects to create the explosion, but feared it might come out looking too cheesy. Theres a VERY short time frame for making the video, so there wouldn't be enough time to create a 3D exploding building. The best way I thought of would be to take video of a building imploding, and composite that in the background. Does this sound like the most sensible way for what I'm trying to do with my time frame? Is there an idea I'm missing? Thanks!

Jake
 
I think it's a question of time, budget and how much detail you can afford to show.

With some clever quick camera moves and edits you could, on a very tight budget, give the impression of a building exploding.
e.g: flying debris with loads of blur, flames shooting out windows, ect.

The higher your budget, the more longshots you can get. And maybe start looking at miniature models to help out I suppose.

Probably a ton of ways and combinations of techniques to get the final result. Depending on what you want specifically and what you can afford.

It's kind of a general question. Story boarding the sequence may help in solving the indivudual shots.
 
That makes sense. Yeah, budget is very low, as is time. But thanks for those suggestions!
 
the cheesy classic action movie way is to film your actors running towards the camera, jumping as if pushed into the air, all filmed against a green screen, then behind them composite the building and a fake explosion. But it's so cheesy it will get giggles even if well done.

Or go practical, with very tight shots of the actors first illuminated briefly by the 'explosion' then hit by the 'burst' then by debris.

Sound will make or break it.
 
When you light a lighter, and spray deodrant. You get a small flame thrower.
If you get a giant deodrant can, you can have a giant explosion.

It's risky, but maybe if there's something flamable that can spray outwards. Then maybe you can have your act dive out of a doorway, or just get round the corner, and then burst the fire through a window.

Not all explosions are fire based remember.

You could have a smoke bomb, a dirty kind of explosion. Glass smashing. Polystyrene painted bricks fly, earth, sand and so on. I'm sure there's a few Youtube tutorials for smoke bombs. Otherwise I'm sorry I have no idea.

Best of luck with this, I'm looking to accomplish something similar. Though with more time and some kind of practical explosion. I'll keep checking back.
 
I ended up buying some stock footage of a building demolition and composited it in with my actors pretty well. I also had various "other" shots of windows exploded, parts collapsing, etc, etc. All together it didn't look too shabby for a 5 day start to finish.
 
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