Fake eggs

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
I have a scene where kids throw eggs and hit a car.

Now I know that the contents of REAL eggs can damage the paint of a car. Further, the could also cause a dent or a scratch on the paint.

Sooo....how would you make fake eggs that will "splat" against a car like a real egg, but without doing any harm to the car at all? (We're talking practical effect here, not digital.)
 
Mark Williams said:
Blow out the contents of the egg and fill using a large syringe (no needle) with a less harmful liquid. Seal with white wax. I doubt the breaking egg shell would harm a vehicle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE19g_OCZms
Click to expand...

Well I had figured on that, but what would be a less harmful liquid that would still look like the inside of an egg? I would still worry that the sheer velocity of an egg filled with liquid might cause a dent. You know how flimsy car door panels are these days. :-)
 
Don't use eggs and don't use eggs that have been reloaded with something else. The edges of the shell can scratch the clearcoat on impact. That or use a car you don't care about, like my 1991 Plymouth Colt. You can throw all the eggs you want at that.
 
I'm pretty sure that an egg would have enough mass to dent a car. You could have a wide shot showing the kid throwing a fake egg, and cut to a tight shot of a real egg hitting a car panel from a parts yard.
You could probably replicate the egg white with some sort of mixture of pectin, gelatin, corn syrup and water (I'm not sure how to replicate the yolk though).
 
Probably the best idea is to use an old beater car that I don't care about. I actually have one sitting in my driveway as we speak. If the egg is immediately washed completely off, that would probably be fine. And what's one more small dent?

It would be nice to find a better solution for this, in case someday I need a scene showing someone's pride-and-joy car being egged. So I'm open to more brainstorming.

Thanks!
 
Real eggs. The owner of the car will show a nice natural respons when real eggs are trown and he sees the damage. Will add extra drama. :cheesy:


I didn't know eggs can damage cars. Of course American kids throw harder because they play baseball I guess.
What kind of a car is it? Is the car driving?

Would double exposing in post be an option? Throw eggs on a greenscreen?
 
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Pebbles and rocks bounce off cars while driving on various streets and highways everyday.

How much damage is an egg really going to do? I guess it depends on the car though.
 
NorBro said:
Pebbles and rocks bounce off cars while driving on various streets and highways everyday.

How much damage is an egg really going to do? I guess it depends on the car though.
Click to expand...

Pebbles and rocks chip paint and mar finishes every day too.

Don't think an egg hurled at a car would make a dent? Try it on your own car and see.

And it's not just dents and scratches -- "As harmless as eggs seem, they can actually wreak havoc on vehicle paint surfaces and cause long-lasting, permanent damage. The yolk that’s now smeared all over your car has to break free somehow, and the impact of the egg hitting your car causes shell fragments to burst over the surface in sequential rings, which cause scratches. Depending on the proximity of the pitcher, these scratches could be buffable or they could pierce the clearcoat, and sometimes even chip away paint to reveal the metal body beneath. Not only are the shells a danger, but the actual yolk and egg white are extremely corrosive to paint surfaces, and can actually eat into the car’s surface if left on too long."
 
I used tecktyl to protect my motor against dirt and salt during winter, a transparant coating. The tecktyl can be removed rather easy. A layer of tecktyl is invisible and protects the paint. Though a lot of work to remove it.
 
Depends on the car. Some old cars had thicker metal and I've seen it hail on one car with no dents while denting another. Also many cars have composite/plastic body panels. It hailed on my friends Firehawk and the rear quarters (metal body panels) dented while the others parts deflected it with no damage.
Paint damage as discussed is another possibility.
I would show the kids reeling back and throwing and then cut to a tight body shot of the eggs impacting. People like to see stuff splatting anyway :)

The only ways I think at the moment to pull this off in a situation where it needed to be on a nice car would be cheating it by using the above (tight shot is a cheaper car of similar color)
Or
Green screen eggs impacting and then take those composites, scale them down and apply on the real car footage.
The other option is CGI which you said was a no
 
Rust o leum makes a peel off primer you spray on the vehicle and then spray paint over that. Then when you want to change color you just peel it all off.
 
I read the reviews on the link I provided. Apparently that particular item is a fake and not the real 3M product. So stay away from that one and find the true 3M product.
 
Have them throw real eggs at the director off screen!

(just kidding)

In seriousness, can the eggs be thrown off screen and then show something like eggs hit the car? Or is that too complicated and might as well use the fake eggs in one shot?
 
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