Flaming Hands.

S

staypuft85

Active member
For our next comedy video we want to have an actor's hands on fire for 15-30 seconds. I've looked around online but haven't found anything. Does anyone here know how to safely achieve this effect?

I'm sorry if this is the wrong spot for this post, but I couldn't tell where this question fit.

Anthony
-Nuclear Corn Jacket

EDIT: We have a guy who can do some after effects work, but we'd prefer to "do it live" (pardon my O'Reillyism)

http://www.nuclearcornjacket.com
 
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We have someone who can do the after effects work but we'd really like to be able to do it for real. We realize the risks involved and that's why we're trying to find the safest way to go about it.
 
Im a pyrotechnician and our company uses indoor pyro (for weddings etc) that burn cold. infact they burn below freezing, the sparks are very cold.

Im pretty sure we do cold burn flame projectors (just shoots fire out the end of the tube)

You could probably buy these and put the powder on your hadns but I wouldnt want to try it...
 
Seriously, with a Maya and a great visual effects artist, you could duplicate exactly what was done for "Johnny" in Fantastic 4 when he engulfes his hands in flame. This would give you the best control over the look and feel of the fire, as well as the color, exposure, and the other technical issues with trying to shoot real fire. If you do it well, which the program CAN do, it be incredibly realistic.
 
Personally I would shoot practically. Fire effects will tally you up a huge sum of money to do right. It can be done in maya. I do it here and there. Just it isn't an easy (or cheap) thing to do in post. You need, not only it done great in Maya or what-have-you, but composited well.
 
Thanks guys, we don't have the money for any maya effects. We work on an extremely low budget. It took us awhile to put together the gear we have and we try to not spend more than 50 bucks per video.

I'll look into those Nomex gloves. I'm just wondering how much we can make them look like hands rather than gloves.
 
I would NOT do this yourself without knowledge on it.

You are dealing with fire. Though the gloves are fireproof, what happens if you talent starts on fire? Leave this to the professionals or VFX. Do NOT try this at home for 50 dollars. You are severely risking your talent, the production, and most importantly, a life.

Hire it out or scratch it.
 
think too about the shots you need - is the actor waving their hands around franticly trying to douse the flames? Running around the set? Or staring in puzzlement at their flaming fingers? How close up is the camera shot? If it's a comedy, how 'realistic' do the flames need to be?
 
Burns are FOREVER! Don't try this without some professional supervision. I know how to do it and have. However, I can't tell you because I then become liable for injury. Even with nomex gloves on you need to have protection underneath the nomex and 30 seconds is a long burn. A couple of companies have developed new burn gel that allows you to put the accelerant directly on the skin.
http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/572905/2831108

THEY WILL NOT SELL YOU ANY OF THIS!

Please, if you are going to dream these stunts up and write them into your movie, think about how you write it and how you are going to get it done. Usually writing the stunt so that there is some sort of protection for the actor/stunt person is the easiest way to go.
 
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