I need to build 2 sets

[Azmyth]

I need to build a cave inside of a warehouse building, and I need it to look realistic with stone walls. It would need to be circular shape enough to hold several people and be large enough to replace a "real" cave. There would be a fire pit in the center, and some other fabricated props surrounding it. I'll need to set off an explosion in the cave.

what kind of costs am I looking it to construct something like this and it look realistic? Also what sort of permits and things would I need in order to set off explosives inside a building.

I also need to build a small 1800's village front (think of it like those old wild west stunt shows). A few buildings lining a street. What kind of cost am I looking at having something like this constructed.. on the cheap end please!

(I don't need to do this.. but I'm curious as to what it might cost)

 

[Egg Born Son]

I wouldn't let off a real explosion indoors even if you were allowed. The pressure has nowhere to go. If you want a michael bay-type explosion use cgi. You won't be allowed to anyway. Otherwise I'd isolate the individual elements of an explosion and simulate them. I'd go for a big dust cloud like when they let off dynamite in a mine.

 

[Azmyth]

I wouldn't let off a real explosion indoors even if you were allowed. The pressure has nowhere to go. If you want a michael bay-type explosion use cgi. You won't be allowed to anyway. Otherwise I'd isolate the individual elements of an explosion and simulate them. I'd go for a big dust cloud like when they let off dynamite in a mine.

Wouldn't CGI explosions look terrible?

 

[Egg Born Son]

Cgi won't kill you, your cast or crew; or worse yet, destroy your camera! You wouldn't get a classic movie fireball in an enclosed cave anyway. Not enough oxygen. You'd be better off rigging some kind of air cannon using a compressor and use a dust and rubble analog (flour and painted foam chunks?) and blast that out so that the dustball envelops the camera. Just thinking out loud though, I'm an armchair expert. I'm mainly responding out of concern for your wellbeing at the words fire and explosion! There might be some in between option like using hydrogen which converts to water when ignited (often demonstrated indoors at science shows) but it will look pretty weak compared to cgi. It burns very fast and translucent and you'd still want some kind of fire control just in case. If you burn down the warehouse without getting some kind of authorisation you'll get done for arson or worse. Maybe someone else knows a good product but you'll have to invest in a pyrotechnics technician if you want real fire. If the warehouse is big enough maybe some rock concert type pyro is doable but you'll be paying for a crew and emergency services on standby. How bad do you want that explosion?

The cave is much easier, foam or plywood covered with a render then texture and paint. You can spend a little or a lot.

Is this for seven toe maggie or something new?

 

[maranfilms]

Hey azyth, you might consider digging it into the ground with a small excavater, , like a trench, then cover the top with bendable 1/8 inch lamenant to get the shape. just thinking it might be easier to do it that way.

 

[Azmyth]

Hey azyth, you might consider digging it into the ground with a small excavater, , like a trench, then cover the top with bendable 1/8 inch lamenant to get the shape. just thinking it might be easier to do it that way.

I'm not doing any of this, I'm just trying to get a rough idea on what something like this might cost (and it look hollywood level on an indie budget)

Someone else claims to be doing it, and I want to see if they are full of crap or not.

 

[Pickthorne]

Way back in the day I was an IATSE construction carpenter for a couple of years. Had the opportunity to work on the circular cave that was to be Magneto's rec room in X-Men; it was a crew of about 75 as I recall. Other than that I ran builds for theatre for 5 years. Many differences, but here goes.

It will still take – and this is a big guess, lots of info missing here – 420smile man-hours. That's a crew of 6 working 7 hours a day for a 2 weeks to build and paint. 6 x 7 x 10 x 25 per hr =
$10500

You'll need someone to run things, provide the bigger on-site tools, and hopefully make some drawings for everyone to work off of.
$4000

Materials and expendables...um...
$6000

Add insurance and site rental, waivers and legal...ah...
$7000ish

Pyro. Keep in mind that practical explosions are rarely detonations, which I believe Egg is thinking of. On-set they are usually lots of smoke and bang and flying cork etc. Also the propane campfire.
$5000

None of this includes and lights, grip or other crew at all. And I am going to be way off as I have never really run a build including pyro for film. Just best guesses:

$32,500. Bokeh is the new scenery for a reason.

Cheers,
Craig

 

[Erik Olson]

Don't ever, ever use flour anywhere near pyro. Flour, especially upon dispersion (as in, after is has been distributed by a debris mortar) is extremely flammable. You should use Fuller's earth instead.

On the sets, with low-no budgets, you'd get a much more realistic result securing a practical location for both that you describe.

 

[paulears]

Pyro people can be found fairly easily - don't be tempted to dabble in pyro unless you have been trained properly. It is very easy to hurt people with pyro.

100% on the dangers of flour. Flour mills were notorious for blowing up - hence why even hundreds of years ago, mills were never operated at night, because of the dangers of naked flames!

The figures for doing it 'properly' and doing it on the cheap can be very, very different - especially if your time is free. If you look at old sic-fi movies you see rocks frequently carved from polystyrene and painted. Back then, they were less aware of the hazards of the material. However, if you can control heat sources, then paint and styrene from old environmentally unfriendly packing can work really well. It's also possible to make the roof collapse with this stuff with pins and string for really low/no budget projects. Do you have local amateur dramatic societies in the area? They're usually brilliant at making scenery for little money!

 

[Egg Born Son]

Don't ever, ever use flour anywhere near pyro.

Ah yes, I should've of mentioned that. I was suggesting either/or but I probably wasn't clear enough. Flour can explode all by itself even just in hot weather (there's been some major fires in storage bins near where I live over the years).