I'M GOING TO BLOW UP A WAREHOUSE....will you help?

F

FilmBoy77

Veteran
Check this out....I'm going to be shooting a short film next month and have a scene in a warehouse where a small group of fugitives (4) are hiding out until the military police blasts one of the walls out with a tank from outside.

I plan on having a green screen covering the wall that will be blown out and a VFX person will take care of the blast, the fugitives are standing in front of it and they fall to the ground once that wall is busted out. When the smoke clears there are only two of them alive.

What I was wondering is what is the coolest way I can film the portion where they really feel the impact? I was wondering what practical effects I can use to REALLY make it look like they feel the impact? (ie, hair blowing from blast impact, etc)

Any ideas?
 
The classic solution would be an air cannon to safely blast fake debris and dust over the talent - I believe they require an experienced FX person, as they can be dangerous if misused. To look convincing, you need that big blast of air somehow - you might be able to work something with a huge fan or similar, but it won't be easy. Most zero-budget options (e.g. talent throwing themselves across the set) tend to look pretty fake.
 
Put a harness under their clothes and jerk them away from the blast with cables. Brush the cables out in post. The steel cables can be very small since they are not required to safely hold the people up; only jerk them forward. The harness can be as simple as a rope or belt.

Another possibility is to have people dressed in green push the actors from behind. Think of an NFL tackle hitting someone - well, don't hit them that hard.
 
Yea I am going to need a couple of those green suits anyway for a different scene so I was thinking about that too.
 
You might want to consider a series of fast cuts CU's of the actors as the blast goes off. This can intensify the drama and add to the effect.
 
kennedymax said:
You might want to consider a series of fast cuts CU's of the actors as the blast goes off. This can intensify the drama and add to the effect.
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That crossed my mind too and I was toying around with maybe shooting each of their vantage points of the blast in slow motion possibly as well.
 
Paul F said:
Put a harness under their clothes and jerk them away from the blast with cables. Brush the cables out in post. The steel cables can be very small since they are not required to safely hold the people up; only jerk them forward. The harness can be as simple as a rope or belt.
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This is an extremely good way to injure someone (actor or puller) on your set if they are not experienced or wearing the right sort of harness. A belt or rope is not the right sort of harness.

Don't do this.
 
Here's a safe, very low budget idea. Frame the 4 fugitives tight enough so that their feet do not show. That way, every part of their bodies (which are visible to the audience) are in front of the green screen. On a cue, all 4 suddenly go into a slight crouch. In post, do a sudden zoom in at the cue point. It will look like the bodies are suddenly flying toward the camera. Of course, you do NOT zoom on the animated background plate. As long as you only hold on the flying bodies for a half second or so, the effect should sell. Probably, the next shot would be a reverse angle of a couple of the fugitives falling on their backsides, then moaning and struggling to get up. Might want some dust in the air for that shot. Dust would be OK for that shot, since the camera would be facing away from the green screen.

You can do a fast zoom faster and more precisely in post than on set, and create the illusion of bodies flying faster than real bodies could with a harmess. And any loss of resolution will not be noticed, since the effect is for a fraction of a second, and with violent motion.

BTW, it might be nice if you could hide a light way down low, well out of frame, then flash it on the explosion cue that the actors use. Make sure that "flash" light isn't flaring the lens too much, or you might have trouble with the green screen effect.
 
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William_Robinette said:
This is an extremely good way to injure someone (actor or puller) on your set if they are not experienced or wearing the right sort of harness. A belt or rope is not the right sort of harness.

Don't do this.
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Agreed, a wire pull is standard enough work for an experienced professional stunt-person and crew, but potentially very dangerous for amateurs.
 
I would think that anything that "blasts debris over the actors" runs the risk of inflicting damage to their eyes. If it were me, I'd use the air cannon to blow their hair and clothing, and insert the debris digitally in post.
 
Ken Hull said:
Here's a safe, very low budget idea. Frame the 4 fugitives tight enough so that their feet do not show. That way, every part of their bodies (which are visible to the audience) are in front of the green screen. On a cue, all 4 suddenly go into a slight crouch. In post, do a sudden zoom in at the cue point. It will look like the bodies are suddenly flying toward the camera. Of course, you do NOT zoom on the animated background plate. As long as you only hold on the flying bodies for a half second or so, the effect should sell. Probably, the next shot would be a reverse angle of a couple of the fugitives falling on their backsides, then moaning and struggling to get up. Might want some dust in the air for that shot. Dust would be OK for that shot, since the camera would be facing away from the green screen.

You can do a fast zoom faster and more precisely in post than on set, and create the illusion of bodies flying faster than real bodies could with a harmess. And any loss of resolution will not be noticed, since the effect is for a fraction of a second, and with violent motion.

BTW, it might be nice if you could hide a light way down low, well out of frame, then flash it on the explosion cue that the actors use. Make sure that "flash" light isn't flaring the lens too much, or you might have trouble with the green screen effect.
Click to expand...

I think Ken has the right idea. However, a zoom -- whether in camera or in post -- won't really give the right effect. What you really need is a fast dolly into and past the actors.

As you zoom, the relative position of each actor to the camera, as well as to each other, never changes. A fast dolly into and through the group will give you a much more real look. You can always speed up the footage in post to make their movement past the camera seem even faster.

Just my 2 cents.
 
This is old but... THe last idea is I think on the way to a low budget solution. Since you are green screening anyway, move the camera, and use a big fan. It's going to take some discipline (and probably a bunch of takes) but what I would do is have the actors do the "just before" the explosion and call out FREEZE. Fire up the fan, maybe use some smoke and light foam "wall bits" (or add in post) and when you call Action again the actors lunge one way and the camera jerks the other. I would probably also change the camera position so the blowing up wall is "visible" behind them. You are also going to shoot a plate of this position so it doesn't matter what is in the shot outside of the greenscreen behind the actors. In post on the cut the wall is going to be blowing up so even if the actors move a bit the audience should miss it.

A good thing to look at for this type of shot is some of Seth Worley's films for Red Giant such as Plot Device. Red Giant also often has a making of tutorial on his films where he shows you the "tricks".
http://www.sethworley.com/

As a big budget film doing a low budget "fake", The Fifth Element early on when she punches through the glass cover. Single frame around that moment and you will see that they swap out the glass cover hor one with a hole "broken" through it a frame or two before her move.
 
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