Practical/cheap on set effects for a battle scene

[ronin99]

What are some practical on set effects that might be cool to use in a battle scene, where
you are trying to show stuff soldiers go through in war.

I remember seeing something eons ago about covering one side of a plank of wood with dirt
and then have the actor run over it, stepping on the other side, and the dirt would shoot
up in the air, it looked pretty good from what I remember and simple to do.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[Deer Film]

I remember seeing that too somewhere. Maybe try mixing the dirt with some other elements like flour. And off the side of the shot, add some smoke and have someone fan it into the shot.
Sounds like fun, let us know if you get some good results.
I always liked the opening war scene of Private Ryan and how they filmed that.

 

[Michael Carter]

Compressed air & PVC pipe cannons seem to be fairly common DIY builds. Load enough powdery dust in 'em and it looks like smoke. Anything along those lines though, you should consider long lenses which compress the shot so the subjects seem closer to the effects than they actually are.