Fake Colume?????

[Dirty Cricket]

Hello all, I haven't visited in a while, so I hope you are doing well. But I have a question for you. I am currently helping with the production design on a very ambitious project takeing place in Chicago for a movie called Burden (check out the webpage) Part of my task is to figure out how to make a replica of a colume that stands in front of a bank in downtown where we are shooting. Now this fucker is easily over 20ft tall, all though we only have to make 8ft of it, and it is at least 5ft in diamiter. My question is do you have any suggestions of what to make this thing from? I've reserched types of foams and thought about the idea of making just an armature but I am at a loss. A very large character has to be tossed into this thing so it can't shake and look fake and then a chunk of it has to fall off. Sooooooo, any ideas? Thanks

[TJ_the_director]

Round concrete forms -- they're made from a heavy duty cardboard. You might get lucky and find one from a construction site (highway bridges, high rises, especially parking garages) that was removed after the concrete cured.

[danr7]

Creating a fake column

Sorry to say, this actually sounds like a big budget problem. If I was the Production Designer on the shoot, I would start by separating the problems.

First, the set column. My first thought would be foam, too, but I don?t know how well it would work. Given the size and look needed, I would use re-enforced cardboard for the form and then cover it with plaster. Plaster can show up on film very much like stone or marble.

It also solves the problem of having a piece chip out and fall (you have the dust, the ragged edge, etc.). Since the column is so tall, you could even do the break out and fall as an Insert, so you could get it just right without having the actors stand around.

Second, the actor knocking into the column and it not moving. I can think of two ways that might solve this problem. The first is labor intensive; the second requires a blue screen.

Make a 2nd hollow column (we?ll call Stunt Column) that instead of being a complete cylinder, has a slot in the back. Find another location that has an angle that can be cheated to appear like your primary location. This location should have a stand-alone column (doesn?t matter what the column looks like) such as freestanding column on a house porch. Using the slot, put the Stunt Column around the porch column. When the actor knocks against the column, his weight will be transferred to the porch column which shouldn?t move.

Since this shot will probably only be on the screen a fraction of a second, I think I would instead use a blue screen. Shoot footage of the column in place. Then put a blue screen against a wall, put the camera at the same angle and have the actor hit the wall. Splice the footage together, add Foley effects, and you?re done.

Hope this helps.

Dan Rahmel
Author: "Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking"
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