Fake explosions

[nate_dog]

I start shooting a low-budget war movie in a week. I've got everything down (script, costumes, location ect.) but I would like to include some low-budget explosion.

Now, I'm not expecting to hire a pyrotechnician but I would like some suggestions. My only idea is to either completely have the explosions off camera and rely just on sound effects
or somehow have dirt being kickd into the air and add an explosion in post. Any ideas?

Another question is how to create smoke, and lots of it. Smoke grenades here cost $12 a piece. Gasoline is a little too dangerous.

Help will be appreaciated.

[Mods]

Okay, you're from canada so I don't know the pricing, but here's my solution.

LOW COST EXPLOSIONS
1) Buy some deodarent/aerosol cans. The spray stuff that makes you smell fresh. Get a metalic coat hanger, or clothes hanger thing and tie three or four around each other. Now, get a small fire going and place the bundle of aerosol cans on top of it (but make sure they dont destroy the flames). You might want to find a small metalic bucket to create a fire in, and perch them on top.

Note - make sure they face UPWARDS. This is not only for safety reasons, but also because it produces the best explosion effect.

Camera - You might want to put your camera fairly near to the explosion, and have your cast behind. Don't have anyone within 2 metres cos they could get hit, but if you've got you're deodarant cans facing upwards, they'll be fine.

Also - there's no telling whether they'll "BANG" or whether they'll "WHOOOMPF". Bangs will make people wonder whats going on, so try not to do it where there's people around.

Problems - the only problems with this effect is that if you use an open fire (it doesnt have to be big), it may cause problems for continuity. I mean, if a grenade went off, there wouldn't be a fire already lit for it to explode on. Position the camera accordingly or use a metalic bucket that you can camoflage.

DO NOT JAM DEODARANT CANS INTO THINGS, like pipes (as mortars) or the metalic bucket, keep them as loose as possible - otherwise the explosion is **** .

WEEDY BASTARDS - Don't throw the cans on the fire and run away. They won't explode for at least one to two minutes, so place them on carefully, then set yourself up. It'd be best to get everyone position, get the camera rolling and THEN place them on the fire.

2) Lighters. Yup, normal cigarette lighters often go up a treat, and don't need as much fire to make them BANG. Whereas with deodarant cans you'll get a 1 in 2 chance of nice rolling flames, with cigerette lighters (gotta be plastic ones, cheap ones work best) it's a 1 in 5 chance.
Just bung a few on. Again, TIE THEM if you want them to explode together.

NOTES THIS FAR
Just remember, using these low budget methods, it would be VERY hard to synchronise them, for example, have some guy running through a field and one goes off, then another goes off in the same shot. Very tricky.

DIRT EXPLOSIONS
This is also possible. Get a sturdy board, cover it with mud, make a kinda see-saw and jump on one end. Really, it can look effective, esp if placed near the camera. It's not that easy to make BIG dust explosions tho.

PETROL BOMBS
Yes, I admit, we have used them before. They can work okay, but can also be dangerous. Remember, you NEED to throw them before they explode, and they WON'T just explode if you hold them and it's alight. Ask me if you don't know how to create them (petrol bombs aka molokov cocktails).

SMOKE
The best way is to buy smoke bombs. As many as you can. On a settled day, you could make a helluva lot of smoke. Also, I do recommend smoke grenades, even if its just a couple.

FINAL SOLUTIONS
- Paintball grenades, they bang, they flash, and coloured paint sprays out of them.

DISCLAIMER! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I will not be held responsible for injury. But seriously, you can create some decent effects using these methods. NEVER resort to adding explosions in with SFX software, its sh1t, make sure you DO THE EXPLOSIONS YOURSELF.

Finally, what I've told you here won't make HUGE explosions. The only way to do this is, buy some expensive fireworks, stick 'em in the ground upside down and they'll explode nicely. You can also buy those fireworks that "explode" on the ground, they're very effective, and ******* cool!

[img]smile.gif[/img]
Mods

[deanl]

Hey there.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do non of the above. YOU WILL F*CKIN DIE..

Do if off camera untill you can afford to do it properly.

Despin out.

[Mods]

Despin, don't be silly - you won't die. You've just got to be sensible about it and do it right. I.E, make sure deodarent cans always face upwards, make sure people are 2 or more metres away.

[ac_01]

HOLY S_H_I_T!!!! deoderant/aerosol cans!!!???!!! You wont die!!??? So confident he is of this fact he puts a legal disclaimer!!

[DPlatt007]

What we have used is those theatrical flash pots, put the contents of two into one pot, glue stiff card over the top and bury in the ground to a depth of about 6 inches, backfill the hole with loose soil, run the wires out and set off with a 9v battery. Works a treat every time. The best make for the Flash pots is 'Le Maitre', the last time we did this for a film, they blew holes 3ft across, so it really looks the part. It is fairly safe as all that is thrown up is the loose soil.

David A Platt
Progress Film Productions.

[zTolerance]

Well you can always use the "ZoomBOOM":



Just have somebody with a bucket full of dirt and other stuff next to you.

[Chance1234]

ouch! deodrant cans !!!!! highly not recomended


cheaper than a can of deodrant and much safer , thunder flash charges ,(try stage effetcs places or even paintball places)

and they look something like this

[Mods]

Zoom bomb
Interesting effect, but very low budget style/strategy. I mean, if you used some real explosions and had the occasional "zoom bomb" (like Saving Private Ryan) that'd be cool.

chance
Yeah your ones are cheap, but honestly, they're not that stunning. Whatever you used in Deadlights, they looked like little puffs of smoke as aposed to actualy bombs going off.

deodarent cans
Okay, don't use these. Let me, and I will continue to have nice explosions in my movies. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Mods

[zTolerance]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">but very low budget style/strategy.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

I usually work with no budget at all.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">they looked like little puffs of smoke as aposed to actualy bombs going off.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Remember, Puffs of smoke can always be made into huge explosions with loud sound effect.

Plus a little note: Things in front of camera are always bigger than the ones in the background.