Slow Burning Flag!!!!!

[Chance5]

Woohooo have a question at last to post to ye member's

I want to shoot a burning flag on film so i can wack the frame rate up, but anyone have any tips on making cloth burn slowly.

Also i want to get quite tight in on this flag, any general cinematographic tips on filming fire, Really want to avoid flaring.

[eidde]

No idea how to make cloth burn slowly, but my advice would be to do this:

Shoot on film - for several reasons:

-You can Speed up the fps as fast as you like. This will give you a slo motion shot, and as many frames to work with as you like. You can then find the speed you want in post.
-In my experience fire looks fantastic on film, it just looks like something burning on video - nothing much special.
-Exposure - set to general surroundings and you will avoid flare - and if you dont, the white out on film will be nicer than on video.

Ive done this several times, (during daylight) and the results have been good. It was easier than I thought it would be.

BTW that sheepfilms guy is a genuis!

[Chance5]

Going to be digging out my Bolex H8 for this merry adventure @:-)

[twister!]

I shot some fire on DV last year and it looked good.

[Chance5]

Do have a bit of a moral issue about burning the flag, but i m sure that will pass with alcohol .,

[m0dsie]

Shutter speed?

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Curtains burn slowly but well, usually.

[Tard]

Does it have to be a one-shot, or would it be possible to burn multiple flags (each set & lit in the same position) for multiple takes? Y'know, like porn videos do to make cum-shots last so long.

Just a thought, but you might try experimenting with rubbing/melting a bit of parrafin wax into the cloth before burning it. Dunno how it would affect the speed of burn, but it would be a slightly different visual effect. Likely a larger flame of a flag, so it doesn't look like tissue-paper ashing away. Just experiment.

[Chance5]

thats not a bad idea re curtians, might use a old curtain on the back of the flag,

Call to Flag Shop:

me; I would like 3 large thick Tricolore flags please

them: certantly sir, are they going on a flag pole ?

me; nope, i plan to burn them

them: oh. Well sir im afraid im going to have to shoot you

[Actor]

anyone have any tips on making cloth burn slowly.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The way to make anything burn slowly is to starve the fire of oxygen. If I had money to burn (pun intended) I'd provide an oxygen/argon atmosphere and experiment with various ratios of oxygen to argon. I think argon can be obtained from welding supply shops.

Lacking the money to buy argon I'd substiture carbon dioxide, which is cheap. Do a pre-burn to reduce the amount of O2 in the atmosphere and increase the amount of CO2..

In order to keep the amount of CO2 (or argon) to a minimum I'd place the flag and the O2 starved atmosphere inside a box with glass front and back walls. I'd also try to use a miniature flag. This has the added benefit of allowing your cast and crew to work in an oxygen rich atmosphere so they won't pass out or possibly die.

[nunquam]

-Slightly-damp flag might burn longer.

-Does alcohol burn with a visible flame? The alcohol would burn first and then the flag, allowing you to shoot longer.

-Or flag and burning paper or wood just out of frame, giving the appearance that the flag is fully-engulfed, and then the flag burns?