controlled fire (w/supervison)

controlled fire (w/supervison)-how to make in-camera special effects


 





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Author Topic:   controlled fire (w/supervison)
lyvewyer
posted 12-20-2000 09:05 PM              
in an upcoming zombie movie im doing, i want to have a road blocked off by fire. before you close this thread, or tell me "no pyro on the board" just remember that i plan on having either the fire dept. present or no fire at all. but the idea that i had, was to set up a peice of plywood on bricks, to avoid contact with the asphault. then, lay ashes down under it, to prevent any dropped flames from catching fire to other things, and then lighting the board on fire. my question is, with the proper angles, would this look good, like the road was blocked, or would it not be beleivable.

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"i dont feel the need to explain my art to you." -A.J., empire records
never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.


if ignorance is bliss, why arent there more happy people? -unknown


visit my site www.novicepictures.com

multimedia light & magic
posted 12-20-2000 09:58 PM              
hey lyve, you're going to need one hell of a permit to burn that i would imagine.

i have been doing controlled fires with my grandfather and uncle since i was about six. it's lots of fun!

tips
1) only burn small patches, get the right camera angle that's all you need.
2) dear god don't use anything like gasoline.
3) make sure you have a permit, i'm only suggesting this because i thought you've gone through all the legal work, and have been approved to do this.

when i was six or seven, my grandad dumped a can of gasoline all over this small space...10 m by 10m. huge can. anyway, he tossed a match in, and we all dove for cover, because he had dropped it right next to an open back-up tank. i remember the earth shaking, and my grandfather going around without eyebrows.

note to the mod squad - i only posted this as i mentioned above, i'm not looking for trouble.

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the raven flies backwards at midnight.

FXMan
posted 12-21-2000 08:08 AM              
So far I see no infractions. As for your "controlled burn" you will likely have to jump through several hoops in order to get this done. Just having the fire department on site when you do this isn't enough. You have to consider closing a public access road (if it is) and then getting permits to start the fire in the first place. It's likely you'd have to have insurance to be allowed to do this since any damage to the road would have to be insured most likely before they'd let you do it. At least, that's what I'd do if I were in the position to be using someone else's tax money to repair a road that got flame damaged. I'd require you to be insured. But I don't really know for sure.

Also, you MIGHT check with your local fire departments and see if anyone is doing any fire training where they set things ablaze on purpose for training new fire fighters. This time of year I guess it's pretty unlikely but you never know. And maybe they can tell you if there's anything set up where they're going to do that. Then you could talk them into letting you film (for stock) and maybe they'd even accommodate you by doing what you needed done (in their own controlled areas). Just some suggestions. But whatever you do, the utmost care and legal avenues should be taken to insure you're safety and anyone else's as well as keeping you from jail time.

But so far the discussion isn't breaking the rules. You're not talking about HOW to do it but rather what you'd need to go through to get this done. And that's ok.

FXMan
Moderator

[This message has been edited by FXMan (edited 12-21-2000).]

lyvewyer
posted 12-21-2000 02:51 PM              
thanks for the replies, but i believe that i have the answer that i need, ill just do through some tricky editing.

------------------
"i dont feel the need to explain my art to you." -A.J., empire records
never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers.


if ignorance is bliss, why arent there more happy people? -unknown


visit my site www.novicepictures.com

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