Does anybody have any experience filming a scene that involves fire? For an upcoming short film we are looking to mix practical effects and CGI compositing to create an atmosphere of a suburban house fire (both interior and exterior shots). Aside from the obvious safety precautions being taken, are there any tips or hints you could give? Any unforeseen pre-production/production obstacles you faced while making a scene like this?
Anything Goes : Filming Fire by Michael Fodera
Other topics in Anything Goes:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
We're pretty well covered, the insurance company we have used for other productions offers coverage for these types of things. Although in the past we haven't had the need for insurance for a fire scene so I can't say one way or another if our insurance broker is the best in the business for fire coverage.
Action Essentials 2 https://www.videocopilot.net/products/action2/ is a program where you can add fire to your scene without having to get insurance. It's a post production add on. Good luck with whatever process you use. I'm all for realism but sometimes it's safer and cheaper to go another way.
There is another one for free but I think it may be a little cheap looking. I haven't used it. http://www.detonationfilms.com/
1 person likes this
Set white markers in the scene where you want the fire to be so you have clear tracking points. That's what I would do.
Thank you all for your pointers, I really appreciate it. Of all of the shots I know the exterior shots will absolutely need to be composited. The other shots to me seem a bit tricky to do it in post but with what Lyse is talking about I'm sure its doable. Pretty great thing to have so many options, just want to pull it off right no matter what route we go.
Just a great idea I once tried and came out amazingly: If you have an object you wanna burn, and you can have it overlaid afterwards, you can actually shoot it burning against GS, and then you add it in post. (Much better look, no worries abt contenuity, less danger on set, etc) Where do u shoot? I'm in NYC maybe I can help?
Essentially the plan is that we would be building 2-3 walls outdoors in a field to fake the interior of a home, floorboards, furniture, etc. Multiple cameras w/ steadicams to get as much coverage as possible, on top of the professionals on set with proper equipment we're also planning on having 1-2 large fans a fair distance away to control the flow of the smoke without having strong gusts that are distracting. I'm in total agreement with you that if you're not a professional its probably going to result in crap footage, I don't really know how to do any of that stuff but thats why I've brought on my friend's company who specializes in set design/art departments for commercials (same reason I'm bringing on a compositor for post). Truthfully I have a feeling its going to be a mix of both but right now we're deciding how much of either will be used.
1 person likes this
We spent a day setting light to things and filming them against a green screen and then overlaid that on a real house burning. It looked spectacular!
1 person likes this
Magic Gadgets has dimmers which'll flicker for you based on a real flame source. Flame bars in front of the camera can also be very useful to help sell the CG effects. The biggest issue you'll have will be the huge luminance range you'll be dealing with. I I would recommend many smaller units over bigger lighting units so you can more finely tune.
Can any and all compositors on this post shoot me a message with their website/reel/info? I'd love to see what you can do. Caleb we're definitely thinking alike, that is going to be a severe pain, especially since its such a short window.