How to burn a dude alive?

Spike · Post by **Spike** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:30 pm

In this scene i wanna make a bad guy setting his victim on fire sort of like the scene in Reservoir Rogs but only the bad guy will get to burn his victim! The bad guy has got his vitcim tied to a chair and begins poring gasoline all over the victim!! he uses the last of the gasolin to make a line he turns on a zippolighter and throws it down to the line of gasoline, the victim burns!

I don't really want to risk my actors life, but i want it to look cool! any ideas??

BrownCowStudios · Post by **BrownCowStudios** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:00 pm

Show him lighting the line of gasoline, then cut to his face, which will be illuminated with red/orange/yellow. If he's wearing glasses, you'll get the reflection of the flame.

Another possibility (which could also be combined with the above) is to build a simple dummy. Use quick cuts so it's not given away that it's a dummy. Aim to get shots mainly from the behind him and/or closeups of specific body parts (hands, torso, foot, leg, etc.).

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:17 pm

yeah without all the gear that you need and i assume you want the flames to burst up fast, i would use multiple angle and cuts and a dummy if possible. What is the victim going to wear? Remember the more skin that is exposed the less chance of exposing the actor to real fire, unless you can get some fire gell of course.

Spike · Post by **Spike** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:18 pm

Thanks for the ideas guys! I think i'll use the idea were the flames will be visible in the bad guys sunglasses, you don't actually have to see the guy burning, but i would like to see the line of gasoline burning!

Creeper · Post by **Creeper** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 6:57 pm

im after the same kind of affect only my victim is being burnt at the stake...problem is though that later in the movie the victim comes back (its a horror) and i want them to be surrounded by fire and even ON fire to a certain degree, and they need to be walking and moving aorund while they burn so will i have to change this? or is there some kind of protective gear i can put on them or what?

Creeper · Post by **Creeper** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 6:59 pm

oh i would just like to add that i refuse to ever put anybody else in any danger what so ever so if i do end up having those shots then i would do them myself

film fanatic · Post by **film fanatic** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:13 pm

Well, I'd do it like this!

After he's poured with gasoline/petrol, cut to a close up of his face (zoomed) with fire in front of the camera! Get him quite close to it! Then let him scream/yell and then cut to a dummy on fire! Pretty easy!

xbreaka420 · Post by **xbreaka420** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:14 pm

umm get a dummy from like a foiist aide store there like 60$ and light him on fire, or hire a pro stuntman, or do it in 3d

film fanatic · Post by **film fanatic** » Tue Aug 10, 2004 10:16 pm

NO! Don't do it in 3D! And you can make your own dummy!

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 2:32 am

yes 3D flames and fire effect look fake

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:34 am

For the body burn with a live actor, you can get Nomex fire suits (expensive), like race-car drivers wear, and fire resistant jelly (also expensive). I would not trust my life to these things, I'm no professional.

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 3:54 am

use the quick cuts. For people walking on fire, what you can do is just have a small part of a limb on fire, like lets say a paint leg. First put on underpaints,(somthing long, like long underware and soke in water, then put on your paints, and soke the leg in Isopropal Alchol, and light it, have him walk for a bit, it will only last a few seconds, then have a crew rush in and put him out. (Granted I just thought this up so it could be a crazy non-working idea.)

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:08 am

a dummy would be great for a shot from behind

OutcastJiob · Post by **OutcastJiob** » Wed Aug 11, 2004 8:39 pm

Definitely go with a dummy if you need to see the guy burning. We amatuer filmmakers don't have the budgets to safely set people on fire....

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:50 am

even from behind the dummy would be great and you would add some sort of a basic lever or puppet action to make him writhe a little

Ivan Speilberg · Post by **Ivan Speilberg** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 3:17 am

THIS CAN BE SOOOOOOO EASILLY AND SAFELY ACOMPLISHED, but only if you have imagination and attention to detail.

If youre watching TV near a glass door or a glass pannel, you can see that the TV's image gets reflected in it. If you look closely, (and have imagination) you will see the reflectin as a floating hologram. This is the same principle used to accomplish the effect.

Got it??????

Ok I'll explain........

You can use a sheet of clear glass for this trick.The objective is to have reflected fire in the glass. You have the glass in front of the camera in a 45 degree angle (to the side where the fire is. The glass will overimpose the reflection of the fire over the actor's body.

To achieve this effect, you need to have a dummi made to the EXACT proportions and POSSITION of your actor.

You need to have the actor strapped into the chair rigth in front of the camera and the burnable BLACK dummy (in the same actor's position) in one side of the camera.

The effect:

This is the most difficult part to explain. Try to imagine a 90 degree triangle, one corner is the actor, the 90 degreeer corner is the camera and the other is the burning dummy.

Since you only want the fire to be reflected in the glass, everything else NEEDS to be black, this includes the dummy, the chair, the dummy's surroundings, etc. (a black backcloth or ciclorama behind the dummy will do ok)

Have the camera STEADY in a tripod and have the glass STEADY in another tripod. Microphone stands with a claw like mic. holder works great. You can also use a grip stand or use hardware store gator clips to hold the glass in place.

You need to cover the red light of your camera (the one that indicates recording) so that it doesn't reflect in the glass.

make a partial burn on the dummy, so that you can acurately adjust the glass so that when the entire dummy is on fire, the fire reflection will be overimposed right over the actor.

The glass will deviate 50% of the camera's sight to the burning dummy and the other 50% will pass throug the glass and directly to the actor.

You can also do this in post production, using 2 layers (one with the actor and one with the burning dummy)

To enhance the effect, have some burnind debree around the actor, BUT NOT IN FRONT OF HIM AND THE CAMERA, because if people see overimposed flames, they will know that the shoot is a mirror trick.

KEEP ASKING IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTOOD THIS, THIS IS THE SAFEST WAY TO "LIGHT " SOMEONE IN FIRE. THE EXPLANATION MAY SOUND STUPID, BUT IF DONE RIGHT, THE RESULT WILL BE EXTREMELY REALISTIC.

Ivan Speilberg · Post by **Ivan Speilberg** » Sat Aug 14, 2004 5:07 am

Candle Trick

Shows the reflection of light from a candle on a glass sheet. Two candles appear to be burning but one of them is not lit (the one at the right). A good example of how Disney World does a lot of their tricks.

(*****Note that the pic was taken at a 45 degree angle, as I mentioned in my last post*****)

Equipment

2 Candles Glass Sheet Wood Board
Clay Lighter

Here is something I copy-pasted from another site:

Question:

My teacher conducted a demonstration that has me baffled. He had a lighted candle that was in front of a rectangular glass box. There appeared to be a candle in the glass box. Then he said that he had invented a burn proof substance. He slathered this substace over his hand, then placed his uncovered hand over the candle that was standing in front of the glass box. He showed that this was painful, then placed the hand that was covered with the "burn proof" substance over the candle in the glass box. He kept it there for a while claimimg that it was not at the least painful. How did my teacher do this? What scientific principles were involved? Was the candle in the glass box just a reflection?

Kashan (age 14)
Central High School
Philadelphia

Answer:

It sure sounds like he used the old trick of making an image and then attempted to convince you that the image was the real thing. We found a web site which has a picture of what we think you're talking about:

(****The article didn't included the picture, I found it in another page and posted it above in the post****)

here, but who knows how long web sites will stay before breaking their links.

Anyhow, the picture appears to be one with two candles, with a sheet of clear glass between them. One candle is lit, and the other one isn't. If you stand on the same side of the glass as the lit candle, and stand in the right place, then the reflection of the light from the burning candle's flame will line up with the light coming from the other candle's unlit wick. The light from the flame reflects off of the glass, while the light coming from the rest of the other candle comes through the glass. Since glass both reflects light and lets light pass through, you see light from both candles. Your teacher can then capitalize on the illusion and put his hand over the candle that's not lit and you will see the light from his finger and the light from the flame approach you from the same direction, even though they didn't come from the same place.

The reason glass reflects light is because of the mismatch between the refractive indexes in the air and the glass.

Ivan Speilberg · Post by **Ivan Speilberg** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 3:23 pm

Any coments????????? anyone?????

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 3:51 pm

Thats an interesting, trick, and It could probably work for this, it might lack the viseral feal that live fire on a person would give, but it sure would be safer, but also might be fore expensive.

rankine04 · Post by **rankine04** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 4:54 pm

We did that candle fire thing in science once. Quite fansinating. I love your idea of dummie and stuff. Tops