Floating dust particles

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Hello everyone,

So I get that if you wanna print the path of light you gotta smoke the surroundings, ok, that's a given.

Now, I remember very well from when I was young and the sun came through my grandmother's living room and I could see the path of light because of tiny little floating dust particles.

So... Have any of you ever tried to achieve this effect?

Maybe some special powder or something like that?

Thanks a lot in advance!

:beer:

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Shake or brush a good piece of carpet, like shaggy thick, keep a slow ventilator around to creat a subtle breeze, very slow. The particles of textile will float endlessly...

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

This reminds me of when i was in middle school...

get two chalk board erasers.. LOADED with chalk erasing..
and clap the crap out of them

just be sure to wear surgical masks or something so you dont get chalk paste in your mouth

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I once used some Fuller's Earth to get that effect... trouble is that any floating particulate matter is not particularly good to breathe. Fuller's Earth is now banned on film sets; ground-up walnut shells are apparently the new thing to use for dust...

 

[Lewis-M Soucy]

Love the anecdote David

This is why I suggested safe textile fibers from carpets, not neccessarily dusty ones btw... The fibers are not toxic and they are very light. It gives a much better effect than dust (that can also be achieved with smoke) for it catches light in a different way.

Just my 2 cents but I've tried it after seeing FX buddies do that on a set for a melancholic shot of a girl by a window with sun cutting in and it was amazing. It works especially well on extreme close-ups with the particles in focus... A bit pointless and uneffective on wide shots...

 

[Alexis Hanawalt]

Watch Richardson's work for extensive use of super glowy dust particles - particularly the b-roll stuff in Standard Operating Procedure.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Richardson is the cinematographer of Kill Bill, right?

Anyway, thanks a lot for all the answers.

 

[Alexis Hanawalt]

Yes indeed.

 

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Thanks for all the great input guys.

David, the ground-up wallnut shells work GREAT! (We had to ask help to the gastronomy students on my uni to grind the shells on an industrial blender!).

They float almost still on the air and produce an awesome golden glow when hit by tungsten sources.

Thanks guys!

 

[Alan Skinner]

I am going to try the walnut shells but it brings to mind a warning.

I have a neighbor who is so allergic to walnuts that eating one would pretty much kill her. She cannot even brush up against the branch of a walnut tree without getting sick and having skin lesions. If you put the shell dust in the air, you might want to make sure no one in the vicinity is allergic.

Just a thought.

Alan

 

[Mugurel Dragusin]

Flour could be used perhaps?

 

[Vince Doran]

I was just about to mention Flour, another funny thing is, I was just at my mates carpentry shop discussing uses for his super fine sawdust...I said film makers might buy this to add to explosives for a bigger fire ball...I'm worried the old man will blow himself up with a shed full of dust and 2 stills working overtime making moonshine....tick tick tick....http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question150.htm

 

[Mugurel Dragusin]

I guess we're safer with the dusty piece of carpet

 

[Robert Niessner]

found a supplier for walnut shell grit:

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/walnut-shells.htm

 

[Jonathan Stevenson]

I wonder- Is this what they use as dust in fight scenes as well?

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Hello everyone,

So I get that if you wanna print the path of light you gotta smoke the surroundings, ok, that's a given.

Now, I remember very well from when I was young and the sun came through my grandmother's living room and I could see the path of light because of tiny little floating dust particles.

So... Have any of you ever tried to achieve this effect?

Maybe some special powder or something like that?

Thanks a lot in advance!

:beer:

One of the best effects I have created wads to get some regular dust, (very fine one) mixed in 1/3s with Flower and Powered sugar, it works just fantastic and gives you a unique volume of Dust Particles in the air, color shifting from white to gray (dirty look) can be achieved by different means, including powered color, or just simply mixing the dust in 1/2s, the size of ventilators used to move the dust will also make a big difference and so will the speed, you might also want to use a bounce card as to give some strong strokes in to the dust moved regularly by the fan, as this will create spirals, if come to need them.

ciao

 

[Dominic Jones]

I was just about to mention Flour, another funny thing is, I was just at my mates carpentry shop discussing uses for his super fine sawdust...I said film makers might buy this to add to explosives for a bigger fire ball...I'm worried the old man will blow himself up with a shed full of dust and 2 stills working overtime making moonshine....tick tick tick....http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question150.htm

I definitely wouldn't get flour anywhere near hot lighting - very dangerous indeed... Believe it or not, flour is actually very explosive in the right (or wrong!) mixture with air...

Fuller's earth was always the trick, but as David says is now illegal to use - carpets and walnuts would appear to be the way forward!

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[Paul Leeming]

I once used some Fuller's Earth to get that effect... trouble is that any floating particulate matter is not particularly good to breathe. Fuller's Earth is now banned on film sets; ground-up walnut shells are apparently the new thing to use for dust...

The great irony is that Fuller's Earth is actually a lifesaver if you are ever exposed to NBCD contamination. We used it in the military to pour over the (sealed) joints on our NBCD suits to help neutralise biological/chemical agents before going through decontamination.

Fun times!! :biggrin5:

 

[Patrick Scheller]

Don't use anything too fine or small per particle, this can be dangerous for anyone! So better not use flour!

If u want to know if anyone is allergic to walnuts, then have them all eat a bit and wait 30min. if nothing happens use the walnut shells
:chillpill:

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Don't use anything too fine or small per particle, this can be dangerous for anyone! So better not use flour!

:

Ii my youth I was a Bread Master for one year then a PizzaChef for seven, I never got sick from Flour, so I say that flour is a safe thing to use, is food after all, isn't it?

ciao