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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Best 'dust'

Ben Scott

Ben Scott

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Bizarre question I guess but I have a dance performance to shoot and possibly some slo mo fencing shooting coming up and I liked the idea of some particles being kicked up by on the feet/leg shots.

Is there anything in particular you chaps prefer for this sort of thing? Anything that hangs in the air for a while? Or is it a case of emptying the contents of a vacuum cleaner bag on a hardwood floor? :)

As always, suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Ben - we just finished a shoot which required much the same thing with martial artists in a fight sequence. I used facial tissue paper fiber - basically I took Kleenex, balled it up and carefully shredded it with a cheese grater into a bag. You don't need much. We tried cornstarch and flour but it didn't hang in the air well for us. We tried chalk too but again it didn't float long enough for our purposes.Talcum powder is not recommended as it causes lung damage.

The paper fiber did not make the wood floor more slippery for us - some powders might do that. Don't know if your talent want stuff on the floor for their performances.

Good luck with the shoots.
 
Fantastic Sydney. Was wondering about flour but will certainly give your tissue idea a test. Thanks for replying. It's purely an aesthetic thing and nothing to do with the performers.

You don't happen to have any images of it in action do you?
 
Cheers Bob, as both pieces are going to be black and white it's probably gonna be nearly all backlit for some lovely contrast and silhouette goodness. Will probably just bouce that somewhat softly with reflectors otherwise the fencer's 'whites' (is that what their outfit is called) will be completely blown out.
 
We've ripped open a pair of diapers before, interesting stuff inside, floats around real nice, had some silica like sparkle. Maybe tone it down color wise with black chalk, or blue fulllers earth.
 
Frank Martin said:
We've ripped open a pair of diapers before, interesting stuff inside, floats around real nice, had some silica like sparkle. Maybe tone it down color wise with black chalk, or blue fulllers earth.
Click to expand...

The ingenuity of filmmakers :)

How did you even come up with that idea?
 
Both would work. You can put it on clothes also. Fuller's earth is used a lot in explosions and set dressing. Very fine particles. It is better than real dust since it is cleaner. Be careful breathing this stuff though.
 
A can of compressed air is your friend as well.

Whatever you use, you will have to find some way to get it airborne. Strong backlight and controlled air might get you the kind of control you need for a staged shot.

Be safe about the choices you make as well as dancers are amazing athletes who won't want to be breathing too much of this stuff.

Try to run a few tests if you have a chance.

David
 
Feathers ground up in a food processor. Old trick.
 
FWIW the Diapers were an afterthought when the director wanted a little more uniform size to the particles than cut feathers. They did try a few different brands.
Have fun , mix them up and shoot a test at various shutter angles/ Frame Rates. The subtle details in the out of focus particles might yield interesting things. See what you like.
 
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