Controlled Burn of Car -- Need Some Help

[Mike 'Fireman' Ross]

Hey Guys, not sure of where to put this so if this isn't the right area let me know. I'm working on an upcoming short film in which I will need to do a controlled burn of a car with an actor "relatively close." He will be passed out on the ground. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this before LEGALLY. I am going to get in touch with my local fire department and see what they will need in order to do this. We are going to be getting the van from a junk yard (not working van) and have it towed to our location. Im thinking I will need to have all of the engine, gas tank and gas lines removed for safety wouldn't you think? Who would I need to contact to clean up the wreck afterwards.

Any and all help on this is greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks
Matt B.

Stay in touch with FD.

We often burn cars in training.

There are SERIOUS hazards most civilians aren't aware of with this activity.

Bumper explosions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPajWzThRy4 (1.15 in)

Hood/trunk strut explosions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RNUAUy465A

Magnesium explosions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxRJIOJqP3I


Don't mess with this, get proper supervision, maybe do it as part of FD training drill.

PM me for more specific professional advice.

Mike

 

[paulherrin]

I did hear back from the fire department and they are excited. Said they would get me a firetruck to be at the set for free as long as they get to do a practice run on the car after we're done shooting. We are shootin' on private property...no permits. One of the reasons living in a small town is great.

just as i suspected great news!

unless it just doesn't make practical sense for production, i might recommend shooting the burn first, so as to comfortably set your exposure and play around with the lighting and composition of your shot (if they bring a ladder truck they might let you string a light up high for moonlight or something). as far as lighting the actor i'd recommend burning a stack of pallets right in front of the vehicle (the fire dept can likely bring some to play with, just ask) and supplement that with some other lights to compensate for exposure, on flicker boxes or handheld dimmers, or just steady if you choose to worry about it in the composite.

by shooting the car first, you'll have a lot of time to examine the light before you try to recreate it, which i will guarantee give you more believable and accurate lighting for your composite. you can even put a little piece of plexi over your monitor to mark out where you want highlights to hit across the ground (or is frame overlay enabled yet?). you'd rather not have to rotoscope him entirely and set him in, it'd be much simpler to be able to replace the entire foreground with his shot, adding/blending in some of the real burn overtop. the fire dept may want to have the ground pretty wet (and you may too, it'll look cool) so think about consistency in lighting and reflections (and wetness) - and stay on top of keeping that in check, it can dry up or flood pretty quickly. also, if you're going to have the camera close to the heat, and just anyways, you might want to set up a clear protective barrier between you and the fire leaving a very small amount of room between it and the lens. plexi will be fine as long as you're not too close, but i'd recommend a little piece of glass. not completely necessarily, but could be a good idea, no? some other guys may have better ideas regarding that issue... good luck