I need some flames. . . what should I burn?

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi all. . .

In a scene in our next feature, I want my actors sitting under an abandoned school entrance. I would like to have a few flaming one gallon paint cans to motivate some dancing light (to be provided by a Magic Gadgets Shadowmaker). What would you recommend I burn in the paint cans to provide good flames with a minimum of smoke?

Thanks!

Stephen

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

It's not dangerous to burn things in controlled settings. Campfires, charcoal grills, etc., are all examples. We are going to burn something in this sequence. The question is, what is the best thing to burn?

 

[Patrick Tresch]

The question is how long should it burn? For an 9 hours shoot or a 30 sec insert?

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

That's a great question, Mr. Tresch. I'd like it to burn for the time we're shooting the scene, so I'd say about an hour, but I can certainly "recharge" it if needed.

Thanks.

Stephen

 

[Patrick Tresch]

I've done a lowbudget shoot where we used some old Europalete. They give nice flames but you have to have a dedicated person who manage the fire size...

 

[Nick Gardner]

Low tec, cut up some duraflame logs, put those in your paint cans, done and done. Higher tec, find an SFX guy with a few propane flame bars, run those in the paint cans, run lines to cans. Benefit of using flame bars, you can dial them in to exactly what you want.

Nick

 

[DJ Meyer]

Definitely tires.

 

[Les Hillis]

This kind of thing might work - https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/814...rSKRAIN1WacD9fqk5gvdL3aBEl8yJe8MaAoxsEALw_wcB

Or some other way to hold the clean-burning Isopropyl Alcohol (Rubbing Alcohol). The flames aren't huge but could look big enough if set just below the rim of the can.

A controllable gas rig would be ideal, but more expensive and complicated to set up.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

I have to say, Mr. Hillis, that is fairly intriguing!

Thanks for the suggestion!

Stephen

 

[Les Hillis]

No worries.

I haven't done what you're trying to do so I don't know for sure, but it's probably more about using the alcohol as a clean-burning fuel than what it's contained by. You should probably test beforehand to see how quickly the stuff burns up too.

And of course, be very very very careful of spillage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX98t3yk0m0