Special Effects

in movies it isn't always practical to stage the real event you want to show since Hollywood's earliest days filmmakers have created the illusion of reality by the use of special effects oh it's just three years today since they put all your son in jail for stealing member bonds and I know he never stolen sure he never stolen or Chester never stole all of them from nobody hardly ever do you think you'll come a heading for home when they turn him loose from that pledge of jail I reckon gas and calculator will pick right up a mile up you we're going to show you how to create some very special effects yourself timing is of the essence blank if you're gonna dump a barrel of water on somebody the right guy better be at the right place at the right time in the mood for a storm we'll start with some fans Hollywood cause them wind machines but between us they're just pants you can look dark wires to branches to give them that extra shakin sweat flashbulbs fired in sequence just off-camera create a lightning effect a simple nail board makes a good firing device let's say it's the middle of July and you feel like a good blizzard no problem plastic snow and a couple of wind machines easily create the illusion me limestone's a good ground cover you can save time and money by first spreading out white Muslim sheets then you don't need nearly so much limestone cotton is useful to simulate patches of snow lightweight perlite plastic flakes stick to vertical surfaces once they've been sprinkled with water got any stale beer hanging around the house don't start out and hey don't don't drink it either next with epsom salts it's great for frosting glass we're looking at foam copy Muslim ground asbestos limestone and perlite with some imagination and lots of work you might come up with something like this there are many ways to simulate fun if you want to be cool about it use dry ice wrap it in cheesecloth and immerse it in hot water because it's cold the fog hangs low to the ground dry ice vapor displaces oxygen so if you're using it in an enclosed place you certainly may not hear well another way of simulating fog uses an insecticide gun that vaporizes crystal oil again if you want the fog to stay close to the ground cool it with dry ice the earliest device used to produce fog or smoke is the bee smoke it's filled with charcoal and primed with starter fluid a resin such as gum aluminum is added and once it ignites you're really smoke you the Aerodyne fog maker is another kind of insecticide gun out of the fog walks the strength the guy is a crack shot especially with a little help from his friends breaking the nail board sets off small explosive charges embedded in the targets stick on bullet hits are filmed with a tied down camera the special effects man's intervention is later edited out the bullet hits are simply plastic discs with darkened centers they're stuck to the windshield with Vaseline another way of simulating bullet hits is to fill horse capsules with Vaseline aluminum powder and black plastic the capsules shatter on impact sacking the capsules with Fuller's earth and plastiline provides still another kind of bullet yet and if that's not enough lacquering the capsules seals and hardens the shelves so they can be fired from repeating air guns Western just is in the Western without Indians bows and arrows flaming arrows are even less here the arrows are shot not from bows but in a series from air valve blow guns our human pin cushion is protected with steel back pads for arrows Spears and knives they're guided by thin dark wires there's simply no room for error within effect such as this most of the tools we've used so far are simple enough almost ordinary the effects they produce though are genuinely exciting but no adventure movie is complete without a raging fire a full-fledged Holocaust a blaze that devastates the town ravaged as a city or as in our case merely destroys the old family by Celotex is cut to a convenient shape then soaked in boiling paraffin this way the Celotex can flame for 20 minutes or so without really burning the structure our effects man is notching the Celotex knot to keep a proud record of how many fires he started but to speed combustion and produce a brighter faster burning flame get the fire started real good sloshed the Celotex with a mixture of gasoline kerosene rubber cement you could add toothpaste marmalade with seawater but I wouldn't do any good so we don't recommend it butane gas creates more spectacular effects prime the Jets before turning on the gas or you may become part of the effect yourself defense itself is only lightly charred but fire is fire is fire is fire and every precautionary measure should be taken whenever you work with any special effect always be careful and always make sure you know what you're doing you you