Jimmy

Hi,

I'm looking for advice/suggestions on making small and large simulated explosions for amateur filmmakers. We have arranged budgets, locations etc. and I am now looking to sort the fine details, one of which is simulated artillery strikes.

The criteria/brief I am working to is for a smaller scale charge which can be used within 3-4 metres of 'actors' lying down on the ground, and larger ones where no one will be anywhere near them. The main criteria is to produce a convincing explosion with plenty of dust and debris in the air. One other factor is that we cannot dig into the ground on location to place charges, everything has to be placed on the ground (some of the land we are using is archaeologically sensitive).

All our charges are professionally sourced pyrotechnics which are fired electronically - nothing is homemade.

We've had a search of the internet and watched various other amateur films to see if we can work out how they are doing things. From looking at thing ab initio, it would appear that very lightweight materials are used - we've thought fullers earth (inert) and vermiculite in the main. We had planned to place a mix of materials in a card box with a maroon at the centre. Our only thought is that this will create a ball effect on detonation, and we really need a cone shape (I'm guessing some sort of tube or cone is needed).

Any comments, advice or pointers would be very much appreciated!

Jim