[peza2010]

Hi all does anyone know if anywhere sells single le maitre coloured smokes?

I need a couple for a budget music video for my own band, so would rarther not have to buy a pack of 12.

I'm also considering using a couple of gerbs, or stage mines instead so if you have a source for these, that would be helpful too.

Cheers

[Ynot]

I seriously doubt that you will find anywhere selling singles of any of the pyro ranges that normally come in boxes of multiples. If nothing else it's unlikely to be economic., and it means whoever sells that single to you then has an opened box of the remaining 10 or 11 - and I know that the likes of Stage LX will not send out opened boxes, even if you wanted 6 out of 12 etc. A sealed box guarantees a full compliment of unused effects is inside.

This post has been edited by Ynot: 25 February 2012 - 09:40 AM

[paulears]

... and of course you will next extras for the test fire you do before using it with the band, and of course for the odd failure. Budget video's mean you'll probably re-shoot if it messes up, or the cameras mess up, so for one effect, I'd prefer to have 3 or 4 at hand. It could be worth trying your local theatre, who often have a store full of odds and ends they may be able to 'donate'.

[peza2010]

All valid points. The bulk of the budget we have currently is set out for the hire of 6 cameras, I'm tempted to shuffle this round a bit to get a full box.

Do le maitre do a mixed box? If I was buying twelve, I would want something in the region of 8 medium smokes, and 4 stage mines

[Ynot]

peza2010, on 25 February 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

Do le maitre do a mixed box? If I was buying twelve, I would want something in the region of 8 medium smokes, and 4 stage mines

No.
You get a box of a single type of effects - for the same reasons as above.
Don't forget that you're buying professional pyrotechnics NOT fireworks.

[scjb]

Six cameras? You've got a six camera shoot and you're struggling to buy a full box of pyro?

[kerry davies]

I feel a course on budgetary discipline coming on here. They only used 6 cameras to shoot the killing scene in Mesrine because they shut down half of Paris for it. AFIK the biggest ever French film budget.

[peza2010]

scjb, on 25 February 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

Six cameras? You've got a six camera shoot and you're struggling to buy a full box of pyro?

The constraint is time, we've got 4 hours on location (scrapyard) to record the whole performance, then the rest of the night to record the side story.

2 Sony hdv something or others
4 go pros

Lots of fixed shots, with the only camera people being which ever members of the band aren't in the shot at that point.

[ImagineerTom]

... so having a dedicated operator to trigger them and be on standby / safety watch is not going to happen then?

I also look forward to reading the several hundred pages of Risk-Assesment paperwork you're going to have to generate to use pyro's in a junkyard (a place full of flamable oils and fuels) in a rushed shoot with no staff or budget for the proper safety precautions?




Save your money, use a smoke machine.

[Jivemaster]

Serious suggestion to get a pro vid crew in, The band should be musos not necessarily camera crew.

[peza2010]

ImagineerTom, on 25 February 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

... so having a dedicated operator to trigger them and be on standby / safety watch is not going to happen then?

I also look forward to reading the several hundred pages of Risk-Assesment paperwork you're going to have to generate to use pyro's in a junkyard (a place full of flamable oils and fuels) in a rushed shoot with no staff or budget for the proper safety precautions?

See this is the one thing I don't like about this forum, because I asked a question about if anywhere sells single pyros, you get snapped back at by other forum members, that guess about what has and hasn't been done, and talk to others like they are idiots.

Yes there will be someone to fire the pyros, a collegue of mine who does it for a living, but doesnt keep stock of pyros, and told me that he can only supply them in packs of 12, which to save a bit of cash is why I asked about singles.

You can see the RA, if you really so please, the scrapyard wanted to see it before they agreed - not a problem.


You have also instantly assumed the scrap yard to be full of old cars, well its not, the company are a demolitions company, which then recover and recycle metals, not old cars with all this oil and petrol you speak of.

Jivemaster, on 25 February 2012 - 01:30 PM, said:

Serious suggestion to get a pro vid crew in, The band should be musos not necessarily camera crew.

Hi Jivemaster, this is a personal venture, made for the experience - because as a band, we like the idea of being self contained, all our live shows are programmed by myself and controlled via midi, we wrote, recorded and mastered our album, produced the artwork, so on and so forth... The video is just another step in that chain, as well, something interesting to do. So budget or no budget, We would still stick to this way of working - but I take your point.

[ImagineerTom]

I came in a little blunt in my initial response but I'd hope you can also see how open to interpretation and misunderstanding your initial responses were. For future reference "scrapyard" generally means Cars (with all their flamable complications) whereas by the sounds of it you're using a Salvage yard (a lot less flamable) which still has other complications but is a lot more workable. I'd still have concerns about consequential damage from the pyro's (coloured smoke's leave a residue and outdoors the wind is going to give you problems) and my professional suggestion would be to look at alternative methods (regular smoke machine & coloured lighting, post production effects) or possibly shoot the pyro's seperately off site and edit them in to the footage.

If I can give some insight (and make a few assumptions) it sounds like you've not planned the shooting schedule and are using multiple cameras so that you can basically record everything that happens and bash the video together in the edit; whilst artistically this sounds like a great idea there's 100yrs of filming experience that says it's better to pre-plan your shooting schedule so that you end up with a small amount of footage that has everything you need rather than 24+ hours of generic footage which will require stupid amounts of editing (1hr of footage takes up 3hrs of time to record, review and log and that's before you start actually editing it down) to cut out all the chaff. I've previously worked on 2 big network tv shows that regularly used to have to make "pop videos" when the talent couldn't make it for the live show; we used to be able to bang out a convincing "on-location" pop video in an hour with 2 cameras and most of that time was spent moving the cameras and setting up each shot.

Pre-planning a proper shooting schedule and storyboarding the scenes in advance will enable you to hire in less equipment (thus giving you the extra cash to buy a full box of pyro's) as well as ensuring that there's always band-members free to operate equipment and just generally making the whole shoot much smoother by eliminating the surprises.

t

(grumpy old git in training)

[peza2010]

I called the location a scrap yard, because thats what they actually called it themself.


its a 14 acre site, and after doing a site visit, both myself and the owner agreed on a location within there that was completely clear of any flammable materials.

we also have a about 80 storyboard pictures showing roughly the shots we want, and the 4 hours is because we dont know what we might come across having never done it before, but thats where the fun and interest lies for me.

also I dont think 4 hours is a huge amount of time to be on site, set up all the band gear, lighting, reflector packs, and shoot, but thats just me

This post has been edited by peza2010: 25 February 2012 - 09:51 PM

[paulears]

Moderation: The mods have already tried to clean this topic up - there is no need to keep score. The OP has made it clear the planning has been done, and he is happy with it. The question was simply how to obtain small quantities of pyros rather than an entire box. Sure - there are some of us who have produced video products for years who nod wisely and smile, because they know the likely results, but the OP was not asking for info on the video making process. Please - from here on, can we return to the original topic, and stop facing around the edges, and stop assuming and guessing!

[RJA]

I'm aware that this practice is far from sensible but there is a north west theatrical supply company that sells (or at least used to sell) pyro cartridges individually.