itinerant baker Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Just had a search and this doesn't seem to have come up before - feel free to point me in the right direction and expose me to ridicule if it has. I need to provide a snow effect where a large surface (500 sq ftish) needs to be dressed with realistic looking fake snow. I quite fancy using some of the dressing snow that Snow Business make, though being primarily a TV/Film sfx company they may be out of our budget, also to get the best effect you really need to use the right kit to apply it, which again eats into the folding stuff. Budget won't be school panto levels but nor is it limitless, and for the right stuff we'll pay reasonable money. It's for outdoor use so may need to be resilient and weatherproof, though it only needs to be up for one evening. It also needs to be thoroughly (and easily) cleanupable and not environmentally problematic. Depth can be anything from a covering to several inches, deeper is better though it obviously requires more material. It will have to have a reasonably amount of stickability as it will be on a slow moving object and we don't want it to fall off. I'm also after a window frost effect which I should be able to get from anywhere that sells christmasy stuff, though if anyone's got any pointers let me know. (hmmmmm, is it effects? is it props? who knows - but I'm sure the mods will put it somewhere else if they don't want it here.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 There's many many different fake-snow solutions depending on what you want to do with it / interact with it. Fake snow which makes snowballs / footprints is completly in-appropriate for covering large areas. Snow for large areas looks great but doesn't produce footprints etc. Falling snow looks amazing but doesn't settle and can interact with your other snows and produce some "side effects". If you can talk us thru EXACTLY what you want to do I can give you a run-down of the products and bodges you need to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itinerant baker Posted November 17, 2007 Author Share Posted November 17, 2007 The prime need is for it to cover a large area economically, look realistic and be moderately durable outside. It doesn't need to be walked on. Snowballs would be nice but it's no biggy if they're not possible. Falling snow's not called for. It could be thought of as a sort of float that needs to be dressed (but I'm not willing to say too much specific for various reasons.) One thing that I didn't mention is that some of the surface will be at quite a steep angle and will be made of painted metal - this might be a problem for some products, but if it's impossible then I'm not too worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 That's easy then - Wadding/Webbing. Get in touch with your local fabric wholesaler and you'll be able to buy it for about £1 m/sq and it's basically a giant roll of (flameproofed) cotton wool about an inch thick, you can cut it to size, stick it on objects with tape and it cleans up with no hassle. Just cover everything any anything with it and you've got instant and very deceptive "settled snow". It's commonly used in background snow shots for TV because of the huge cost of having to spray paper shred and clean it up afterwards. If you can't find a local supply then PM me and I'll put you in touch with ours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Whalies do it. We got 3 rolls for a show. Not sure how much (price and length) per roll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DomB Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 We have used Rock Salt before, you buy it in big bags ;) looks like snow and can be walked on and kicked about a bit and it is durable and can be shoveled about and swept up when finished with. Just don't get it too wet. Cotton Wool on a roll maybe cheaper. DomB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itinerant baker Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 Cheers all. I'm not sure wadding would fit the bill as I'm concerned as to whether it would stand up to reasonably close scrutiny - though it's a very good idea, we'd like to make this as snow like as possible. I work regularly in tv and I'm always slightly surprised with what you can fudge and get away with on camera (and how tatty/cheap tv sets always look when you're on them.) Though saying all that it may be the best option, as I'm in the same sort of area as you Tom I may well drop you a PM about suppliers. Rock salt would be good, except for the fact that it has to be in close proximity to metal and possibly water, and those three things are a recipe for rust. Thinking about it though, I might look into getting a very white sand - anyone done this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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