Explosions, Fire Engines and Helicopters

Written by Emma Taylor

Usually in a trailer, there must we a wide array of shots from many different scenes in the feature film. In order for this to happen, I've pulled in some favours from a variety of different people to make out trailer stand out. As explosions, fire engines and helicopters are very expensive to hire, I have arranged for each of the contributors to get a short promotional film made for them in return for letting us use their resources. 

Fire Engines

When I went on a your round a local fire station with my local Beaver Scout group, the fire men were very interested and supportive of helping the community. With this in mind, I asked them if they would kindly get the fire engine out one day, put their siren and lights on, and get kitted up as if they were going to a real fire. They said they would be willing to do this, and I think that it would be a great couple of shots for the latter part of the trailer to connote danger and destruction.

The Beaver Scout Section with the fire engine - Photo by Andrew Cooper

Me in a fire officer's uniform - Photograph by Chris Taylor

Helicopters

As out lead character Grace is wanted by the Government and I already has an offer to film at a heli-school,  I thought I'd use this opportunity for my A2 production, as government agencies would use helicopters to find an individual. They have invited us to film take offs and landings, and also inside the helicopter, which will be very useful to display authority and power in our production.

This will be at Barton Air School.

Barton Air School, Manchester. Photo credited by Air Team Images

Explosions

As a Scout myself I have many opportunities available to me that not many other people have the chance to do. One of them is learning about armories including Cannons and Rifles. The person with the licenses for these (Ted Lewis) makes explosions for professional film companies and also does professional reenactments with his explosive devices. I was shocked at the scale these explosions (to give you an idea, fire alarms go off 2 miles away from the explosion when it's set off).

Ted also invited me up to take some photographs of him and his team using Cannons and setting off some fire works, they are featured below. 

Cannon Explosion - Photo taken by Emma Taylor

Cannon Explosion - Photo taken by Emma Taylor

Cannon Explosion - Photo taken by Emma Taylor

Fireworks (Long exposure photograph) Taken by Emma Taylor

Our plan for our trailer is to have our main character Grace to fall, caught up in an explosion behind her. A chiche done by many action films, but we think that with the right composition and cinematography, it could be a really good shot. Obviously there are a lot of health and safety issues to address here, so Tom Bailey (Assistant Director) and I are going to a meeting with Ted to see how we can make this work safely. 

Below is an example of the many emails which have been sent to organize this event.

Emails between Ted Lewis and Emma Taylor

In addition to this Ted has an annual firework and explosion display every year near Bonfire night. This is one of the biggest bonfires in the UK and Ted's agreed that we can film there - do some shots with our actors looking up at fireworks ect. Below is a poster advertising the event.

NOTE: Due to adverse weather (furious thunder and lightning) conditions we couldn't film due to potential damage to my camera.

Poster for Ted's Annual Bonfire