Old Clip
October 20th, 2010

I found this old clip from our Action Essentials 2 film shoot. We used powerful air canons to create huge fireballs and I thought it was a good opportunity to run away from one in slow motion. Thanks to John and Ben for this candid moment.

And YES it is a REAL explosion, that's why it looks fake! [Sound Fx added]

Andrew Kramer
POSTED:
15 years ago
104 Comments
Jim
15 years ago
An Oscar nomination for Mr. Kramer for that performance!
How could anyone pass up an opportunity to run from in explosion in slow motion?
Racketen
15 years ago
Yea that would be cool...
15 years ago
I need to see Ben, John, and You recreating "Cool guys don't look at explosions!"
15 years ago
HAHAHAHA, this is beautiful, a footage with contradictory cause, generate unique comments. Love that...
lee penant
15 years ago
man who smiles running away from an explosion, lol.
James
15 years ago
very facke abd basic
15 years ago
Fishpaw haha thats awesome... plus i have been inthatsame spot
15 years ago
Yes it's real, you can see the heat distortion, something that AK never did on VFX, at least not on VC.
D3FO3
15 years ago
Its like a taco, within a taco, inside a Taco Bell, that's in a KFC, that's inside a mall, that's within YOUR DREAM
mktnet
15 years ago
The background scene reminds me :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM
J
15 years ago
Yes, but that smile looks shopped.
15 years ago
the best tutorial i have ever seen.




just kidding, anyways like these kinda complicated stuffs.
daniel
15 years ago
hahhaha! what an epic simle at the last scene XD
Jared
15 years ago
You look oddly like Steven Seagal.
15 years ago
I have to agree.. it looks fake. hahahaha
Fishpaw
15 years ago
Hey! I was trying to hide that explosive charge...

No wonder it was missing when I returned from my trip to Spain.

No one was supposed to touch it! That's why I wrote my name there!

I'll get you for this, Kramer!!!!!!!

(and your little dog too)
15 years ago
so fake, that means it's real right
vinay mittal
15 years ago
hey andrew u r evere green, can u tell me which compressor r u used for final output in ae
Eloy
15 years ago
fake or not Andrew was on a green screen a guess!!...
barry barrera
15 years ago
wow the real good thing is you didn't mess up your hair! haha, nice one Andrew!
Jason
15 years ago
last time Andrew said it was a real explosion(in that Blast wave tutorial) it wasn't so it cant possibly be real this time....?
peter
15 years ago
amazing! but you need a more 1980-1990 like music
Darren Doyle
15 years ago
in the first secton of that clip, you looked exactly like Lee Majors as Steve Austin in the 64 million Dollar Man!..only your more a 54 Million Dollar man lol...
15 years ago
The fire is 100 % Real....but the "Glass" particles scattering around is definitely VFX...

You did at least have a medic around while using that Air Canon of yours right?

If you didn't just get Tino to dress into a medic outfit next time to make it seem like you are safety cautious..hehe
TJM
15 years ago
haha...it's very fun...cool
15 years ago
you could definitely double David Hasselhoff!
recQn
15 years ago
First thing i thought: "Cool Guys don't look at explosions"
shuvo
15 years ago
Nice Act Thanks
15 years ago
You should be in this Andrew

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo
15 years ago
Nice work on the motion tracking man
i mean there's no way that could be real...
your standing way to close for a start...

and what do to you mean by 'because it looks fake its real".. interesting theory my friend hah
Anyways nice clip
woodyqi
15 years ago
wow, looks great.
15 years ago
Yeah Andrew, we're the McGyver-generation, we where playing with -real- fire!
15 years ago
I think some people are over-thinking this a bit

It's not a visual effect, we just filmed it next to an Air Canon used to create Fireballs.
Rizwi
15 years ago
i dint like that... its not what is expected from you andrew... , bu due to your past work, i can believe that you did it deliberately
Ron Albert
15 years ago
it has an refraction ha!!!!!!!!!
Ron Albert
15 years ago
hahahahahahahhahahahahah looks real ha!!!!!!
realimagefilms-Aaron
15 years ago
I ABSOLUTELY NEED A PAIR OF THOSE!!!!!!!!!!!! please include them in the already cool enough video copilot apparel
VFX-Anomaly
15 years ago
I don't get it?
Am I that dumb?
Gene Ween
15 years ago
Quick it looks like an Unknown Baldwin Brother escaping the Baldwin compound!
15 years ago
because around explosion the rock is not have a light from the fire and not a rock is not breaking ... this is I think ^^
Eshita
15 years ago
I'm so sorry to inform you Andrew that my parents are gonna sue you.......fro making teaching me AE in such a wonderful way that i am 24x7 on your site.................
Jason
15 years ago
Whatever happened to the short you were supposed to film with AE2 when it came out?
Joe Lombard
15 years ago
FISHPAY IN THE BACKGROUND
DJayzed
15 years ago
"And yes that is a real explosion which is why it looks fake"

So true aha.
pit3ds
15 years ago
particles (debris) is not likely fly. bad
David
15 years ago
I want this plug in
Goldorachox
15 years ago
Take me to your leader
Konnected
15 years ago
Hahah. Loving the humour AK.

Independence day...

Brilliant.

You know what would be excellent? Coming to the UK to chat to the post production students at the new Ravensbourne Institute campus next to the O2 arena in Greenwich London.

Hinthint.
15 years ago
@Gabriel F.
Our viewing system (eyes + brain) notices "fluid movement" from 10 fps. Anything below that looks scratchy and even shaking (if you take an old CRT and down the refresh time you will notice). When you increase the framerate, you begin to see more "realistic" things, like motion blur and the space between "blacks" gets shorter.

That´s why the cinema standard is at 24 fps, double the minimum.

But, don´t get confused with the 50/60 from the PAL/NTSC systems. Those were setted up that way because of the AC supply standards.

&CATBOXFILMS
21 fps is at interlaced mode!
kai
15 years ago
Andrew Kramer Rocks on DVD!!
Aleksander
15 years ago
CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE A TUTORIAL????
Lol, jk, fun tho
Eshita
15 years ago
If great actors like you are being born........sam has got something MORE to worry about......
Leonardo Sonza
15 years ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVFejb_mGRs
my first test
15 years ago
Geez people are ignorant. Did you even READ the blog post, or just see an explosion and go "FAKE!"?
15 years ago
so faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!
Ernesto
15 years ago
hahaha I actually felt the explosion looked odd at first, and then thought it was well thought compositing. No wonder it's real.
If you're shooting in broad daylight, in the desert, you'll probably have a very closed f/stop (among other things) so as to not overexpose and that's why that kind of orange perfectly exposed color would be natural in an explosion, as opposed to a blown out explosion with a glare that may look cool but unreal (that may be true on a nighttime shot...).
A VFX compositor needs to know photography to do a good job. Also studying real footage or practical effects on films is useful.
Just like what happened with the shattered glass effect, people tend to suspect on any effect and think "hey that's 3-D! And that's AE! And that's been photoshopped!", etc.
Well, I wrote too much and wanna leave the PC. Hopefully I've made some sense.

Love your humor, man.
Regards.
Luckystrik3
15 years ago
hahahaha Auto-glasses, you're awsome
Dan
15 years ago
I guess it's time to make all of my explosions from here on out look fake!

hahaha but nice video
15 years ago
@ Gustavo Giorgetti
I believe there actually 21p.
15 years ago
@ Heber

Did you even read the blog entry?
15 years ago
You gotta start putting up more of these!
Heber
15 years ago
Really fake... dislike
15 years ago
I love those behind the scenes blogs. Especially the ones with croma keying
Gabriel F.
15 years ago
Gustavo Giorgetti
What you mean by ''our eyes are just 12p''?
LOL
luther
15 years ago
that face andrew that face .. lol
READ THIS COMMENT
15 years ago
dear andrew....

WHEN can we get some awesome action sounds fx i would pay anyday for them..come on that are essential..and actiony...2..............but i noticed the nice sound fx you had in there
jorberg
15 years ago
Fake or not -- I like watching it!
15 years ago
We're so used to movie explosions that we don't even realize what real explosions look like.
Peter Kreitner
15 years ago
what the... ? XD pretty cool! that's the MAN! XD
Matt
15 years ago
I think that the sound of blast doesnt match with explosion, but funny
15 years ago
If this is Baywatch...
and Andrew is Hobie...
Then Sam Loya is Pamela? Holy sh...

Sadly, our eyes are just 12p, that´s whay hollywood explosions always seems BIGGER and...cool
15 years ago
It's fake but it's making some funny time I like it
15 years ago
If only the music Chariots of Fire were in the background... Thanks VC team...and Andrew.
15 years ago
Lol, "FISHPAY" is written on the rocks where the explosion it


_________
Fishpay @

:13
_________
Pengy Girl
15 years ago
Were they a pair of "Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses" as sported by the famous Zaphod Beeblebrox??
Sam
15 years ago
Wow, 2 post in just 1 day??? your amazing Andrew... lol
15 years ago
WHAT'S FISHPAW?
xylon johnson
15 years ago
Cool guys don't look at explosions!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo
15 years ago
Yeah this is definitely the Baywatch christmas special where the Hoff is visited by the ghost of christmas future and sees his (now 15 years old) son Hobie narrowly escape being blown up.
Abi
15 years ago
It's Kramtastic.
T. Sisson
15 years ago
I agree, Hollywood's fake explosions make real explosions look fake and fake explosions look real because of the realness of Hollywood's fake explosions. I blame television.
Leonardo Sonza
15 years ago
Niiiiiice....
The real looks fake and the fake looks real(that reminds me of your Advanced Time Freeze Tutorial)
Wouldn't you give us lessons on how to run in slow motion?
Dean Doll
15 years ago
The funny thing is, we've been so accustomed to the way crime scenes and action look in hollywood, when we see it in real life it doesn't look 'real.'
T. Sisson
15 years ago
Must have been scary for you Andrew, and yet you kept such a happy expression. A true action hero always dons his most dazzling smile for explosion shots.
15 years ago
I've tried, but a different category, you feel the shock wave, you feel as if someone slapped hands and lightly jabbed with something sharp, it's a weird feeling
15 years ago
I'm guessing this explosion came from the air cannon that Andrew and the guys used to film Action Essentials 2, so yes, it is real.
Lasphere
15 years ago
Wow, that looks incredibly fake.
15 years ago
Haha, it did look fake compared to your explosion tutorial. Truth is stranger than fiction, I guess (whatever that means).
15 years ago
I didn't know that real explosions looked so fake!
jonathan
15 years ago
cool guys dont look at explosions
Chris
15 years ago
Gotta agree with Mark - total BayWatch run.....nice. Now all you need is the bathing suit and some "floatation" devices
15 years ago
Excellent! More Please!
15 years ago
lol that was cool andrew
15 years ago
That´s Fake! i´m sure you are using some materials from videocopilot...

uhmmm...
is this on? oh...are we recording? ups...

Awesome job Andrew & Team! I´m including some dirt & smoke from Action 2K for motion graphics and it changes everything...more organic than Fractal Noise
lostpanda
15 years ago
hehe - yes it looks fake!
Nik
15 years ago
Ironic, how real explosions look so fake.
Thomas McDonald
15 years ago
i hate it when that happens
15 years ago
You look like a real action hero, running away from some real action explosion.
15 years ago
Wasn't that a scene from the 1996 Baywatch christmas special?
vexos
15 years ago
I'm still confused wether this is real or not.
Kobi67
15 years ago
well... the fire look lil fake
Thomas Morrell
15 years ago
A born actor i see haha
sasha strelnikoff
15 years ago
Nice Looks like fun
jay
15 years ago
i think it's real, becouse the heat is bending the enviroment...of course it can be an effect too...who knows? XD