[bullets hitting]
Ju Shardlow: They don't mess about in Yorkshire.
Rowley SFX specialize in explosive effects,
and you might know their work
from "Peaky Blinders."
More and more movies rely on visual effects
to create impressive explosions.
But did you know companies like this one
use all kinds of inventive methods
to give a reference for CG
as well as for actors and stunt performers to react to?
So, we have come up all the way up to Yorkshire
to blow some stuff up
and have a look at the value of practical effects.
And I'm going to try and make my own version of the
action-star-facing-away- from-explosion sequence.
Today we're going to be setting off
some bullet hits and explosive effects,
all in this yard just outside of Leeds.
Showing us around is dad Ian Rowley
and his son Rob.
When bullets hit a wall or any surface,
they can fragment and shoot up dust and debris.
This is created by a series of hidden dust hits.
Ian Rowley: These are the bags full of dust,
with a small maroon in it.
Every one has its own individual radio receiver.
So the radio receiver is up there
in this particular case.
That's the rig.
So that cable goes back up there,
like that, and over the wall.
So when that's fired that would,
"pchoo," blow the bits out.
It represents a bullet hitting the stonework.
So it's a very simple hit. Hit and run.
Producer: Three, two, one...
action!
[bullets hitting]
Ju: That was a lot louder
than I thought it was gonna be.
[bullets hitting]
The benefit of using a squib here
is that the actor can stand close,
about a foot away, in a scene with other live action.
It's safe to be that close to it?
Ian: Well, yeah. It's just a shock wave.
It's energy shock wave.
Ju: Yeah.
Ian: The only debris that's in it
are bits of cardboard.
An explosive device, like a hand grenade,
has got a steel casing around it.
And the steel fragments,
the steel is what causes all the damage.
Ju: Yeah.
But what about fireballs?
Of course, you could do a fire explosion
purely in CG,
which wouldn't damage a building.
But this method doesn't allow for stunt actors
to react to a series of explosive charges.
Production could use a scale model of the set
and do a smaller explosion on that.
But unless your budget is "Star Wars"-level,
you can't convincingly situate actors in frame.
Rowley SFX uses a propane gas system
that actually protects buildings,
with the benefit of being able to film the shot live,
with real actors and vehicles.
You can see it at work here
in the season two opener of "Peaky Blinders."
[explosion]
Rob Rowley: It's a vessel we can fill with
propane, something flammable,
or something inert, like nitrogen,
to give you either a fireball or a big blast of air.
Fill a hopper with dust,
you know, fire that over somebody,
or we can build this into a shop window
and, you know, a big fireball out of it.
They're really versatile bits of equipment.
And we have various sizes of them.
One of these will give a fireball
that's about sort of 9, 10 meters.
Ju: So it's when you don't need structures
effectively being compromised.
Rob: Yeah. So, it's like a giant shotgun.
Where we point it is where it goes.
Ju: You might also see this kind of technique
for bomb blasts in TV and movies,
with a container hidden out of sight.
Rob: Found a stage flash pot, which gives us
a bright white point of ignition
and some smoke with it.
This is called a robot, a shower of very hot sparks.
Again, to guarantee ignition.
Ju: And so this would normally be kinda
dug under the ground then...
Rob: Sometimes they've been buried yeah, so,
you know, mortar's out of the ground
or stood around the back of a vehicle,
you know, and piped in through the floor.
This particular method makes that a lot softer.
So, we're blowing it into this tank,
where it can sort of disperse and will go up.
OK. Going live.
And firing in three, two, one...
[explosion]
[explosion slowed down]
Ju: Of course, if you can't get access
to Buckingham Palace to blow it up on camera,
you're going to use VFX.
But on a set or old building,
this is a system
that's quickly set up and controlled.
A similar technique is using a woofer,
which releases the gas slower
and comes in varying sizes.
These guys might make this look easy,
but setting up this kind of equipment
takes years of training and skill.
The company goes all the way back to 1946.
I heard that you nearly blew up
the Queen at one stage?
Ian: We're the only FX company ever to get
anywhere near her with pyrotechnics.
We've had this request from Buckingham Palace,
the Queen's coming over.
Ju: She looks really thrilled with
that burning post office.
Ian: So, we loaded the silo blasters
into the post office.
It's the only effect I've ever done with a suit on.
[Ju laughs] I was trembling inside.
Ju: To show the the impact of an explosion on the ground,
the team fills containers such as this bomb tank
with rubble or soil.
Rob: I put a big lifting charge in the bottom,
maybe some petrol on top or,
you know, fill it with soil.
Big boom.
The shape of this means it goes upwards
and not left and right.
Ju: War movies and TV shows will use something
like this in a well-timed action sequence,
such as stunt performers being
thrown into the air by impact.
For the biggest blasts, productions will use
gallons of kerosene and powder explosives.
This technique allows for the shot
to be filmed live with the performers,
with the explosions enhanced afterwards in CG.
Take this shot from "The Dark Knight Rises,"
where charges compacted with dirt
were fired from the ground of Heinz Field
while stuntmen sprinted away.
The crumbling field underfoot was added
in postproduction.
Rob: You have a stuntman run by,
he hit a trampette, like a little trampoline.
As he jumps on it and you see him leave,
that's your cue to fire it.
And, you know, he's traveling on the back of that.
Ju: It's all about timing?
Rob: Timing and cues, and that can be
quite tricky in a situation
where you've got a lot of extras,
a lot of multiple things happening.
Multiple cues.
Ju: Timing is everything in this industry.
For the biggest explosion ever created on a set,
the destruction of Blofeld's Moroccan comms center
in "Spectre," SFX supervisor Chris Corbould
used 2,224 gallons of kerosene
and 72 pounds of powder explosives,
timed to detonate
in the middle of a line of dialogue.
This is why SFX teams will always go through
dry rehearsals of a stunt.
So when it looks good, it only needs
a small amount of CG alteration afterwards.
The way an explosion is shot
can change everything.
For huge nuclear explosions,
filming a wide-angle shot can expose
the magnitude of the explosion
by capturing the vast space around it.
This is normally done in VFX,
mimicking an irreparable destruction.
Other movies choose to do full coverage
and enhance it later in CG,
such as this truck explosion in "Mad Max: Fury Road."
The effect, which used 96 detonators
and 1,360 liters of fuel,
was extremely visceral and realistic,
as was an SFX captured from different angles.
Characters and foreground layers
were added in afterwards in CG.
Occasionally, though, the stature of
the main character will be enhanced
by using a short focal length on an actor
to make the explosion look more dramatic.
These are the kind slow-motion mid-shots
used all the time in action movies.
So, that's what we're going to have a go at today.
Piece of cake.
Rob: Now, I'm going to be over there.
Ju: OK.
Rob: I will see when you hit this mark.
Ju: OK. Rob: And I will fire it.
Ju: [laughing] OK.
Rob: And you're not gonna stop.
Ju: No, I'm just gonna keep going.
No one's doing slo-mo on this, right?
Rob: Three, two, one...
action!
[loud explosion]
Ju: Here's the shot from different angles.
Full coverage.
And the more stylized action shot...
[explosion]
which make the explosion look a lot bigger than it is.
This could also be enhanced in CG and graded.
I tried to give the "Zoolander" face,
but I think I just looked really out of breath.
Cool. It's still burning.
Rob: That's just the aftermath, yeah.
That will go on for a little while.
We would go in and deal with that, reset.
Ju: So, did I manage to pull off the shot?
The explosion looks much bigger behind me
at this angle,
but I think you really have to be walking
to look as cool as The Rock.
Would you almost say, like, the practical way
is always the best way?
You gotta have foundation there.
Rob: Definitely work alongside. I mean, there was...
you know, the effects started to become a thing.
They always want a practical element, you know,
to give the actors something to respond to,
you know, the way light interacts with it.
Maybe they can't afford or haven't got the time
to do, you know, 100 hits around a room.
Maybe we do 20 physical ones.
Ju: While I doubt I'm gonna be getting
that stunt-recruitment phone call anytime soon...
Oh, I'm scared.
It was fascinating to see the intricate,
practical methods used to recreate movie explosions.