Faking a Big Fall

Visual special effects have risen to new levels becoming a mixture that's part art and part computer science, but complicated composite effects can be costly and time consuming. Luckily some of the most effective special effects can cost next to nothing and provide effective results. Let's take a look at a basic stunt that is useful for just about any action movie: a big fall.

Your video calls for a scene where your hero chases a suspect across a rooftop, when suddenly, the bad guy loses his footing and falls several stories for a trip to the morgue. Although your actors are thoroughly dedicated (and well insured) they would prefer not to go through the real thing, so you'll have to find another way. You could try to use blue screen, computer-based effects technology and fake sets like they do in Hollywood, but you're probably on a tight budget and don't likely have access to a giant blue screen. You need to keep it simple.

Falls and other sight stunts have to utilize the power of suggestion to be effective. Remember the Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho and the shower scene where actress Janet Leigh is knifed to death? If you review that scene, you'll notice that you never see a knife or an actual stabbing. You see the shadow of a man with his hand raised over his head, hear the shower running, see the curtain ripped back, hear screams and then see blood (actually chocolate syrup in black and white) mingling with water and spiraling down the drain. Cleverly, Hitchcock used editing and the power of suggestion to create one of the most memorable horror scenes in all of moviedom. The power of suggestion uses the viewer's mind to "fill in the blanks" between one event or action and another. To create your falling stunt there are really only a few ways you …