Hello.

[Frank Stein]

Hi, all. I've just signed on and since the maître d' didn't meet me at the door, I thought I'd just come straight over to the forum that interests me most and say Hi.

 

Hi.

 

I have a question, too.

 

I make amateur films. I'm planning one in which a scientist has built a Time Machine, and is looking for ways to power it. He's kind of a hybrid contemporary-plus-turn-of-the-century scientist, (well, it's only a movie), and he doesn't have access to nuclear fuel of any kind.

 

But his machine requires lots of energy to "kick-start" it. More than, say, 1.21 gigawatts.

 

I have a scene where he adds two chemicals together trying to produce a useable fuel, and when they mix, the result gives off white fumes. I don't want to use the traditional dry ice trick, I want something that will give off lingering visible fumes, without the bubbles, and also be totally safe for my actor to be close to.

 

Can anyone suggest anything along those lines?

 

Thanks.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Frank Stein

[michel123456]

I don't know about the fumes.

 

But if you want to present something new, here is my idea of time travel:

 

You don't need a machine, you need a drug. Once your actor has ingurgitated the drug, he goes back in time when he was young, taking with him all the memories of his "future" life. Of course, he cannot go further than when he was born, but at least some time paradoxes are avoided, since there are no twice the same person at any moment in time, nor can he kill his own father. The only remaining time paradox is that he can change his own future. Can he?

 

There is no Copyright, I'll take only 25% of the income. Deal?

[SMF]

Try here- http://www.smokemachines.net/

Also I think that Zero toys sells smaller ones.

[Frank Stein]

But if you want to present something new, here is my idea of time travel:

 

You don't need a machine, you need a drug.

 

Hmmm, it's different. And it's also slightly more defensible as a method of time travel. After all, we can already "travel through time" simply be evoking memories, and deep memories can be accessed by "mind-altering" drugs, I guess.

 

Only thing is, it's not really visual. For a time travel movie, you've just got to have an exotic contraption with lights and moving parts that make strange noises, etc.. The money scene is always when the machine starts up and things start to happen. And I've already started making that prop.

 

As for the fuel fumes, there's an example in the third "Back To The Future" movie, when the bartender sloppily pours a whiskey into a shot glass and some of it spills on to the bartop. White fumes instantly rise around the glass. I guess the bar was treated with something that would react when the "whiskey" hit it, but I don't know what they used. Obviously it must have been a harmless substance, because the actor was right up close to it.

 

Thanks for your thoughts anyway, Michel.

 

Try here- http://www.smokemachines.net/

Also I think that Zero toys sells smaller ones.

 

SMF, I'm thinking more along the lines of a small wisp of vapour rising from the beaker/test tube/bottle when the two chemicals are mixed.

 

Something like the vapour that comes from acid, but without the stinging and the ow it hurts me factor!

Edited April 2, 2011 by Frank Stein

[hypervalent_iodine]

What's wrong with dry ice? It's by far the safest option that I can think of.

[Frank Stein]

What's wrong with dry ice? It's by far the safest option that I can think of.

It's safe, but it doesn't give the effect that I want. I need to have the fumes being generated as soon as one chemical meets the other. He pours (or drops) a chemical from one container into another container that already has a chemical in it. When the two meet, fumes rise. Edited April 3, 2011 by Frank Stein

[hypervalent_iodine]

Okay, then HCl and liquid ammonia will work. Just be careful. Read the MSDS's and do it somewhere with good ventilation.

[Frank Stein]

Okay, then HCl and liquid ammonia will work. Just be careful. Read the MSDS's and do it somewhere with good ventilation.

 

Not possible, Hypervalent. This is a small film set in a closed room, (to keep the sound man happy), and I can't expect my actor to handle acid and ammonia and still remember his lines!

 

So, I'm beginning to think there is no really safe option. Looks like I'll have to add it in post.

 

Thanks, all, for the replies, anyway.

[Frank Stein]

Sorry. Made a pointless post but can't find a delete button.

Edited April 3, 2011 by Frank Stein

[michel123456]

Sorry. Made a pointless post but can't find a delete button.

I like this post very much.

 

 

Maybe a smoke bomb?

[Frank Stein]

Maybe a smoke bomb?

 

Yes, that would look a bit more dramatic than a wispy vapour. But it seems it has to be ignited, to give smoke. My character will only be mixing chemicals from beaker to beaker, no flame involved.

 

Time for some lateral thinking. I show the fluid in the first beaker being poured into the second beaker, then have a cutaway to his face, looking startled, then back to the second beaker which now has vapour rising, (from a very small smoke bomb sitting on the bottom of the beaker but protected from the fluid by, say, some tinfoil.

 

I'll try that, and let you all know how I go. Thanks for the tip, Michel.

 

Hope I can buy Potassium Nitrate where I live...

Edited April 3, 2011 by Frank Stein

[FlamingFungi]

You could get fumes by pouring hot water into liquid nitrogen (or vise-versa)?

[Frank Stein]

You could get fumes by pouring hot water into liquid nitrogen (or vise-versa)?

 

Hmm, not sure if I could buy it in small enough quantities here, Flaming.

 

And wouldn't it be a little tricky to use that way? I've never played around with that stuff.