Removing breath vapor on cold days

[savski]

Hi,
excuse me if this is not the appropriate place for this question,
I'm making a film, and I'm wondering is there a way to remove the vapor that occurs when actors exhale on a cold day? I've heard of people putting ice cubes in their mouths, but that's not really a fortunate solution for us since they will be doing it for ten days in a row.
Thanks a lot!

[CaptainPanic]

Your lungs are at 37 degrees C, and at that temperture quite a lot of water will evaporate into the air in your lungs. This will always happen. As soon as that moist is cooled, the water will condensate, forming a little 'cloud'.

 

Ice cubes in the mouth would make the water condensate a little earlier. There are other, equally impractical solutions to make the water condensate before it leaves the mouth. The most practical may be to wait for summer?

 

Can you explain why you insist on not having this little cloud?

[Enthalpy]

A cloth on the mouth, if any possible.

 

Other methods are worse than ice cubes: dessicant in the mouth (hazardous!), cloth in the mouth (doubtful, hazardous, changes the voice).

 

(Artificial portable) wind would remove the vapour quickly enough.

 

If not, you need warmer outside air. Its humidity has no significant effect.

[hoola]

how about a snorkel ?? I think lloyd bridges got started that way......seriously, if you are holding the camera, I could see where your own breath condensing on the camera lens might be a problem, and the snorkel idea would be ok for you....however to prevent visible breath condensation from the actors would be difficult and would lend me to think you are not wanting to reveal that the scene is being shot in cold weather, due to continuity issues..... waiting for the occasional warm day in winter could make it a very slow shoot....details such as this are the reasons movies are so expensive to make....and lengthy...waiting for the light to be just right, ambient noises and etc....you might inquire as to a small film company in your area. Perhaps this problem is known about and can be at least minimized by the film community...or you could load up the troupe and travel to the desert and shoot it there...sounds like fun....edd

Edited December 7, 2013 by hoola

[savski]

The problem is, we're in the middle of filming, and the story takes place during one day. When we started, the air was warm, and now as we go on it's getting colder and colder and the actor's breath is becoming visible. It wouldn't be a problem if we were shooting chronologically, which we're not for production reasons.

Simply put, in the final film it would look like this: the day begins, then there's a scene with no breath, two scenes with breath, again no breath, then again visible breath, etc.

Any final solution would need to be something that wouldn't be visible on the actors, and if possible, wouldn't kill them

Thanks!

[Phi for All]

The problem is, we're in the middle of filming, and the story takes place during one day. When we started, the air was warm, and now as we go on it's getting colder and colder and the actor's breath is becoming visible. It wouldn't be a problem if we were shooting chronologically, which we're not for production reasons.

Simply put, in the final film it would look like this: the day begins, then there's a scene with no breath, two scenes with breath, again no breath, then again visible breath, etc.

Any final solution would need to be something that wouldn't be visible on the actors, and if possible, wouldn't kill them

Thanks!

 

You could spend an inordinate amount of resources trying to correct this technically, or you could fix it in the script with one of the actors adding the line, "It was warmer earlier" or "It's gotten colder all of a sudden". Unless your film has a reason this has to be summer, this should work.

[iNow]

Surround the area with space heaters (and tents or plastic walls surrounding the area to keep that heat in) to make the air warmer in the location where you're filming.