InCamera is a YouTube channel dedicated to celebrating the art of practical movie effects. While there are plenty of other techniques used in their work that deserve attention, we’re mostly drawn to their catalog because they regularly feature plenty of things exploding or being set on fire.
This is certainly the case with InCamera’s video about remaking the title sequence of John Carpenter’s The Thing—a process that doesn’t necessarily seem like it would require burning a bunch of stuff, but, we’re happy to assure you, most definitely does.
In order to recreate the famous shot of the movie’s name being unveiled in shining blue letters, the team makes a stencil of the title, attaches it to a piece of glass, then gets to the fun part: Burning things. The glass is lit from behind, smoke is waved in, and a garbage bag is then set on fire with a pair of lighters. After a bit of trial and error that consists mostly of making more and more bags burn up, the team refines their approach until the speed of the flames is just right. The whole process, the video says, is almost identical to the method used by The Thing’s filmmakers.
The end result is impressive—and a great reminder of the kind of creativity and skill that goes into creating practical effects. Now we just need to see them take on that scene in The Thing when the mutant Bennings is killed. We’re sure it’s already in the works since, y’know, it provides another opportunity to set even more stuff on fire.
[via Digg]
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