How to hang someone on film?

cjnixon

cjnixon

Not sure if this is the right section but Im shooting a short that haves someone being hang/ hunged within a closet.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
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Budget.

The Expensive Way: Lookit how they did it in Sherlock Holmes which is pretty much about it: build a harness vest with hook, build a between-ceiling-joist reinforcement, "hang" your friends and family.
"No." You can't actually suspend an adult's weight from a normal closet clothes rod or from anything up inside.
Drywall will be cut or drilled, then replastered and repainted.
Film your full on body hanging.
Sounds like a lotta work for what will likely be a very brief shot in the final product.

The Cheap Way: Suspend your rope or cord by whatever faux way you want, best keep it off camera.
Have your actor stand on something with the NON-ACTUAL NON-SLIDING NOOSE! around their neck (make a break away "noose" if you want/can), pretend to hang while standing, shoot just from the shins up.
Optional, then have the actor pull up on something, suspend feet in the air, then shoot suspended feet.
Do your best in editing to marry the two shots.

Frankly, anyone with any sense in their head will know you can't really hang yourself from anything inside a normal closet, like the clothes rod.
Now, I have heard of people hanging themselves from a cord around the shower nozzle, but that also seems a little hokey.
Balconies and second floor railings, inside or out, would definitely be "good" hanging places.
Garage door opener rail system would also work.
I'm just saying the closet borders on cliche if not just silly.

GL
 
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Don't show anything above their waste. I don't think your audience wants to see their face, while they're hanging, anyway. That's kinda gruesome and disturbing. The standard (and effective) shot sequence seems to be:

1. medium-close, head-and-shoulders, as suicide victim ties the noose (don't put the noose around the neck)
2. closeup of feet, standing on chair; sound effects (off screen) tell us that the noose is being placed over the head; feet kick chair out from underneath themselves (actor is hanging on to rope with hands, or maybe tied, with a harness around chest, something safe and painless); feet dangle, and struggle back-and-forth, as sound effects tell us everything we need to know

Works all the time, and if done right, can be a serious punch to your audience's chest. We don't need to see the worst parts of it.
 
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rayw said:
you can't really hang yourself from anything inside a normal closet, like the clothes rod.
Click to expand...

David Carradine would like a word with you...
smiley_creepy.gif
 
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Thanks for the ideas guys.
Great point on the closet being used.
Also, CF I had already planned on getting just the lower half of the body. More effective.

Actor holding a rope is what I'm going to have to try.
Thanks again guys.
 
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trueindie said:
I knew I shouldn't have clicked on that link. holy mother of ... damn...
that was funny and gross in the wierdest sort of way
Click to expand...
LOL! I warned you guys.
Straight up.

Back when this news broke i knew some idiot would post the picture online so i just had to acquire this fine example of the breadth and scope of human "need".

It's a big world out there.
I really don't pass (much) judgement.
Honestly, if his (really sh!tty) buddies ('cause you know you can't just do this stuff all by yourself) hadn't abandoned him in his "time of need" he could easily be a functioning person like any one of us. Paying his bills. Eating lunch with his kids. Putting away groceries and laundry on Wednesdays.
I have harsher feelings towards the guys that abandoned him than towards Caradine himself. Idiot.

FWIW, on my list of projects to someday film, would be to do a TV series on fetishes.
I want to break down common, knee-jerk, mob mentality and expose these so-called "freaks" as actually being just regular people that chew food and wipe their a$$es just like the rest of us. Nothing really unique. Okay, just a little unique.
 
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At the expense of looking bad, here's my one and only short film. It features someone being hung from pipes at the beginning. It was done with a body harness and a thin cable which you can still see in the shot since I never finished and didn't paint it out later.

I chose to do it is way for production value, and I wanted a dolly shot. However, decided to spend no money on this thing and just walked the camera in handheld.

I didn't shoot it properly (was still really new at this) so it could have been tons better.

Going to take this link down again soon so. Check it while you can for an example of no budget hanging.


http://www.vimeo.com/11449275
 
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Harness the actor to some rock climbing ropes under his clothes so that he could drop 6 inches to a foot, doing some acting jerking his head at the end. Have a rope made of the same rope as the noose that basically ends half way up the back of his head. You could hold it up with a small piece of wire wrapping through his hair if his hairline goes low enough. Then with CGI you could remove the rock climbing rope. With the camera still locked off you could shoot dropping a bean bag with the real noose rope. Then CGI that back in. Even if you use just 1/2 a second of the fall in the final edit that could help "sell" it.
 
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Have a setup where your noose is tied to a pull-up bar (out of the shot), and then have your actor stand on a stool. Start your shot with the noose around his neck, hands at his sides, standing on the stool, and then slowly pan down his body in a close-up. While panning, have him ditch the stool and suspend himself with the pull-up bar, so that by the time your shot arrives at his feet, they're hanging in the air. You might have to work a bit to get the timing and movement right, but the look would be well worth it.
 
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