I'm shooting a short film over the next few months about teenage issues, drugs, alcohol etc. We need to have two actors smoking that can't smoke legally. Anyone have any ideas on how to do it? Post or would it be better to do it practically?
Fake Smoking?
- Thread starter georgewoofbates
- Start date
Um teens smoke all the time in real life, and no one arrests them, or their parents for letting them. So if neither them or the parents, get in trouble, is it reasonable to assume you would be quite safe?
I'm not a lawyer, but I do know that you should never assume anything cos it will come back and bite you in the ass.
Umm we actually and im pretty sure my actors don't want to break the law to be honest.
tried those electric smokes, without nicotine? how does it look on screen, if you try to hide them in the shots?
I use an electric cig. They have a light the end that lights up when inhaling though some are blue not orange. The vapour that is inhaled then exhaled does look a lot like smoke, even hangs in the air. Obviously the front of the cig don't smoke when being held and there is no nice ash stack at the end and it never gets shorter.
If you need shots of people blowing out smoke they will work well if you have the right one. If you're clever, hold a half smoked cig in one hand, sneak in lung full of vapour from an electric before the shot then exhale on cam could look convincing.
If you need shots of people blowing out smoke they will work well if you have the right one. If you're clever, hold a half smoked cig in one hand, sneak in lung full of vapour from an electric before the shot then exhale on cam could look convincing.
^ This
I once made a poor actor smoke an entire pack of unfiltered Chesterfields in like 4 hours.
I guess but teens do it all the time and not get caught. It depends on where you live too maybe, but no teen has been arrested for smoking where I live it seems... EVER. It's not like you hear about it, oh my daughter got arrested for smoking. They do it in plane view of 200 people and no legal trouble. Ask a lawyer first of course, but I have never heard of this happening. Plus Hollywood has made real movies, that have gotten releases with underage actors smoking and have not gotten into trouble. There was actually a casting call where I live, for a movie, looking for teens that smoked, for rolls. That's what they put in the add and so far the movie is a go.
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I don't think there is any law against underage smoking, only BUYING cigarettes underage.
In the UK the buying and smoking age are different (I'm not sure what the smoking age is but it's considerably lower) so be aware of that. You should definitely not make your actors do anything they're uncomfortable with, but actors know that they will occasionally have to smoke for roles.
I had to use an electronic cigarette in my short film 'Woolies', cos I found out at short notice that the guy playing one of the characters who had to smoke was a long term smoker who had given up about 5 years earlier and hadn't had a single cigarette since (he was also not a professional actor). But, like someone said above, the end of the cigarette lit up when inhaled and was green rather than orange. Also the smoke looks vapoury rather than smokey.
Herbals are definitely your best option. They taste and smell like shit but they're legal for kids to buy and smoke and they look just like the real thing.
I had to use an electronic cigarette in my short film 'Woolies', cos I found out at short notice that the guy playing one of the characters who had to smoke was a long term smoker who had given up about 5 years earlier and hadn't had a single cigarette since (he was also not a professional actor). But, like someone said above, the end of the cigarette lit up when inhaled and was green rather than orange. Also the smoke looks vapoury rather than smokey.
Herbals are definitely your best option. They taste and smell like shit but they're legal for kids to buy and smoke and they look just like the real thing.