Pyrotechnic Excellence
We all love to see a good explosion in our blockbuster action/adventures, but creating them for the big screen is certainly a challenge. With the copious amounts of equipment and personnel that are needed to pull off these pyrotechnic marvels, many production companies try their hardest to pull out all the stops so that they can be worth the trouble in the end. There are even entire effects companies that dedicate themselves to pyrotechnics for movies. That being said, utilizing this equipment is the same as using matches in that you shouldn’t use them unless you know how to properly handle them and have taken the appropriate safety precautions.
Much of the special effects for the Indiana Jones series was handled by Lucas’s famous effects company Industrial Lights and Magic. This is the same team that brought Star Wars to life on the big screen a few years prior. Because of the high demand for explosions for these films, the team read up on pyrotechnics and employed some staple techniques of the age.
This example from the photo is from The Last Crusade while the team films the tank exploding. A camera crane was employed to help film an aerial view of the fireworks. You can also see the safety precaution of only blowing up the side that the crew wouldn’t be on, so they wouldn’t be in the danger zone.
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