A wire harness is a great idea. But to be safe, don't hide it inside the pantyhose around the actors neck. Angle your shot so you can't see what the actor is suspended from. You may want to use two pair of pantyhose. Put one pair around his neck tight enough to look like he's hanging but not so tight that you need someone standing by with a pair of scissors. (still have them anyway)DO NOT CONNECT THIS PAIR TO ANYTHING!!! Just put it around his neck and cut the rest off or stuff it down his back. With the other pair, tie one end to whatever he's "hanging" from and the other to a weight to make it look tight. Hang this behind your actor and see how that looks for you.

P.S. If your wire harness only has one wire, slide the second pair of pantyhose over that and use the actor as the weight.

"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." - Yoda

Shoot a closeup of the noose being put around the actors neck. Nervous looks up. Sweat beading. A glance at the crowd.

Distant shot of condemed showing crowd reaction, if there are any characters that care for this guys fate, now is the point to show them.

Shot of someone pulling the lever.

Shot from beneath the scaffolding as the trapdoor opens. A dummy on the rope falls towards the camera and stops violently short. Their foot nearly hitting the camera. The angle and quickness of the shot should hide the fakeness of the dummy. Extra bonus points for *stuff* coming free from the body and onto the camera.

Closeup of actor choking (yeah you could break his neck but choking drags it out dramatically and this guy deserved it, right?). This is of course rigged to the harness carefully.

Reaction shot of the crowd. Are they happy, regretful?

Back to the undershot of the hanging man beneath the scaffold but this time you've rigged up the actor so he can twitch and then finally go limp.

Distant shot again as the crowd disperses. Bonus points if you can manage a sunset or sunrise or something symbolic. Anyway this is where you siloutte the scaffold against endless sky and make some point about the smallness of man or whatever.

Either that or you cut to the band starting up and the dance beginning as the town rejoices the sick bastard is finally dead. Then intercut to the henchman cutting the body down, removing the rope and the harness that kept the guy alive. Then dumping the barely alive villian into a coffin and helping him slip out.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

That's a great way to shoot a hanging scene rj, but very different from what Tom wants to do.

Tom, you don't want to use a support rope around the shoulders - the actors shoulders will naturally raise as the weight of the body is transferred to the rope. When hung the shoulders drop, they don't raise.

You have the method right. Use a real fall harness under the clothing - the kind that supports the body under the butt and across the chest. Attach the support rope to the back of the harness and securely hook it to something that will take the full weight of the actor. If the actor is going to actually fall in the shot the support beam should be able to support 10 times the body weight for every meter it will fall.

Wrap the stockings around the actors neck and the support rope, covering it. The stocking should be attached ONLY to the support rope and not the support beam.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Guess I got too caught up in the idea of an old style western hanging and didn't read the details of the post very closely. Sorry about that.

Would stockings support the weight of a body?

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA