I would suggest not setting fire to a room.

Just mix everything up with real and digital effects, and use camera tricks. Maybe try not to show the fire at all, just a wide shot of the fire in the beginning, then use lighting on the actors to make it look like the room is on fire, throw some debris down on the set while filming, etc.

Small effects like a piece of wood flying down of focus behind the actor would be easily pulled of by any 3D artist that knows a thing or two about lighting and animation.

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"Imperfection equals Realism"

You're gonna film a scene over and over from different angles and different cuts. Having an actual fire would be a nightmare to deal with.

Try reflecting a yellow tinted light reflected off of an aluminum foil (crinkled aluminum foil) covered bounce board to get the lighting on the actors right. Do the same for the walls. Than use CGI fire and effects.

One of the big problems with CGI fire is that folks often forget to deal with the light that would have been emitted by the fire leaving an artificial look. That's something best covered during production.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

If you want some quality VFX fire assets, talk to Bob Forward over at Detonation films. He's been really helpful in filming flame and spark elements for our films and he'll do it for a reasonable price. Just make sure you have a decent VFX Compositor to pull in the assets you need for your shot.

www.detonationfilms.com

Our on set SFX person uses propane flame in front of the camera just out of the bottom frame to help sell some of our fire stuff. It costs a little more on the insurance side if you're shooting on a stage, but it's worth it to get that feeling of doom without endangering yourself, your crew or your actors.

David Schatanoff
D Studios Productions