Breaking glass windows

[SanTai]

I started thinking about one of the effects from eurovision song contest.

It is a close proximity glass breaking effect.

From Swedens selection competition:
‪Melodifestivalen 2011: Eric Saade - Popular‬‏ - YouTube
2:27

And the ESC:
‪HQ Eurovision 2011 Sweden: Eric Saade - Popular (Semi-final 2)‬‏ - YouTube
2:29

I am suspecting diffrent methods, the Swedish one produce a lot of smoke, could it be pyro charge on some special glass? Or is the smoke an added effect and the glass is broken with a solenoid or something?

The ESC produce no smoke. Could it still be the same method?

What is that kind of glass called?

Lot of questions, but I guess one or two of you guys here have an answer. The ESC have a huge budget, it would be intressting to know how they do it and how you would do it if you ever needed to break a glass(or pretend too) in a local low-mid budget theatre production.

 

[shiben]

The smoke in the first is probably from an external fogger. The glass is probably made from Sugar or something else like that, its designed to be easy to break, throw people thru, etc. I believe it was the mythbusters who did an episdode about throwing people out of skyscrapers thru the glass, and it turns out it takes a pretty good sized battering ram to break the stuff... Also it doesnt look like real glass breaking anyhow, think about when you locked your keys in the house and broke a pane of the back door's window out to open it up... It didnt shatter like that, it just broke. Thus, I am going with totally fake glass actually broken by the performer's hand, the smoke just being a fog machine under the deck.

On a minor side note, the lighting for the Sweedish selection comp was much better for the song than the ESC's was, that was mostly a ton of MLs strobe while not moving and some video screens... Anyhow.

 

[Chris15]

Re the gag at the ESC:
Refer to Ola's blog posts here: https://www.eurovisionfamily.tv/user/Ola+Melzig/blog/?id=86632 and here: May 6: Niederländisch Hering | Ola Melzig | The Eurovision Family of Events | Blog

It's pyro charges and apparently they move during transport and don't go crash like they are meant to after that

 

[shiben]

Re the gag at the ESC:
Refer to Ola's blog posts here: https://www.eurovisionfamily.tv/user/Ola+Melzig/blog/?id=86632 and here: May 6: Niederländisch Hering | Ola Melzig | The Eurovision Family of Events | Blog

It's pyro charges and apparently they move during transport and don't go crash like they are meant to after that

That was unexpected but really interesting.

 

[Van]

So my interpretation of that is that it was an extremely well rehearsed 'Stunt' in which laminated safety glass was actually broken via the use of pryo charges. NOT something I would want to try on stage for an extended run. Seems very unpredictable and passing dangerous and extremely expensive.

 

[SanTai]

Expensive and unexpected. Makes me happy!

Found out that it was LunatX that was the supplier of all the SFX for ESC.

lunatX - fireworks and special effects. Eurovision Song Contest 2011

They named it "X-Glass-Breaker"

Do you think it is the same setup for the Swedish competion or is it that sugar glass there? The special effects were made by a another company for that show and the budget was probably smaller.

 

[Van]

I'd say it's the exact same setup.

 

[shiben]

This is a BA stunt, for what its worth. Really cool. Must have cost a mint and been a dog to clean up.