SFX for Lessons of Scale Model Experiment　—How to Mimic “Un-realistic” Catastrophe in the Lab—

Abstract

SFX (special effects) frequently used in Science Fiction (SF) films shall include rich example of scale model experiments. Technicians and staffs of SFX put extra-ordinal efforts to reproduce unrealistic scene (yet it looks very real) by “Kufu” based on empirical experiences, so called “know-how”, based on their professional sense. This work is to provide the strategies to understand how such “Kufu(s)” works to reproduce the “unrealistic” catastrophe in SFX using the concept of scale modeling. Through the strategy, professional sense can be written as certain formula of engineering law. To do so, melting-collapse of pylons subjected to extremely hot gas jet (so called “atomic breath”) by Godzilla is used as the case study. The actual treatment applied in the past SFX is recalled and discussed its feasibility. Improved method based on scale model concept is newly introduced and discussed.