How to burn a family – and their dog – at the stake.
- Ensure all public liability policies are current and cover pretend fires that can turn ugly.
- Build a big fire in winter and on a vacant lot far from everything.
- Start with close-ups of stressed family – and dog – and create the impression they are in close proximity to said flames.
- Ensure mother screams a lot.
- Save the wide shot till the end to avoid singeing of clothes.
- Lock off a wide shot of all and sundry, then film family screaming and panicking at said stake without flames – repeat without flames, followed by same without family. NB: ensure family is removed from scene before setting fire to everything.
- Shoot additional close-ups of flames to add more realism later.
- Pass over to editor to join all scenes together.