I just finished reading the book DV Rebel guide by Stu Maschwitz. Great book tutorial for those willing to make a low budget feature!

In this first chapter Stu breaks down the action kitchen scene of the film La femme Nikita by Luc Besson. Almost of the actions scene are covered except the plates explosion!
So basically the actress is walking in the kitchen and behind her a stack of plates explode! Stu says he would take a baseball batch, smash the plates and paint out the bat. No need to use explosion squibs!

Ok great but how do you do that? Would you paint the bat in green and remove it in post? You mau get spilling on the plates but more important what do you put to replace the keyed out elements? What about the person holding the bat? How do you remove it? You could put a still of the scene before the actor enters the frame but how do you add the actress on top of the layers so that the plates explode behind her?

Has anyone tried this?

If you had a hole in the wall behind the plates you could hit them from behind and there would be nothing to key out. If you broke half the plates ahead of time and barely glued them back together then put a little flower or chalk on the plates a small impact would appear a lot larger.
Is the actress in the shot? Is it a bullet that shatters the plates? If she is in the shot, the question is more how to do it safely.

Hi Joe,
The plates are shattered by a bullet yes. Imagine a big kitchen, foreground is the actress, just behind her a table with plates and behind the table a few cookers. A bullet coming from the right shatters the plates and the actress turns right. You can see what I mean on you tube, 8 seconds from start:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fT_EYQm3pE

In the rebel guide Stu talks about painting the bat out I have no clue how what he means by that!

probably you need to use special plates, made from plaster or special plastic, easily breakable and light.
then you can pre-break them , reassemble and use little explosive device to simulate shot. All of this will be extremly hazardous for the actor (eyes and ears)
another way is to add in post the pile of plate, by just shooting on green screen the explosions.

Hi Francois,
THanks for the tip. I am actually trying to avoid have to do green screen or work with explosive. That's what Stu explains in his book, you can avoid using dangerous squibs but painting out. From another forum http://rebelsguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=440 people say it's doable in After effects with painting tools!
I will it check it out!