Captured entirely in camera with no VFX or post production, Optical Arts’ newest in-house visual experiment Ignis considers the beauty of combustion and “the complex relationship humanity has with fire”.

CD Joe Jackson at Optical Arts in London: “By placing the beauty of internal combustion center stage within delicate glass vessels, the film transforms a fundamental chemical process into an artful exploration of fire, fragility, and the duality of progress.
 

“The film transforms a fundamental chemical process into an artful exploration of fire, fragility, and the duality of progress.”

 
“Our aim was to catch flames in all their high speed glory. We used a combination of the Arri Alexa 35 and Phantom high speed camera to capture the reactions from 200 to 1000 fps.

“Custom rigs were constructed to create the ignition spark within the vessels at a distance after a number of arm hairs were singed in the testing phase. The sound track was based on the whooshing/barking noise that the reaction makes as the oxygen inside the vessel is burnt and new air rushes in to fill the vacuum.”
 
 

 
Production: Optical Arts
Director: Optical Arts
CD: Joe Jackson
Camera Assistants: Elliott Lowe, Jack Lovell
Set Design: Jamie-Lee Harding
Creative Assistant: Minna Griffiths
Retouching/Grade: Martin Pryor

Audio: Sonjay Prabhakar