If cinema has taught us anything, it’s that action heroes don’t look at explosions. They turn their back on lethal shrapnel and fiery debris to nonchalantly swagger off into the distance.
The Slow-Mo Guys, on the other hand, quite wisely decide to run like hell. Dan, Lance Corporal in the British Army, and Gavin, a filmmaker based in Texas, have blown up their fair share of buildings with grenades and lived to tell the tale.
They've also fired a few machine guns and performed other action hero tasks in the name of science, racking up YouTube hits in the millions.
With this new found fame in mind, we asked the guys to talk us through their most interesting projects of peril thus far.
Biggest Budget
Gav: We’ve been lucky that certain brands have given us budgets. But in the case of the grenades video, where we had help from the makers of Battlefield, we were also able to blow up a building, resulting in one of the biggest fireballs I have ever seen. The guys also provided us with special blast shields and lighting equipment, which helped.
Dan: The production value of our usual videos is between £20 and £40. So this was something else. We still called the shots on the day though, so it was all us. It was a ridiculous budget on that shoot.
Most Dangerous
Gav: We blew up jars of paint with an actual cannon. There was glass everywhere, and if you have high speed fragments flying at you then you’re in trouble. In hindsight, it would have been easier to use plastic cups. Anything where fire is involved is always a gamble, too. But that’s the joy of shooting slow-mo, because you can’t predict what will look best.
Toughest shoot
GavDanGavDan:
Oddest Fan Suggestion
Gav:Dan:shot a video of me vomitingGav:Dan:
Geekiest Effort
Gav:Dan: Gav:
The Game Changer
Gav: The giant water balloon. It got 2.5m hits. Our videos around the time were getting 40,000 or 50,000 views, which was great, but we didn’t expect the giant water balloon. Then that got 2m views in a day. All of our mates told us and it was all over our Facebook. It went all over TV, too, like it was news.
Dan: Water balloon popping was the classic internet video, but we took it to the next level.
Gav: I actually ordered that balloon about six months before we shot the video, as that’s the one I wanted to do from the off.
