Maybe my weirdest question yet...

[YerK]

I wonder how hard it would be to set up a shoot that had pirates (traditional or modern) or soldiers or mercs, decked out for combat, that were chasing a model through the woods. The character for the model is someone like Lara Croft, though, and while she does get stuck, it doesn't happen until she is on the far side of the mudpit, where she quickly grabs some hollow reed to breathe through until the pirates give up and look somewhere else, but then pulls herself out of the mud (she's barely wearing any clothes and no equipment to weigh her down) and pretends to be hurt on the far side of the mud, crying out so that the group (2 to 4) of men come running. When they get near, she hops up on one foot and pretends to try and flee despite an injured ankle. As one, the men surge forward and start drowning.

Now, you might ask, "Why bother". I think it might help flesh out a different sort of female sink, and while the F doesn't die, and isn't even fearful of it, you still get a scantly clad woman going into (and coming out of!) the mud. Also, for those who really want to see men sinking, it would give a chance to add that to the shoot. (The downside being that it would likely take volunteer male actors, which will likely be of dubious quality for photography, as well as likely inexperienced as actors)

Now, if a producer were dead set against using a male actor, this could still work with a woman in the villain's role. (so you'd get one F sinking & getting away, with another sinking to her doom)

[Robert]

I wonder how hard it would be to set up a shoot that had pirates (traditional or modern) or soldiers or mercs, decked out for combat, that were chasing a model through the woods. The character for the model is someone like Lara Croft, though, and while she does get stuck, it doesn't happen until she is on the far side of the mudpit, where she quickly grabs some hollow reed to breathe through until the pirates give up and look somewhere else, but then pulls herself out of the mud (she's barely wearing any clothes and no equipment to weigh her down) and pretends to be hurt on the far side of the mud, crying out so that the group (2 to 4) of men come running. When they get near, she hops up on one foot and pretends to try and flee despite an injured ankle. As one, the men surge forward and start drowning.

Now, you might ask, "Why bother". I think it might help flesh out a different sort of female sink, and while the F doesn't die, and isn't even fearful of it, you still get a scantly clad woman going into (and coming out of!) the mud. Also, for those who really want to see men sinking, it would give a chance to add that to the shoot. (The downside being that it would likely take volunteer male actors, which will likely be of dubious quality for photography, as well as likely inexperienced as actors)

Now, if a producer were dead set against using a male actor, this could still work with a woman in the villain's role. (so you'd get one F sinking & getting away, with another sinking to her doom)

This is another variation of a "siren" bating someone into the quicksand. It might work if she had this planned from the start and had a rope or vine hidden to pull herself out because the question that jumps out to me in this version is why would the pirates drown when she would not.

Robert

[Fred588]

The decking out for combat would require the appropriate props and wardrobe. Beyond that, nothing to it - its a chase scene. Your description does imply, if not actually require, a minimum of three characters - this makes it expensive. A chase involving just two, with one hading in the mud and escaping, then faking injury to lure the other into the mud, would be very simple. I think you are exactly right about the audience not wanting to see the volunteer crewman playing the sinking role.

I wonder how hard it would be to set up a shoot that had pirates (traditional or modern) or soldiers or mercs, decked out for combat, that were chasing a model through the woods. The character for the model is someone like Lara Croft, though, and while she does get stuck, it doesn't happen until she is on the far side of the mudpit, where she quickly grabs some hollow reed to breathe through until the pirates give up and look somewhere else, but then pulls herself out of the mud (she's barely wearing any clothes and no equipment to weigh her down) and pretends to be hurt on the far side of the mud, crying out so that the group (2 to 4) of men come running. When they get near, she hops up on one foot and pretends to try and flee despite an injured ankle. As one, the men surge forward and start drowning.

Now, you might ask, "Why bother". I think it might help flesh out a different sort of female sink, and while the F doesn't die, and isn't even fearful of it, you still get a scantly clad woman going into (and coming out of!) the mud. Also, for those who really want to see men sinking, it would give a chance to add that to the shoot. (The downside being that it would likely take volunteer male actors, which will likely be of dubious quality for photography, as well as likely inexperienced as actors)

Now, if a producer were dead set against using a male actor, this could still work with a woman in the villain's role. (so you'd get one F sinking & getting away, with another sinking to her doom)

[YerK]

Robert: I think the explanation for the woman not sinking where her pursuers sink like stones would be the amount of equipment they carry. The woman who is fleeing is not loaded at all, but her pursuers are loaded up for combat.

Fred: The *typical* mud viewer isn't here at all to see men sink, but there are some who I should think would be tickled to see it. (admittedly, I'm not one of them, but they are still out there!) And the scene would still have a woman going down and coming back out.

The scene could include a vine or something that happens to be growing out across the pit, with our heroine taking it out of the pit with her when she climbs out. (or leaving it in plain view, but cutting it away from the bank)

This isn't something anyone *has* to do, just a suggestion for "something different".

[Fred588]

Robert: I think the explanation for the woman not sinking where her pursuers sink like stones would be the amount of equipment they carry. The woman who is fleeing is not loaded at all, but her pursuers are loaded up for combat.

Fred: The *typical* mud viewer isn't here at all to see men sink, but there are some who I should think would be tickled to see it. (admittedly, I'm not one of them, but they are still out there!) And the scene would still have a woman going down and coming back out.The scene could include a vine or something that happens to be growing out across the pit, with our heroine taking it out of the pit with her when she climbs out. (or leaving it in plain view, but cutting it away from the bank)

This isn't something anyone *has* to do, just a suggestion for "something different".

My point regarding this was, perhaps poorly articulated, that even if people want to see men they do not want to see men who look like me or pretty much any of the usual suspects on the crew.

[Nessie]

No trouble getting male actors. Any time I mention shooting men (with my camera, especially if they get to sink), they come out of the woodwork to volunteer to sink for free.

I haven't got a site suitable for a chase scene of any kind. You can't run through my cattail beds. However, it could perhaps be faked by filming the running elsewhere in the park and then using clever cutting.

There would be a risk with all this commotion getting unwanted attention. Solveable, I guess, by filming all the commotion away from the mudpit.

Boy, though, if the guys were really weighted down by armor of some kind...I'd hate to ACTUALLY have trouble getting them out!

Nessie

[YerK]

Wooden swords (or guns, etc.) and plastic armor don't weigh near what the real metal stuff weighs. Any guy worth filming in the mud will be able to pull himself out despite such gear. (and even if he drops a wooden sword, it will float up)

[Robert]

Robert: I think the explanation for the woman not sinking where her pursuers sink like stones would be the amount of equipment they carry. The woman who is fleeing is not loaded at all, but her pursuers are loaded up for combat.

The scene could include a vine or something that happens to be growing out across the pit, with our heroine taking it out of the pit with her when she climbs out. (or leaving it in plain view, but cutting it away from the bank)

This isn't something anyone *has* to do, just a suggestion for "something different".

Well this is your scene to write and we all take poetic license at times as to why things happen.

There are several ways to take this.

As I see it: A "Laura Croft" character could logically have a rope in her belt, or as I suggested there could be some kind of vine nearby (probably more logical to an impromptu element of her escape). She is a quick thinker so having her do this off the top of her head is not out of her character. I like the hollow reed idea enabling her to submerge as long as she has secured something (rope or vine) before she goes under. She also could have had a previous encounter with the quicksand so she would be aware of it and realize this is a way to eliminate her adversaries as she is being chased, or this is as you suggested the way she escapes them in the first place, then in a future scene plans it all out and is able to lure them in. However if they are carrying guns you would have to explain in dialog as to why they don't just shoot her. (Perhaps the leader wants her alive and you would write the appropriate lines.) It is easy to write and shoot a simple scene but less entertaining to a potential viewer so you have to decide how much time and resources you want to spend.

[YerK]

Personally, I'd about rather see the girl in this scene wearing a wife-beater Tshirt and shorts, with (at most) a knife of some sort for her only equipment.

As for explaining why they don't just shoot her, "No you fool! The price on this woman is on her body, not her head! The Sheik wants a son by her! We take her ALIVE!"

I still think the vine across the pit would work as a rope, especially when she cuts it from her side prior to luring the pirates into it.