Jumping through glass? Sounds smashing, except for, you know, all the glass. That’s why movies and TV shows use the fake stuff. Now, what would be interesting is to compare how real and “stunt” glass breaks in slow-motion, just to see how different they are — if at all.
Slow-Mo Guys Gavin and Dan were perfectly suited to give this a go. Well, make that just Gavin, because Dan had a bandaged arm.
The eight-minute video has three segments, starting with “breakaway glass”, the same stuff from Hollywood. No longer made from sugar, a plastic resin is used instead.
Next up is tempered, or safety, glass, which is designed to shattered in a granular fashion, minimising the damage shards can cause to skin. Gavin isn’t able to make it through on his first go, so the third jump uses a small charge to pre-break the glass.
Suffice it to say, he makes it, though not without a few scratches. Nothing major, but it did require the stunt coordinator to blast him with some compressed air, just to get rid of any errant slivers.
Watched the clip? Sweet, now you’re ready to reenact this scene from the Matrix.
[YouTube]