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Cape Town, South Africa

Services

Five departments.
One phone call.

From a single bespoke effect to a complete action package, Essential Stunts & Special Effects customises a team to the specific needs of your production. Every effect is real, every stunt is performed, and every setup is engineered for safety and camera.

Atmosphere & Gossamer1/5
SFX

Special Effects

  • General atmospherics interior and exterior — rain of all sizes via tower systems and overhead rigs with spinner nozzles
  • Fire of all scales, snow, and wind machines from a leaf blower to V8-powered exterior units
  • High-pressure pneumatics — pigs, car cannons, pneumatic lifters
  • Breakaway sets, hydraulic platforms, cable pulls, controlled collapses, and special builds

This looks like

A monsoon-level rainstorm from an overhead rig, a floor that drops on cue, a vehicle launched by a pneumatic cannon — all practical, all in-camera.

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Bullet Hits
PYRO

Pyrotechnics

  • Licensed pyrotechnician — remote and hardline firing box systems
  • Explosions, pyro quick releases, and sparks of all sizes
  • Bullet hits on wardrobe, and squibs on buildings, cars, and set pieces built to safe specifications to simulate the bullet hit effect
  • Full safety planning coordinated with stunts health and safety, grips, 1st AD, and camera

This looks like

A car explosion with a stunt performer walking through the fireball — one take, real fire, real timing.

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Stunt Coordinator
STUNTS

Stunt Coordination

  • Stunt teams customised to the specific needs of your production
  • Fight choreography, vehicle action, high falls, fire gags, glass breakaways
  • Filmed pre-vis of action sequences — usable as storyboards and editing reference
  • Performer casting, rehearsal, on-set safety protocols, multi-unit coordination

This looks like

An action sequence with 12 stunt performers, three vehicles, and a building collapse — planned, rehearsed, and executed in two shoot days.

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Stunt & Special Effects Rigging
RIGGING

Stunt & Special Effects Rigging

  • Modern rigging equipment — wire work for flying, fighting, and horizontal travel
  • Descender systems for high falls, track wires, aerial rigs
  • Load-engineered rigging integrated with set construction and grip
  • Inspection protocols before every take

Plus

Special effects does its own calculations for velocity, mass, speed, and momentum — incorporating optimal angles of weight bearing points versus the space a crane arm needs to move, for example. Sometimes lifting or pulling points have to be engineered in our workshop first and tested rigorously before they get the go-ahead.

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Stunt Reel
PERFORMER

Stunt Performer

  • Doubling for principal cast — fights, falls, vehicle hits, fire burns
  • Wire work, weapons handling, precision driving — a wide variety of looks and skills
  • 25 years of on-set performance across international productions
  • Performance background that informs every coordination decision

This looks like

A close-quarters fight scene where the double matches the lead in movement, build, and timing — the cut is invisible.

Enquire about Stunt Performer