Snow, photogenic and evocative of winter, has always been in demand by film makers. When the natural version was not available, they found some surprising and sometimes alarming alternatives.
In the early days, a snow substitute just had to be white. Studio scenes of Charlie Chaplin’s The Goldrush used a mixture of salt and flour. Later on, cornflakes painted white and mixed with gypsum shavings provided a more convincingly snowy texture, although sound tracks had to be re-recorded because of the crunching underfoot.
Some movies used natural cotton, a potential fire hazard under hot lights. In the Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland is engulfed in a snowstorm composed of fluffy white Chrysotile, a material guaranteed to be fireproof because it is a form of asbestos fibre.
The Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life was shot in summer 1946 in Los Angeles. For winter sequences the outdoor set was sprayed with a chemical snow compounded of ‘Foamite’ from fire extinguishers, sugar, water and soap flakes. RKO’s Effects Department won a technical award because their imitation snow was so convincing on screen.
These days screen snow is more likely to be a biodegradable eco-friendly substance made from recycled paper – or it may simply be CGI.
