You all may remember my "I need to smash someone's head in with an axe..." thread I made a while back.

Well now I need to shove someone through a window screen on the second floor of a house, preferably without killing them. This is for a scene in the pilot of a show I intend to make.

So far, I've thought about putting a mattress or two where the victim will land, as I don't need to record the exterior shot. I have no intention of using a dummy, nor do I wish to use cheap CGI. I want to shove an actual living, screaming, pissing person through the window.

Any ideas on how I can go about this without committing murder?

Don't show them falling. Then the window just needs to seem like a second story window, or a second story window right above a covered patio

That's the plan so far. An idea that just came to me is to actually stack a bunch of mattresses ontop eachother. When the guy falls, he will really only be falling 5 feet in reality.

Just wondering if anyone has more cost-effective less-dangerous ideas to throw in the bine.

Quite frankly, that sounds like a terrible idea. If he hits the mattresses bad or is just unlucky, the stack could topple and he'd be probably even more seriously hurt than otherwise. Mattresses also aren't that great for landing on from a high height to begin with.

High, individually small (height-wise) stacked objects of anything + large falling object being accelerated by gravity = BAD IDEA

Just find a location that will either allow you to make it look like it's a second story window or a place that has a decent ledge or overhang that's sturdy enough and use just a single mattress or something better if you have access to something better.

You also best make sure the screen is well prepared to fall apart by the weight of a fly. Last thing you want is part of your guy getting caught on there or him breaking off the frame and getting badly hurt that way.

Why does it have to be the second story window? Have him fall from a shorter area and make it look like it's the second story window.

It may actually be best to shoot the guy being "thrown" through the window from the outside. Shoot inside looking out where the guy's about to be tossed through the window (don't actually toss him through). Then cut footage of the guy going through the window from the outside (this will allow the guy to jump through the window rather than be thrown threw, greatly reducing chances of injury). Then cut to him on the floor in front of the building and pan upwards to a second-story window, also broken through, where the other guy can be seen.

Requirements: a building with similarly looking first and second floor windows from the outside. Nothing more. The rest would just be proper angling. Alternatively, fabricating your own prop window for the outside falling through the window shot.

Oh, good call about making the screen week. I hadn't thought about that. Now I'm getting flashbacks of when Undertaker cut his arm falling through a stack of three wooden tables.

I'm liking the idea of making an illusion with a first-story window, though that'll require some quick cutting. When I said stack the mattresses, I did of course intend to have a sort of foundation/pillar system setup to prevent it from turning into the fall of Bara Dur.

Good ideas though, all of these.