My first job for a movie or TV was for a Life Insurance company.  A company in Raleigh, NC contracted me to come in and make it look like this big cannon had been fired with a man inside.  He has no worries because the insurance company had him covered.  When the cannon fires he is still inside the cannon and comes out and says “Well almost nothing”.  It was shot in a very small studio.  I used the flash cannon to propel the fire out the cannon followed by smoke.