Gore F/X: Let there be Blood.

[Westcroft]

Alrighty, this is for WasteOfGoodSuffering. I will try and tackle the slit throat effect... I know this will work, but don't have pictures to show step by step instructions so bare with me.

INGREDIENTS:

* Get yourself a nasal aspirator (this is also known as a "baby snot vac"... mostly by me)


* Get a thin straw preferably from this kind of style juice box


* Superglue


* Foam Board


* Glue Gun


* Cardboard
(image not necessary I hope)

* Gaffer tape
(Or any black tape or duct tape painted)

INSTRUCTIONS:

> Drink your kool-aid jammer and super glue the straw to the baby snot vac. (so it sticks out of the snot vac):



> Draw a blade shape on the foam board and cut it out

> Take blade shape and trace it onto foam board again (making a copy)

> Cut out the copy and glue the two foam blades onto the straw (have the straw about half way from the top of the blade and the bottom)



> Tape the straw with scotch tape... like so (the gap is to allow the blood to flow out (you can use less tape if you want the blood to come out somewhere else... but make sure it's still near the end of the straw):



NOTE:

At the top of the blade, use the glue gun to keep the top together... so the bottom of the blade is taped, and the top is glued.

> Take some card board and cut two rectangles, then put them on either side of the bulb... this will be your handle.


> Take the black tape and wrap it around the cardboard to make it look like a handle



> Paint the blade a base coat of stone grey and a second coat of metallic silver... this will make it look like a real blade (the tape will make the edge look extra shiny, and extra sharp).

> dip the knife in a cup of fake blood and squeeze the bulb... let the blood suck it...

> run it across your actor's throat while squeezing gently on the bulb (or hard if you want it messy).

> There you go... you have a knife that can now cut peeps!

The cool thing about this is that you can make any neat designs in the foam board... so if you're character needs a medieval style dagger just cut out the foam that way and decorate the handle... the possibilities are endless.

NOTE: Remember to clean your knife after using it, depending on what you use for fake blood it can get moldy. I suggest wiping the blade and sucking up water with the bulb and squeezing it out a couple of times.




Please post any other gore effects that you want me to take a stab at (pun intended) or post your own designs!

When I have some time I'll do a step by step make-up tutorial on how to make the actual slit throat wound using make-up! Also... maybe a burn wound? Iunno... I'll do requests for that too!

[Your Mothers Boomstick]

i'm working on a short film where i need to decapitate someone with a metal paint scrapper, what in your opinion would be the best approach to this

[Westcroft]

Do you mean a drywall puddy knife? If so I would focus on making a fake head + body. Build a frame for shoulders and whatever else you need for the body and put some clothes on it... When making the neck use paper mache or something to make the remainder of the neck, then add laytex to give it the skin look. Add a broken piece of dowel painted white for the spinal cord (or whatever works).

As for the fake head try finding one of those foam heads from a party store, adding laytex and giving it a wig to look like the character being killed (or better yet glasses or something that'll keep the attention away from the face that won't look realistic).



The actual beheading should be done with one shot of the killer about to kill the victim, then cutting to a close up of the beheading (allowing you to show all the gross detail you can add to the neck), then cut to the head falling off... and if you want *pause*

Get a hudson sprayer



Run some surgical tubing from it to a basic plumbing valve (something that'll keep the pressure in and when you turn the valve will let it out).



Then run the tubing from the valve, through the neck piece, hollow out the styrofoam head a bit, attach a balloon to the tubing (fill the balloon with some fake blood), put the balloon in the head. That way when you detach the head, blood will fly from the head and then launch up from the neck (exploitation horror style).

It's fun!

[WasteOfGoodSuffering]

Thanks for that. The fake knife does seem a little hoaky, but the nasal aspirator and the kool-aid is an interesting idea to spray things from.



I got an idea on how to do the throat slitting effect by mostly relying on editing, but I'm still looking for something I can use to spray blood from the wound while the actor conceals it by pressing their hand against their neck.

I bought a deck sprayer once (it looks exactly like your hudson sprayer), and it didn't spray any blood from it. The karosyrup was too thick to pump out the other end of the hose. It was only made to spray water, not syrup. I'll have to check out other ones I guess, along with trying the juicebox.

[Westcroft]

Thanks for that. The fake knife does seem a little hoaky, but the nasal aspirator and the kool-aid is an interesting idea to spray things from.



I got an idea on how to do the throat slitting effect by mostly relying on editing, but I'm still looking for something I can use to spray blood from the wound while the actor conceals it by pressing their hand against their neck.

I bought a deck sprayer once (it looks exactly like your hudson sprayer), and it didn't spray any blood from it. The karosyrup was too thick to pump out the other end of the hose. It was only made to spray water, not syrup. I'll have to check out other ones I guess, along with trying the juicebox.

The knife definately needs a good paint job to be believeable. In order to have the hudson sprayer to work, you shouldn't be using the average recipe for blood. 6 bottles of red food coloring, a tablespoon of flour and a crap load of water will do the trick. Corn syrup or Karo syrup can't be used.

> I would try running the PVC tubing straight from the sprayer and then run it under the actor's shirt (from the back and then over the shoulder).
> Plug the end with Blue Tak (that blue stuff you put posters up with)...
> Cut a hole in the tubing and stuff with sponge (to keep blood in).
> Fill the tube with blood (before you put the sponge in)... pump
> pump up the hudson sprayer like 200 times
> Have the actor hold his throat (also covering the tube)
> Push the button to release the build up pressure in the sprayer, which will punch out the sponge sending blood everywhere!

This is also great for gunshot wounds.

[Your Mothers Boomstick]

interesting, i was thinking of making one of them models of the actors head (got a pretty good art teacher at the school so i could gt help with that), then attaching it loosely to a board. then i would film two shots, one with the real actor there and the reverse thrust for right up until the beheading, then i would do a second take with the dummy (essentially a scarecrow but with the fancy model head) where we do the behead straight through. that way i could use the real footage for as long as possible, then at the last second switch to the dummy in editing of course. also, kudos on the blood idea, but i think i'd rather have it ooze out slowly into a pool on the floor as it fell rather then spurt all over the room (sometimes less gore can mean more horror). what do you think?

[Westcroft]

I agree with you there, gore is sometimes incredibly overused... especially in current movies. I hope it turns out, please post pics when you're done or when you're working on the effects, I would love to see the finished product and the work in progress!

[Your Mothers Boomstick]

i just finished the storyboard today, we (we meaning my family, thats right i keep work in da family) are going to hold a meeting to hash everything out. we've got the set, the cast, the sound recording devices (borrowing some nice wireless mics at the church, or i will), and soon the camera too (no more shooting in 6 minute intervals for me).

and onto the discussion of modern horror, gore is used to much. i think its th invention of the slasher film thats done horror in. they took the compelling stories and subtle horror out in favor of the "lets make something as graphic and gorey as possible" method of filming. now some manage to rise above this (rob zombie for the magnificent remake of halloween), but for the most part its all crap

[Westcroft]

I would suggest taking a peek at some Noir movies and even going back to it's predecessor German Expressionism. Look at the lighting, sets and themes in those movies. for example, Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and some noir like Scarlet Street and Touch of Evil.

Try and broaden your horizon and take the best of everything to make something unique.

[WasteOfGoodSuffering]

"and onto the discussion of modern horror, gore is used to much. i think its th invention of the slasher film thats done horror in."

"now some manage to rise above this (rob zombie for the magnificent remake of halloween), but for the most part its all crap"

This is a weird statement to make. The original Halloween was part of the beginning of the slasher phase and also spawned a trend in the genre, yet it used no gore and relied on good filmmaking to scare folks. Rob Zombie's remake is the exact opposite.

[Your Mothers Boomstick]

but in comparison with other movie of the current era, halloween is allot less gorey. what i also liked about this version is how it went more into michael's human side, rather the portray him as some super natural monster like the original did

[WasteOfGoodSuffering]

I don't really see him as a monster in the original. He's a lot more human-like than someone like Jason and is also far more intelligent and bad ass than the typical serial killer. Not a monster, just mysterious and unstoppable. I liked some of the moments in the last half of Halloween but most of it was just pushing it. Plus, casting Tyler Man, he might as well have been a monster, being how tall he was.

But as for modern horror, I don't think it gets any better when it comes to Neil Marshall

[Omni]

Here's a good one for head splats

- Get a head sized Melon (one of them white ones)

- Put a hole in it and drain out most of the juice

- Pour your favorite blood mix in it (dont need to worry about chunks)

- Dress it up (wig, glasses, paint it skin color, add a smilie face, do whatever you can to hide the damn melon)

- Smash it! and smash it good! (I like the old head under the tire gag)

It would be best to have some cut aways until all thats left is a pulpy mess.

watch out for "Feeding blood tubes into male shaped "love" toys for that artsy touch"

[elwillo]

im wirting a movie about a killer who lives in the woods and in one scene he finds this chick and guy and as he whips it out the killer chops it off how could i fake that using a chainsaw as his weopan