'Sugar Coated Razor Blades' Short Film
Completion Date:
September 16, 1999
Production Time:
4 Weeks
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My special effects kit, a few months after filming (1999)
The first edit was created with the help of an older student on an editing course (introduced via my course tutor), using two of the college's big grey Panasonic AG-7500 PAL SVHS VCRs connected together. That wasn't ideal as it the Hi8 tape had to be transferred to SVHS before it could be edited, and the VCR couldn't do a number of things I had planned, including fancy titles, running footage backwards, and transitions. It wasn't till a few months later in 2000, that I bought an ATI All in wonder 128 capture card for my PC, and was able to capture the footage from the Hi8 camera via S-Video, and needle away at the edit myself to my heart's content, using Adobe Premiere. I lifted most of the sound effects & some of the score from the PC game Resident Evil, along with The Evil Dead movie, and a White Zombie music track for the end credits. While I don't have a copy of the original SVHS edit, below you can watch my own edit, assembled on my PC back early in 2000, transferred to VHS, then captured back from VHS to be presented here. I still have all the raw footage and could re-transfer and make a much higher quality version today, but that would seem like cheating, so it is what it is.
9MM Handgun - 09/08/99 (1 Week to design and make)
Rob pulls a semi-automatic pistol with a silencer, from the inside of his coat and silently pulls back the firing pin.
This prop was an adapted plastic toy gun. I dismantled and modified the firing chamber to allow a spring loaded cocking action, I also added a hammer. I constructed a magazine out of wood and cut a rectangular hole in the butt of the gun to allow it to be inserted, I made the silencer from a piece of dowel.
I was never happy that (within the actual interior space of of the gun) I could think of a way of making the trigger activate the spring loaded cocking chamber action, but I reasoned that the screen time for the prop was insufficient, and the action of the cocking would be so quick as not to warrant such intricacy.
I was never happy that (within the actual interior space of of the gun) I could think of a way of making the trigger activate the spring loaded cocking chamber action, but I reasoned that the screen time for the prop was insufficient, and the action of the cocking would be so quick as not to warrant such intricacy.
Squib - 14/09/99 (5 months development, 2 hours production)
Rob fires one shot into a man standing just in front of him, we hear a 'thud' as the gun is fired. The bullet rips through his torso spraying blood all over the wall behind him and the man crumples to the ground, his blood fast making a pool on the floor.
I use an elliptical piece of perspex with a slit either side of a hole in the middle, I pass a belt through both of the slits and insert a water balloon filled with fake blood, with the opening sticking out of the hole. The opening of the balloon is kept sealed with a clip which is pulled off on cue with a fishing line attached to it. the person puts the belt on tight, this puts a lot of pressure on the balloon so when the clip is pulled the blood spurts out with quite a punch. two can be warn giving an entry and an exit wound, the exit wound has a washer wired about an inch in front of the balloon opening, this diffuses the blood instead of just spurting out in a steady stream.
It doesn't use any kind of pyrotechnics which makes it very cheap to use, and is safer for the actor. This squib does have a problem in that sometimes the water balloon stays sealed after the pin has been pulled off, this happened on the exit wound for the shooting in Sugar Coated Razor Blades, because I only had the actor for a limited time I didn't have time to re-take the shot so I had to use the first take.
It doesn't use any kind of pyrotechnics which makes it very cheap to use, and is safer for the actor. This squib does have a problem in that sometimes the water balloon stays sealed after the pin has been pulled off, this happened on the exit wound for the shooting in Sugar Coated Razor Blades, because I only had the actor for a limited time I didn't have time to re-take the shot so I had to use the first take.
Machete Killing - 14/09/99 (1 day design and make)
Will, pulls out a machete, throws it to Rob and Rob slams it into his face. Blood pours down his face as well as trickling, almost spurting out of his face. The machete is then whipped out sending more splatters of blood into the surrounding area. The man slumps back against the door, sliding down it leaving a smudged blood trail down the door. He comes to rest in a sitting position at the foot of the door, blood still running down his face.
Will moves the man lying against the door, and between the two of them they pull the body away from the door and move him to rest a few feet away, a smudged blood trail is left across the floor.
Will moves the man lying against the door, and between the two of them they pull the body away from the door and move him to rest a few feet away, a smudged blood trail is left across the floor.
I used a Tom Savini Dawn of the Dead effect for the basis of the death in this sequence, he used a five-n-dime store gag which uses two machetes. One is normal but the other has a semi-circle cut out of it. For the machete entry shot I just placed the gag machete onto the actors head and on cue whip it off his head and out of frame, then in post-production I reversed this shot so it gives the illusion that the machete is going in. Both the machetes have wooden handles but the blades are made from cardboard covered in aluminium tape. I ran blood tubing down the handle and around the gag blade so when pumped it gave the illusion that blood was coming from his head as I moved the blade around.
I wanted to make the blades out of a thin plastic, or even metal. Due to time, safety and monitory constraints I decided upon cardboard, this led to the problem that they were too flimsy so I ran some wire along the top edge under the tape to add strength.
I wanted to make the blades out of a thin plastic, or even metal. Due to time, safety and monitory constraints I decided upon cardboard, this led to the problem that they were too flimsy so I ran some wire along the top edge under the tape to add strength.
Screwdriver Murder - 14/09/99 (1 day design and make)
Rob picks up a screwdriver, the victims head has dropped, and slowly forces it in through his ear. The blood pools in his earhole, and then pours down his face and neck, along with a small spurt of blood squirting up onto Rob. When the screwdriver is full inserted , Rob, still holding the head, moves the body awkwardly into the bath next to him.
The idea for this was take from an effect in Dawn of the Dead, but I felt I could modify the effect into something which looked very convincing. I took a screwdriver and removed the metal shaft and drilled a hole down the centre of the plastic handle, I then took a length of aluminium tube the same width as the original shaft. the handle could slide up and down on this so when the tip was pressed into something the handle would slide down the shaft giving the illusion that the screwdriver is being pushed in. then a length of blood tubing is attached to the handle end of the shaft, so that when blood was pumped, it would come out of the end of the screwdriver enhancing the illusion.
When filming this sequence, on the first take, a lot of air got trapped in the blood tubing so when the blood was pumped some blood pooled up around the end of the screwdriver then this began to bubble, then when all the air had gone more blood came out. this was a total accident and we re-took the shot several more times but the first take was the final shot I used in editing.
I was never happy that I didn't make-up a hole so when the screwdriver is removed you can see a hole into the victims head. I thought at the time that the thick blood would cover up this, but it didn't, it was too brightly lit. With hindsight maybe I should have shot it from a different angle or dimmed the lighting a touch.
When filming this sequence, on the first take, a lot of air got trapped in the blood tubing so when the blood was pumped some blood pooled up around the end of the screwdriver then this began to bubble, then when all the air had gone more blood came out. this was a total accident and we re-took the shot several more times but the first take was the final shot I used in editing.
I was never happy that I didn't make-up a hole so when the screwdriver is removed you can see a hole into the victims head. I thought at the time that the thick blood would cover up this, but it didn't, it was too brightly lit. With hindsight maybe I should have shot it from a different angle or dimmed the lighting a touch.
Knife Attack - 16/09/99 (3 days design and make)
Like a flash a man is thrust into the opening with Rob's hand at his throat. Even before he's hit the wall to the right of the screen Rob thrusts the knife into his stomach, again and again he stabs, the man slumps and Rob releases him and he crumbles to the floor, his whole front awash with blood.
Still not dead the man lies on the floor.
He wheezes
Rob moves over to him, bends down, and repeatedly stabs him until dead.
Still not dead the man lies on the floor.
He wheezes
Victim 3
Please... Don't..
Please... Don't..
Rob moves over to him, bends down, and repeatedly stabs him until dead.
I derived this effect from a murder taken from Goodfellas where a man in the boot of a car is stabbed repeatedly with a carving knife. although they achieved this effect by stabbing a fake body with a real knife, I wanted to stab someone and you see contact, it's a real person and the blade of the knife can't be retracting into the handle because the blade is thicker that the handle.
Working from this i designed a knife in which the blade is spring loaded and retracts into itself about half way up. I made the blade from perspex and attached this to a hollow wooden handle. i covered the blade in aluminium tape to give it a metallic look, then I just attached blood tubing to the off camera side of the knife and pumped the blood while I was stabbing.
Most of the takes I did on this sequence where medium-shots to close-ups and again thinking that the pooling blood would hide that fact that there were no wounds on the victim, it was too brightly lit and the blood was too thin. with hindsight I should have restricted myself to shooting medium to long-shots, I feel that this would have shown off the effect better.
(Addition! - please excuse the terrible out-of-focus photos to the right. They were taken with my mums budget point & flash/click camera in 1999, before I bought my own proper 35mm SLR camera. These are the only photos I have of this prop.)
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Working from this i designed a knife in which the blade is spring loaded and retracts into itself about half way up. I made the blade from perspex and attached this to a hollow wooden handle. i covered the blade in aluminium tape to give it a metallic look, then I just attached blood tubing to the off camera side of the knife and pumped the blood while I was stabbing.
Most of the takes I did on this sequence where medium-shots to close-ups and again thinking that the pooling blood would hide that fact that there were no wounds on the victim, it was too brightly lit and the blood was too thin. with hindsight I should have restricted myself to shooting medium to long-shots, I feel that this would have shown off the effect better.
(Addition! - please excuse the terrible out-of-focus photos to the right. They were taken with my mums budget point & flash/click camera in 1999, before I bought my own proper 35mm SLR camera. These are the only photos I have of this prop.)