special effects

[hobbler]

hi,i'm new to this forum and I 'd like to ask a question.

I'm a make-up artist and I try to understand as much as possible about filming.

I have to make a bullet leaving the body effect, for a very low budget film.Since there's no money to use explosives,it's my departement.

I was wondering how much you would see from that effect,since it will only take a second.

they wanted to shoot it at normal speed,but they want the actual effect,not the before and after.

Is this something you should shoot at ...images /sec?

could someone give me some more info please?

They shoot it with a 16mm camera.

Thanks;

[Mitch Gross]

This is something that can be done at normal speed and the effect will be seen although of course quite briefly. Generally this is done by an EXPERIENCED PYROTECHNICIAN, so please be very careful and test, test, test before attempting this on a living human being.

 

There are two types of effects done for this, the spray seen from an obscure angle and the direct -on view of the blow-out. For the spray effect, look at the soldier's suicide in the bathroom in Full Metal Jacket. For this effect, a squib (generally a condom filled with karo syrup dyed red with a tiny gunpowder charge) is taped to a thick leather pad or metal plate. This pad is then taped to the back of the actor and two wire leads run from the charge to a battery and switch. The electrical surge sets off the powder and the blood effect blows out. Be very sure to use heavy, thick (1cm or more) leather or a solid metal plate to protect the actor from the blast. To do the shot lookng straight at the effect, mount the leather and squib to an undershirt and then put another shirt over top. Prescore the covering shirt at the effect point so that it will easily tear open in the pattern you wish.

 

I cannot emphasise enough that this takes a lot of training and experience. The only reason I even describe it here at all is so that you don't try something else that could readily cause harm. If you do not have experience with explosive charges then I do not reccomend you attempt this at all. I really don't care if the production says they cannot afford a proper effects person--to me that simply says that they cannot afford to do this shot. Safety first; it's only a movie.

[hobbler]

thanks.I didn't plan to do the explosives myself.

[Michael Nash]

Mitch is absolutely right, don't even think about trying squibs yourself. In fact, you can't even purchase squibs without a license.

 

You might be able to fake a blood spurt with some tubing and compressed air. It'll take some experimenting to get the size of the tube, the "wadding" and air pressure to all work right, but it can be done. Think about stepping on a ketchup packet, that's the basic idea.

 

The other thing to consider is how to shoot it so that the blood shows up on camera. Basically you want to either frame dark or red blood against a light background (a light colored shirt works best with blood), or backlight flying blood against a dark background, especially if the shot is more profile.

[Dorian Quell]

http://www.angelfire.com/movies/nobudgetsfx/nobudgetsfx.html

 

if that helps. that site has some good low budget tricks. look around for the stuff about gunshots.