Archive for November, 2009

Shot of the main mask prop.

So this was the main event for me really as all the effects shots were getting done on the second day.  Even then we didn’t actually get going until about lunchtime.

First up were a few reaction shots of the actress as she is attacked.  All this required was me flicking blood over her as she writhed about on the ground.  Not too taxing really and always good fun to start by chucking blood about.

Next was a scene where bloody slashes appear in her forearms.  I’d made some gelatin makeup appliances which had some fishing wire embedded in them.  The idea was that when the fishing wire was pulled a chunk of precut gelatin would come away.  Pulled quickly enough it should appear as though the slashes simply appear.

This is the bit I was least looking forward to, mainly because I’m rubbish at makeup.  I roped the producer in to give me a hand (he actually has more makeup experience than me!) but the effect looked pretty rubbish and I was relieved that the director decided he could live without the effect.  We’d already had some issues with continuity as well – the actress had previously been shot with her sleeves down thus meaning you wouldn’t be able to see her arms – so it worked out OK all around really.  I’ve decided I’m not going to do any more make-up effects, at least until I get some more practice in, they’re a pain in the arse!

Puppeteering the 'goiter' puppet.

Next up was the creature effects which I was alot more happy with and actually came out pretty well.  There were several stages to this one with various tentacles popping out of the puppet.  The whole thing was given a good coating of slime and blood so I spent several hours also coated in slime and blood.

Once the puppets had transitioned from child to creature, we stuck a silicon and fibre glass mask on the actor and slimed him up which he was none too pleased about.  You’d've thought kids’d love playing with slime wouldn’t you?

Either way he was very good and advanced towards his ‘mother’ quite menacingly ready to tear out her unborn foetus (!).

Shot of the final creature mask.

This was another bit I’d built which consisted of a fibreglass and silicon fake pregnant stomach.  I’d built a cavity inside which I could fill with the silicon foetus puppet I’d previously made.

An actress with similar sized hands to the child actor was then put into the creature mask and matching costume and proceeded to pull out the foetus along with a load more blood and slime.

We then cut to the final creature puppet which proceeds to eat it!

Can’t wait to see how the final film comes out!

Popped down to the set today to have a look about and drop off the last few bits.  Everything seems to be shaping up nicely.  The effects are all being done tomorrow so that’ll be the main event for me.

So I’ve dropped off most of the FX at the set now.  Here they are waiting to go complete with ‘costume’ ;0)

The chaps are hard at work building the set ready for the weekend.  I’m not too thrilled at an 8am start, particularly as I think I’m going to end up hanging around doing nothing for the majority of the day – the effect usually get shot towards the end, mostly because once you start throwing blood about the place you can’t go back, but I guess we’ll see what happens.

And while I’ve been doing the film, I’ve also been doing the zombie mask!

Here’re some finished pics:

So finally near the end of the horror film project.  By my count, since the beginning of august I have produced:

• 6 x painted concept sculptures
• 2 x sculpts of the mask props (a ‘hero’ prop and damaged version)
• 2 x molds of mask sculpts
• 5 x fibre glass mask props in various stages of damage (including a breakaway version that’s held together with magnets)
• 2 x sculpts for the puppets of the child actor
• 2 x fibre glass shells – one of each puppet
• 2 x sculptures of the flesh section of each puppet (1 with a ‘goiter’ neck, one with a torn neck)
• 2 x molds of the flesh sections
• 3 x casts of the flesh sections in silicon (1 goiter, 2 torn neck versions)
• 1 x sculpture of teeth section for final puppet
• 1 x mold of teeth section
• 2 x fibreglass casts of teeth section
• 1 x sculpture of tentacle
• 1 x mold of tentacle (this was a three piece mold)
• 17 x silicon casts of tentacles
• 1 x sculpture of hero embryo
• 1 x mold of embryo (which I completely cocked up, but enough of that)
• 3 x silicon casts of embryo
• 1 x umbilical cord (made out of cast off pieces of latex)
• 1 x sculpture of pregnant stomach
• 1 x fibreglass shell of pregnant stomach
• 1 x sculpture of flesh section of pregnant stomach
• 1 x silicon cast of pregnant stomach
• 2 x sculpts of wrist slashes prosthetic makeup
• 1 x mold of wrist slashes prosthetic makeup
• 10 x gelatin casts of wrist slashes prosthetic makeup

All of these elements have been combined into:

• 1 x final hero creature puppet with articulated tentacles and toothy maw
• 1 x wearable mask of final creature for the actor to wear
• 1 x ‘transformation’ puppet with bulging goiter neck
• 3 x embryo puppets
• 1 x prosthetic pregnant stomach for actress to wear
• Assorted prosthetic wrist slash makeup for actress to wear
• 1 x hero mask prop for actor to wear
• 4 or so damaged mask props for use in the various effect sequence.

Fuck me, that’s a collossal amount of work.  Partially my own fault really – they only wanted a mask that could open it’s mouth and bite initially.  I kind of convinced them to go for something a little more dynamic!

We’re filming this weekend, so here’s hoping it was all worth it!

I’ve put together a rough test video to show how the effects for the horror film will work.  Should look alot better (and more horrific) once it’s filmed properly by a professional cameraman (and not by me in my front room) and once copious amounts of blood have been added.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhRPwC8DtAk

So I’ve been working on the zombie mask.  Here’re some pics of the mold:

Not pictured is a ‘core’ which sits inside the two pieces of the mold.  This is roughly the shape of a head.  Left is a pic from a previous mold I made, same principle though. Inside this is a….. ’socket’ I guess where a large syringe fits. This is constructed from drain pipe – unfortunately you can;t buy syringes of the necessary size (about 2L) so I had to make one.

I’ll try and post some pics of all this abit later on as I’m fairly pleased with how it all worked (mostly because it did work!) The silicon is then injected into the cavity between the pieces  and ends up looking something like this:

This isn’t quite finished yet – the top set of teeth are missing and there’s some more painting to do, particularly at exposed skull bit on top of the head, but very nearly there.

Not posted for a while (again) as I’ve been crazily busy, not just with zombie mask I’m making (of which more in a separate post) but also with the horror film which may variously be called ”Extinct”, ”And It Came Home” or the”Arrival”.

Here’re some pics of the various masks that I’ve created and the horrid goiter puppet from which tentacles will erupt.

Having started building some cable mechanisms to make the tentacles move, I’ve found it’s far easier and more effective to stick them on the end of my fingers and whip them about.

There’s a few more bits and pieces to do on this, not least casting several more tentacles, two more embryos, finishing off the two puppets and various makeup effects.

Will get there in the end ;0)

I’ve also been working on the effects for the horror film I’m doing.  I’ve now cast the deformed embryo and several tentacles.

It’s just a case of putting all the parts together now.  The effects are gonna involve tentacles emerging from the puppets shown in my previous post so I’ve got a break away mask that will shatter as they emerge – that’s held together with magnets.

There’s also several different stages to it, so first a tentacle shoots out the eye socket and waves around, then a writhing mass burst out the mouth that shatter the mask (these’ll be solid tentacles) we then cut to articulated ones that will move – these are articulated with brake cables.

Then finally we cut to the tentacles fully emerged complete with horrible toothy maw.  Here’re the concept sculpts:

And here’re the full size puppets, sans tentacles and/or masks.

Not posted anything in awhile, mostly because I’ve been crazily busy. Work on the film continues, which I’ll post separately about. I’ve also been hired to create some silicon rubber masks, one of which is pictured below.

This will be cast in silicon rubber.

This is the first of several.  In addition to sculpting the pieces themselves I’ve been teaching myself mold making 101 as I’ve gone along pretty much.  These masks have required two piece fibre glass molds plus an interior core and are the largest molds I’ve made to date.  Here’re some pics of the sculpture ready to be molded:

As well as making the molds themselves I’m having to build the tools to use them.  I need a huge (around 2 litre) syringe to inject the silicon rubber into the mold.  Of course you can’t buy anything like that so I’ve had to make it.  I’ve come up with something made of drain pipe tubing and fittings.  There’s a seperate cap and plunger so I can vary length of tubing used (and thus the volume of the syringe) to accommodate larger molds – if you need to inject more material simply use a longer length of tubing.

Fingers crossed it works….;0)