Personal Project Achieving Effects

Achieving special and visual effects

Special FX

The first special effect used will be as the man begins to amputate his leg. The viewer will see the hedge trimmer blade cut through the flesh and muscle. In order to achieve this, foam and liquid latex would be manipulated around a log and covered by trousers matching those the actor is wearing, to create an imitation thigh. At the front of the “thigh” between the wood and foam would be an uncooked chicken breast.

Using scissors, a laceration would be made in the foam and trousers which would be undetectable to the viewer. This would allow fake blood (made using a mixture of corn syrup, water and red and green food colouring) to be pumped from a container such as a foot pump, through a tube which has been fed into the “thigh” from off-camera.

The act of amputation would require a close up shot of a hedge trimmer, cutting through the trouser material, the liquid latex and foam (coloured to emulate skin and flesh) as the “blood” is pumped into/ out of the “thigh”. The hedge trimmer would then reach the chicken breast which when cut into will resemble the thigh muscle being severed.

As the amputation is taking place, blood is splattered onto the CD player and leaflets. The same recipe for the fake blood would be required here and using paint brushes and basters, the blood would be manually splashed onto the objects.  

Once the act of amputation is complete, the viewer sees the lifeless leg from the foot to the knee, on the floor. To create this, a prosthetic leg would be used, covered with liquid latex and painted to match the actor’s skin tone and appearance of his foot.

Above the knee, scar wax would be applied to the prosthetic, moulded into shape and made uneven at the edge which ensures the “wound” does not have a straight cut but rather resembles a raw wound. The fake blood would then be painted onto the wax and trousers, as well as in a pool around the prosthetic.

Visual FX

The sparks seen when the hedge trimmer is switched on would be created in After Effects. The process would be as follows:

·         Composition-New composition

·         Layer-New-Solid-Black

·         Effect-Singulation-Particle World

·         Birth rate-0

·         Down a frame

·         Birth rate-0.1

·         Down 4 frames

·         Birth rate-0

·         Longevity-0.3

·         Producer-Radius Y-0, Radius Z-0, Radius X-0.58

·         Physics-Gravity 0.3

·         Particle-Colour-Orange

·         Select layer

·         Effect-Glow

·         On top (Panel to the right)

·         Glow radius-30

·         Import film scene of man turning hedge trimmer on

·         Add sparks

The scene would then show the man holding the hedge trimmer and switching it on, as he does so, the sparks fly from the blades and disperse.