Prompted by the latest How-to video from IndyMogul, I’ve decided to just list all the blood effects I’ve ever tried and thought of trying.
Tried:
In Jethro Atom, I sprayed blood in my face using a CO2 tank and a keg filled with fake blood. It took three takes to get everything. In the first take, I clogged the system because my blood had undissolved sediment. In the second take, the blood sprayed the wrong direction, so I had to stick my face in the stream. So for my third take, I took the camera in for a close-up, so you could see that my hands were aiming the nozzle into my face. I used footage from the last two takes in the movie.
In Waste Not, Donut, I used a mixture of cherry Jello (for texture) and red water-paint. (To make it more opaque) I let the Jello set, and then ran it through a blender. This made for a nice thick texture that was still slippery enough to squirt. I filled a pop-bottle, drilled a hole in the lid and squirted it out of there. For audio of the stabbing, I squished handfuls of watermelon.
There’s the standard recipe of food-colouring and corn syrup, which I’ve used. Also, I’ve learned to use Kool-aid and corn syrup as something that’s less likely to stain.
Haven’t tried:
I haven’t tried the washer-glued-to-a-condom method listed above. If you’re worried about the washer being visible, maybe glue a piece of felt to it, to change the shape and colour so it looks more like a chunk of skin flying off or something.
I also haven’t tried the other Backyard FX method with the pop-bottle and tubing.
You could increase your bullet count without the set-up time if you super-impose them in post. I’ve heard of people shooting a blood-filled condom or balloon popping against a green-screen. You can use the washer trick again, or shoot it with a BB gun. (Safer when the rig isn’t attached to someone.) You could also shoot black paint against a white background or white against black, and set the colour of the spatter in post. MiniDV format has more detail in the luminosity channel than in the colour channels, so that is the benefit of doing it that way.
On the Make Your Own Damn Movie DVD, they showed an example with alka-seltzer and food colouring to make foaming spurting blood.