Special Effects Make-up How-to: Bites and Scratches

This is a great duo of tutorials on how to create either bite or scratch marks using very basic make-up materials that you can easily obtain.

Full tutorial here.

Inspiration: A Treasure Trove of Behind the Scenes Videos of Ghostbusters 2

Much like the Steve Johnson Ghostbusters video are three more vids making the rounds  This time around for the sequel..  The first video showcases some optical effects alongside miniatire work and a bit of bluescreen puppeteering.  Not to mentiom a peek at Vigo.
The second video showcases the puppeteering involved with a far different made Slimer puppet.

The third video showcases how the Vigo painting effect was pulled off along with the real voice of the actor who played the film's main villain.

Check it out:

Behind-the-Scenes: Movie Magic

Update:  The links below are now dead.  Here is the new link:  http://www.joda-entertainment.nl/mm

Over at Slash Film is a super-cool collection of twelve episodes of the 1994 Discovery Channel show Movie Magic;

Snipped from IMDB:

Documentary series dealing with every aspect of special effects in movies, from low-budget make-up to multi-million-dollar computer-generated graphics. The clear presentation includes descriptions of the creation and technical problems of the effects, and interviews with effects technicians, directors, stars and other crew. Each episode deals with one topic, effect or technician (eg theme park rides, CGI, Stan Winston), concentrating on one or more current or recent films. Written by Cynan Rees


Each episode is still a treasure trove of useful information for anyone interested in visual or special effects, prop building, creature fx, and miniatures.

Go here to see the vids.

How to Make Blood Sponges

Over at Eric Hart's prop blog is this cool how-to article on making blood sponges for those moments when you need your actor to squeeze something and desire to see blood spurt and dribble from their hands.  It's a gruesome effect that can be used in all sorts of horror films and even a home haunt for a special scare.  Go here and see how it can be done.

How to Create A Zombie Bite Gore Effect

INDY MOGUL SHOWS HOW TO MAKE A BLOOD CANNON

As the video says: do this at your own risk.

DIY CHEST BURST

Another great vid from the geniuses over at Indy Mogul:

MATT IRVINE ON SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR BLAKES 7

Here is a cool featurette on how some of the effects and ship models were pulled off on the British television series BLAKE'S 7. Once again proving that in order to make a great looking prop you just need a good eye, some brains, and lots of junk. (via patbean)

PART ONE

PART TWO

STAN WINSTON HAS PASSED AWAY

The word around the campfire is that special effects wizard Stan Winston has passed away. The word is that he succumbed to cancer yesterday, Sunday June 15th, but reports have yet to be confirmed. He was 62 years of age.

Stan Winston is probably better known for what he put on the big screen than he is on a personal level. He is the man behind the TERMINATOR, the guy who helped make dinosaurs come to life on JURASSIC PARK, and was even responsible for the effects in EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. The list of films that he had either worked on or gave a lending hand is far too immense to list here. Both his work and imagination will be sorely missed around these parts. (via AICN)

DIY BLOOD SPRAY MADE EASY

For all of you splatterpunks or gorehounds out there who are in search of that perfect blood spray effect that has to be done on the cheap, this article is for you. (via Indy Mogul)

SOMETHING IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

Valentine's is not that far away and what perfect way to celebrate than this visual effect (via Indy Mogul):

THE OL' SWORD AGAINST THE NECK GAG

The gang over at Indy Mogul continue to amaze me. This time around it's a simple gag for a severed head effect. Check it out.

DIY TERRAIN MODELING

Okay this is a bit extreme for a RPG game, yet the techniques involved can definetely be used in your own indie flick. Get the details and see more pics here. The only question is where does this guy sleep at night?

FOR FIFTY BUCKS...

This clip via Troma reminds me of this adage I heard somewhere, please forgive me but I long forgot where it originated it from or who even said it first, but it goes like this;

A producer wants to part the Red Sea in a Moses flick and asks a special effects guy how much will it cost. The special effects guy ponders it for a moment and says "well for a million I'll part the actual Red Sea. For half a mil, I can part just half, and for fifty bucks I can have a guy in a costume point to something off screen and yell 'oh shit the Red Sea is parting!'"

That is what the clip reminds me of. The gist is that in the end sometimes you don't need a big budget to pull off a certain effect. Just a bit of know-how and a skill of cutting corners.

KILLER FOG

Here is a cool (no pun intended) way of making your own Fog Chiller for those eerie exterior night scenes in your next flick.