Blog #52 Final Practical Effects - Filming Scene 7, Shot 5 - Stabbing Effect

 I have already gone over preparing this effect Blog #41, and now that filming for Day 2 had finished I could now shoot my practical effects. First I worked on the Stabbing effect, making sure to have all the proper lights on/ off: patio lights on, kitchen lights on, and weightroom lights on. I also went back into my shots, as Lauren was wearing some bracelets while she stabbed Gavin/Dillon, so I got my own bracelet, and put it on the hand I would be using to stab the rig.

Here is the final set up for it once again.

There is a bloodbag inside the chair behind the shirt, and I will be sitting on the table and shooting the film on the tripod on the table, and I will stab the blood bag through the shirt, capturing a POV shot of Anna stabbing Dillon in the stomach. 

Here are the results:

I am happy with them, at first I really didnt like them but it does look good, the shirt ideally wouldve been a light color, but the black was important for the story and messaging. The bracelets do not exactly match, however the audience are not likely to notice due to the change of shot format and the stabbing happening on screen, Its like a magician getting people to look at his hand while he finds the card.

aftermath of the effect

I slightly underestimated how much blood would get on the floor even with my floor covers, so clean up including mopping took about as long as it took to set up, although the kitchen was the ideal place for an effect like this as the blood is just corn syrup, water, and food coloring, which doesn't stain or effect the tile.

Overall the effect was successful, Im fairly happy with it, but with what I needed to use and the black shirt, it turned out pretty good.