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Author
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Topic: Decapitation, anyone?
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Third Warrior
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posted 11-24-2000 10:41 AM
No, I'm not talking about actually decapitating someone... but I would like to know if anybody has any suggestions on how to do this.
I had been thinking about getting my hands on a mannequin. Cut it's head off, give it a wig or hat like the actor, and then swing the prop-sword through the already sliced neck. Even shot from behind I think this would look bad.
Are there any other solutions to this issue?Third.
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Movieman21
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posted 11-24-2000 11:46 AM
This seems to be a universal answer to alot of recent questions: Camera Angles and the APPEARANCE that something is happening. Here is what I would do. Have the actor with the sword swing it at neck hight, but miss the actor. Have the camera so that the actor whose head is about to be cut off barely in the frame, with his back to the camera. Then cut to a closeup shot of just he actor swinging the sword, making sure that the blade swings out of the frame. Next, cut to a shot of a dummy head (which has been made to look exactly like that of the actor - perhaps a cast replica) rolling across the floor. Now for the final shot, have the actor with the sword standing, looking over the body (a dummy with no head) and have the fake head lying a bit aways away, but still in the frame. I hhope this gave you some ideas. Good luck.------------------
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sketchman
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posted 11-24-2000 02:52 PM
oooohhh... a little addition to movieman's suggestion... for the final shot, instead of having the fake head, just put your "decapitated" actor on the ground next to his "body", and just frame it so you see like the top of his head or to his mouth. and blood, of course. oooh, and shove some meat smothered in stage blood into the neck of the dummy. oooohhhh...------------------
Monkey Sea Entertainment
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Third Warrior
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posted 11-24-2000 03:12 PM
...Like some ground beef or something? Yum, and then we can make burgers after the shoot! Great idea!
Camera angles, I think, are the best idea for pulling this off - anything else would just look cheesey and fake. Having the actor lie with only his head in the frame and the body of a dummy nearby is a nice touch... though grusome.
Heck, I'll do it!Third.
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Banky
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posted 11-24-2000 06:23 PM
I've tried this once. If you need a close-up, I cannot help you. But for a LS, here's what you do:You fill a light colored balloon with something that looks like blood (Just in case). You attach it to a dummy, propped up with something. You wrap two or more layers of tape around the balloon. You might want to add facial features. Add a wig, then put it on the dummy and swing away. When I said to put something that looks like blood in the balloon, It was to a) weight it so it will fall like a real head; and b) just in case the balloon bursts (it might happen, it depends on the balloon), clear unhuman liquid won't be revealed to be the victem's insides. For a closeup, I have no clue. This is all if you want the actual decapitation onscreen and not just a severed head. |
multimedia light & magic
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posted 11-24-2000 11:09 PM
hmmm...for the final shot sketch was tlaking about, take a still photo of where the body and head will be, with the blood already on the ground etc. now take a photo with the head and your actors in the same place, WITHOUT moving your camera, keep it on the same spot on your tripod. take the photos in to photoshop or whatever, and cut off the actor's head. should be seamless.  only for the final shot though |
multimedia light & magic
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posted 11-24-2000 11:12 PM
i read up on how they did the effect for sleepy hollow. it was actually a combo of both physical and cg effects.breakdown of the timeline of a decap shot in SH. -live actor
-cg blade appears with the actor
-as teh blade hits the neck, actor replaced by a cg body
-a bluescreened dummy head flying off in whatever direction as the cg body falls. i know this is how they did the first decap anyway. it was funny how they did the head falling. just tossed a head on a bluescreen in front of the camera until they got one they liked. hope this helps. |
Nayman
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posted 11-25-2000 08:42 AM
Whos up for a nice gory decapitation?Take a stick, and form come kind of hollow interriored, INCREDIBLY THIN walled sledgehammer. Create it out of rubber, or even thick paper. Fill this false sledgehammer head with blood and gore. Attach it to the stick, so you have a real lokking slkdegehammer, and if it hits something lightly, it will burst. NOw, simply hit an actor over the head with it LIGHTLY, unless it will breakeaasy, anyhoo. if filmed properly, there entire heasd will be coverd in god know shat, thenm simply cut to shot of a gorey dummy with bits of head lying on the ground. they diod it in brave heart in the first scene, and gladiator, when the guy gets hit in the face with the mace and gets hiw face smashe d in |
Cinetech
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posted 11-25-2000 09:40 AM
Unless you are an extremely talented makeup effects artist, Don't expect that you will just be able to cast a head of the actor and make it look at all convincing. On my last film, I had to create an exact match of the actresses head and it took an extremely large amount of cash and several talented artists to get it right. And please, Don't ever use real raw meat for an effect. Instead, Take a large sheet of plexiglass or a large mirror and spread thin coats of Liquid Latex with a drop or two of red food coloring added to it on it, Blow dry it and then rub your finger over it in places to roll it a bit and create some holes all over it. Powder it well and then peel it up. If you coat this material with fake blood and put it in the severed neck, It will look much more realistic than Chopped meat and can be washed off and used again and again for all types of other effects. |
Horizons
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posted 11-26-2000 05:09 AM
I just had an odd idea: Could you put a blue face onto a mannequin head or something, and then key in your actor's face screaming as it's getting cut off?It would take a lot of work to get the actor's face in the exact position as the blue face on the mannequin, but it would work, right? | |
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