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Author
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Topic: Making exact replica of actors head
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eggy
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posted 12-16-2000 08:07 PM
I need to make an exact replica of an actors head so we can blow it up. Part of a comedy movie we're making. How would I go about doing this and, if you know, how much it would cost to do this? I looked in the archives but could'nt find anything about this. If you know a post that is like this, would ya please point me to the link? TIA |
Big Al
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posted 12-17-2000 12:39 AM
Steps to take:1 - Lifecast the actor's head & shoulders with alginate and plaster bandage. Get a tooth casting, if the teeth are to be exposed, as well as hair samples and detailed photographs for reference for the sculptors and painters. Have the hair guy do a scalp tracing for the hair piece. Have the fabricators get measurements for the dummy torso. 2 - Do the initial head positive as a clay pour with a plaster backup core. Do a stone copy of the teeth for purposes of doing a silicone mold. Buy the hair person the appropriate color hair so he/she can start ventilating the wig. Dig out an old stock body mold and do a dense flexible polyfoam torso to trim down to size (or bulk up, as the case may be) Have the tooth and eye guy start working on the acrylic eyes. 3 - Give the clay head to the sculptor, along with the ref photo's, to clean up, open the eyes, rearrange the expression, etc etc. Do a couple of sets of acrylic teeth out of the silicone tooth molds. Nag the wigmaker. Figure out just how the director wants to blow the head up. Assume it's pyro. Call the pyro guy. 4 - Do a stone and silicone matrix mold of the finished hesd sculpt. Reject the first set of eyes. Nag the wigmaker. 5 - Core the matrix mold with stone. Do a brush up silicone and stone off the core.
Run a fiberglass skull, then realize that fiberglass shards flying through the air at hundreds of feet per second are extraordinarily dangerous, and scrap that idea for vacuform. Pull plaster positives, and flash out for vacuform bucks. 6 - Alginate snap the buck positives, and make plaster bucks. Run the vacuforms. Also pull rigid polyfoam copies of the core for finishing forms. Nag the wigmaker. Accept the second set of eyes, have the eye dude start another set. 7 - Run the head skins out of the appropriate material. Gelatine would be a good choice for this. Do several, placing the run skins on the polyfoam finishing bucks for the painter to paint. Use the neck section of the rejected glass core as a transitional piece in the torso for fastening purposes. 8 - Assemble and partially score the vacuform underskulls. Place a set of the eyes on the skull, using a reject skin section to aid in alignment. Figure the best means of affixing to the glass neck/shoulder section. Place a skin on the underskull. Attach the wig and eyebrows. 9 - Pop in a set of the teeth; back up the open mouth with a stock "mouth interior" section that I failed to mention up to now. 10 - Let the pyro guy load up the top of the head with det cord. Give him some blood filled condoms to toss in there. 11 - Do any last minute touch-ups. Stand next to the pyro guy 'cause they usually know where it's safe to be. And that's pretty much all there is to it. |
lucasian
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posted 12-17-2000 07:20 PM
I was just curious as to how you were going to blow it up. |
gore master
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posted 12-17-2000 10:33 PM
pay closer attention, explosives. also known as pyrotechnics. |
Jeff F
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posted 12-18-2000 12:11 AM
As Big Al mentioned - leave pyro to licensed, qualified people.We don't discuss pyro on these boards as explained in the Posting Guidlines, for a number of reasons. If you need to cause a head to explode and don't have a pyro technician paid to do this, that's an entirely different question.
It has been asked before. Goremaster & others have suggested using an internal bladder (such as a balloon) blown up past the breaking point with an air compressor. Some editing inpost might have to be done to make this look better. ------------------
Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses |
eggy
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posted 12-18-2000 12:16 AM
Well, just for your information, we were going to use compressed air, cause it works better for the scene we're going to film. Load it up with brain matter and what not. I've been around here long enough to know not to talk about pyro, jeesh! I thought you guys new me better than that!  PS: Thanks for the info! It is much appreciated [This message has been edited by eggy (edited 12-18-2000).] |
gore master
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posted 12-18-2000 01:10 PM
If you are using compressed air the head will need to be designed differently than what Big Al suggested. It will need to be hollow of course but with more space in the middle, and VERY light. MAybe a thin foam latex(or slush latex skin) with a thin polyfoam coating on the inside(you could use insultating foam from hardware stores). The head is made and the pieces of it which are to be blown away are cut apart. This needs to be planned and done right so the pieces can be fit back together. At the part of the head which is left intact, on the inside, create a hard core(such as plaster or wax) with a large hole in the middle for tubing to be fed through. A balloon which reaches to the edges of the breakaway head is attached to the tubing coming into the head. Before attaching it to your tubing first fill it up with some small pieces of brain matter(which will fit into the balloon) such as small pieces of mashed bannanas and shredded tissue paper. Then fill it with as much blood as it will hold. Shove a paper wad into the end of the tubing, turn the head piece upside down and attach the balloon. Put duct tape around the lower part of the balloon and any other places you do NOT want it to blow. I would recommend using a Y tubing valve beneath the hole in the head core. The top of the valve with a short length of tubing which is attach to the balloon and two other long lengths of tubing leading away from the head. One should be attached to the airt source, the other to a large syringe full of blood(well dilluted).
When air is released causing the balloon to expand and pop quickly, you can begin pumping blood just before the air is released. This will send another torent of blood upward as the balloon is about to explode, giving a more visible spray of blood and helping the head pieces to come apart easier. After it has blown apart you can continue to make it bleed if you wish(or you can make blood spray by releasing a little bit of air in with it).
With all this done it is time to put the head back together. It is important to plan how the head is cut so it can be put back together without it falling apart before your finished. IF it is done very well the pieces can be pout back together starting at the bottom and rest onto each other. If they will not stay up that easily, use a weak adhesive(cornsyrup works well) on the inside edges. After that is done, I think you know what happens next. |
eggy
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posted 12-18-2000 05:35 PM
Thanks for the info goremaster, it definately helped. |
Tek2019
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posted 12-19-2000 12:46 PM
This question should serve to let you know that I've never done anything regarding makeup before. Why do you need to put it back together? is it to blow up again? I thouhgt maybe that way it wouldn't expand when you blew it up, but then the blood wouldn't be necessary on the first shot. If someone could fill me in I'd greatly apreciate it. |
gore master
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posted 12-19-2000 03:36 PM
think about it a little. You build a hollow foam head and put a balloon filled with blood in the middle. You don't cut it into sections. how is the balloon bursting going to blow the head apart? it's not that hard to figure out. The head is cut into section and put back so that the force of the air and propelled blood will cause the pieces to blow apart easily. And yes, it is also easier to do a retake since it can be cleaned and put back together.[This message has been edited by gore master (edited 12-19-2000).] |
Tek2019
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posted 12-19-2000 09:46 PM
thanks for clearing that up. I thought that would be why, but I got confuse when you mentioned after you explained how to blow it up the first time. |
Thea
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posted 12-30-2000 11:22 AM
How about making the head out of gelatin?
It's very realistic looking and easy to blow up.------------------
Thea
www.stagedoorstudios.com |
morpherguy
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posted 12-30-2000 07:46 PM
Hmmmm. Some how I doubt that the exploding balloon trick actually works. It sounds good in theory but only until you think about it for more than 2 seconds Now, I've never connected a pressure guage to a balloon but I would bet money that a filled balloon only holds about a pound or two of pressure. Hardly enough to cause a fake head come apart no matter how much you cut it into pieces. Have you ever had a balloon pop as you were blowing it up? Besides being startling, it doesn't pose any physical danger to you because there is practically no pressure.**a few minutes later** I blew up a balloon and placed it in a box. I then covered the balloon with polystyrene packing chips. After that, I popped the balloon. Well, the light weight little styrene chips did not blow out of the box. Actually, they barely moved except when they caved in to fill the space that the balloon was in... If you plan on using compressed air then you will need an air cannon which is basically an air tank and a solenoid. The solenoid lets all of the pressure from the tank rush out quickly. This would create the "burst" of air pressure that you need to blow open a fake head. [This message has been edited by morpherguy (edited 12-30-2000).] |
gore master
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posted 12-31-2000 09:20 AM
Do you remember the bullet hits in the Faq section about using seran wrap bags filled with blood. I'm sure if you blew one up with air it and popped it, it would do nothing.
What did your experiment prove? NOTHING!
The balloon idea is the same as the seran bag
idea accept that the blood and brain matter is forced out at a faster spped(from the elasticity of the balloon) and it can give a bigger range. think a little harder next time. |
morpherguy
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posted 12-31-2000 10:19 AM
Calm down Gore Master. I apologize. I did not realize that your were so sensative when it comes to exploding heads. |
gore master
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posted 12-31-2000 12:27 PM
It's just simple science. If you fill a balloon with air and pop it, it will release almost no energy. If you continuously pump 80psi of air into a balloon filled with blood and brains(and pump blood in with it at the same time), the exploding balloon will release a lot of energy. At least enough to blow apart some lightweight pieces of head. |
morpherguy
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posted 12-31-2000 01:15 PM
You're right. Adding something of substance to the equation does make a difference under certain conditions. I do not think that balloons meet the necessary criteria. Let me explain;If you take one of those plastic rocket toys that you pump up with air then launch but instead of putting water in it before you pump it up, you pump it up without the water. What will happen? Not much. What little air pressure is in the rocket will simply blow out.... If you put water in the rocket then pump it up with air then launch it, what will happen? The rocket will take off. Why? Well, I'm not a physicist but I do know that it has to do with the water being expelled by the air pressure. The nozzle at the bottom of the rocket channels all of the energy downward thus creating upward thrust. The balloon is missing this critical aspect of the technique. It does not have anything to channel the expulsion of the blood and guts in a controlled manner. The blood and guts simply rest at the bottom of the balloon with the air pressure residing above. When the balloon pops there will be nothing to "force" the blood and guts into all directions. I guess we could argue this all day long but I suppose the easiest thing for you to do would be to try your balloon technique to see for yourself that it does not work. Later on today I will try it too. I will take a balloon and fill it half way up with water and cooked pasta noodles. I will inflate the balloon to the brink of bursting, then I will burst the balloon. If the water and pasta blasts in all directions then I will thank you for teaching me a new and valuable technique. I believe that if the water and pasta does splatter then it might be possible to blow apart a very weak fake head that has been cut into sections. If the water and pasta just falls to the ground then I guess that means I've proven my point... |
Big Al
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posted 01-01-2001 12:11 AM
The big problem, as stated, is the elasticity of the balloon. The air pressure causes the balloon to give (expand) until it gets to the point where there is no more stretch, then the surface of the balloon fractures, and the actual bang is the sound of the skin of the balloon.
The best bet, as was stated, would be to precut the head, and fit it over an air ram filled with guts and blood. The idea behind that (as was also stated) is that a resevoir, generally made out of metal (that is, an air tank) has much higher air pressure than any balloon can hold, and is released at once through a valve, allowing the precut head portion to be blown off.
The only way the head/balloon thing would work would be if the head itself were a balloon. In which case, you would have to introduce some element in the script wherein the victim's head were to swell up like a balloon (about 3 or 4 feet across) before their head explodes.Al |
morpherguy
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posted 01-01-2001 12:13 PM
Well put Al...By the way, just for the sake of closure, I did try the experiment using a balloon filled with water and pasta and air. I placed it in the sink and popped it. Nothing happened. |
Jeff F
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posted 01-01-2001 02:13 PM
morpherguy, when you talk about balloons, you must be referring only to common decoration type party balloons. Haven't you ever made a bladder before? You can make them as thick as you want.Blow up a hot water bottle until it explodes. Seal up a thin acrylic plastic ball (like those sold at craft stores to make Xmas ornaments with.) and clear people off the set for the gag. When goremaster & others talk of balloons, I didn't assume they meant party balloons, I assumed they were talking generically, since "balloon" is FX Make up slang for air bladders, short for microballoons, etc. **************
BTW, do any of you other "oldtimers" remember watching this done on TV (it's an old sideshow strongman trick) for a TV "Strongman Competition" on the tube in the 70's. Alexis Columbo, Lou Ferrigno (famous at the time for playing the Hulk on TV), and I'm fairly sure Shwartzenegger was on it too. They had to carry fridges, do the hot water bottle bit, lift the back end of a pickup truck, all sorts of goofy stunts as races/speed contests, etc. ------------------
Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses [This message has been edited by Jeff F (edited 01-01-2001).] |
kangell
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posted 01-08-2001 04:26 PM
Nobody asked, but BigAl's exteremely detailed analysis of what it takes just to construct a realistic looking head would put me off the project all together.You could get by with less "head work" by using a moving camera shot that might end up looking even slicker. Make a fake head that looks dead on from the back of your actor and does as good a job as you can in the front; but don't worry about his mother mistaking the face for that of her prodigal son. Start the camera moving from the back and just as it comes around the side blow the head while the camera is still in motion. I hallucinate that the effect will look pretty good, you'll get bonus points for a moving camera sfx shot, and won't have to pay all those talented individuals to build a fake head. If possible you may want to slow down the explosion in post, but maybe not depending on how realistic the explosion ends up looking. |
