We aim to create a splatter of fake blood during VET-MAN, similarly to our Transitions unit. This happens once our characters, Tim and Luke, have run over a dog in the Vet Van. Tim is trying to save the dog and he hears Sheila's voice, this causes him to slip with a scalpel and butcher the dog instead. We attempted the blood splatter with different methods during our previous project, however, this was quite difficult and the end result which was used in the final video wasn't the best it could have been. By using the fake blood in the same way for this project gives me the opportunity to test more methods in which we could create the splatter. I felt as if the previous blood splatter could have been done better and more realistic, which is what led me to want to conduct further tests.
During this project, I managed to get an experienced make-up artist to join us on the shoot days which include the blood and black eye make-up. Getting Beth on board meant that I was able to ask her opinion on how we could conduct the blood splatter in the most realistic way. Due to her experience in blood make-up and prosthetics, I felt confident in going with what she suggested and I believe that she will give us a realistic look for our sitcom. For the trial run, I got someone to stand in as our model who has facial hair. As our main character has facial hair I felt that it made sense to get a model with the same features. The make-up testing wouldn't be fair if we practised on a female with a smooth face. Although, Beth is only testing the black eyes, the make-up will most likely be spread out over the face in order to blend it in and make it look more realistic. Therefore, it may get into the beard and it'll be better for Beth to practice on someone with facial hair, similarly to our main character. Also, in terms of the blood spatter, it'll be interesting to see how much it shows up on a beard. The hair may hide the blood or facial hair may simply just not work well with the blood. Our character may be wearing a surgical mask at the time of the splatter, however, it'll be beneficial to see how it reacts on a beard incase this looks better.
I met up with Beth for a trial run with the blood splatter and black eye make-up so we could go through the sort of look that we wanted. By meeting her in advice will save shooting time on the filming day. Beth asked a lot of questions about the story so she could decide on which type of black eye would be best. She explained to me that when someone gets punched in the face, it is usually their cheekbone which gets hit and bruised rather than the actual eye. This is because the cheekbone sticks out more than the eye and is the first part of the face which comes into contact with the hand during a punch. Beth asked about how many days the story of VET-MAN goes on for, as this can determine how dark the black eye will be. She explained that if Tim gets punched at the beginning of the story and the story concludes a few days later, the bruise may be made up of dark blues, reds and yellows around the whole eye, however, if we see Tim straight after the punch then it would be quite red just on the cheekbone. I explained that in the story Tim gets punched twice - one by Mollie after he kills the owl, and another once Sheila and Mark see Tim and Luke in the pub. The punch from Mollie is first in the story and this happens in the morning, and then Tim and Luke are seen in the pub in the afternoon, therefore, there will only be a short amount of time in between the punch and when we see Tim. Relating back to what Beth said about the change in colour and shape of a black eye over time, we agreed that this black eye should be slightly darker and have a bit more colour in it compared with the second black eye Tim receives. However, as it has only been a couple of hours it, the eye wouldn't be made up of yellows and dark blues just yet. To complete this black eye, Beth used a mixture of reds and blacks to create the eye in the photo below:
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| First black eye in the story |
I was very pleased with the make-up, as it looked realistic and had the right colouring and shape to it as if it happened a few hours before. As a result of the timing of the punch, I didn't want the make-up too dark which I think Beth understood as well. After this Beth started with the second black eye. I explained to her that we see Tim approach Mark inside a pub, and then we see Tim outside with a bloody nose and second black eye. As the audience will be able to see that the black eye has just happened, we agreed on just colouring the cheekbone in a shade of red. This supports what Beth told me at the beginning of the trial - when someone is punched it is the cheekbone which takes the majority of the impact and therefore, this is the section of the face which needed to have make-up on. Having both eyes a different shade can help bring the realism into the sitcom. I believe it will add to the timing of the story, with the first punch being hours prior to the second, this can be seen in the different colours of the eyes.
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| Second black eye in the story |
There will be one scene when we see both eyes together - the final scene when Tim and Luke drive the van out of the car park. As a result of this, I told beth to keep one black eye on while she created the second so we could see what they look like together. After seeing both eyes together, I think that we made the right decision on the colouring as they look different to each other and you can tell that detail has been put into the make-up in order to give a realistic look to the film. Additionally, the colours can distinguish which black eye was made when during the story.
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| Both black eyes |
Blood splatter:
We were ready to test the blood splatter on the same person we trialled the black eye on, however, we didn't do this in the end. This test turned out to be more about which method gives the best splatter, and we could see this by spraying the blood into the air rather than on a face. During the Pre-Production unit, I asked Beth on her opinion of the blood splatter and what we could use to make the splatter look more realistic. Beth suggested a spray bottle filled with fake blood. This seems so simple, yet none of us thought of using a spray bottle in the previous unit. As a result of this, I made sure I brought one before the trial run to test out.
When we were talking about the blood splatter, Beth suggested a Lucozade bottle which surprisingly enough we tested in the Transitions unit. Beth was confident this would work and was shocked when I explained and showed her my footage of when we tested the blood splatter in the Lucozade bottle previously, and how it didn't actually work very well.
I brought some fake blood for this trial run and as Alex said that he was able to source fake blood from our previous project, I only brought a small bottle. The fake blood bottle that I bought had a spray lid. In addition to the spray bottle, I felt that this was worth a test incase this spray lid worked with the blood better than the bottle. This was possible due to the spray lid coming with the bottle of fake blood - the tube which pumps the blood up towards the spray must be the correct size to cater for the fake blood. However, the spray bottle tube may be too thin and the thickness of the fake blood may be too much for it. Once we started spraying the blood out of the spray lid it came with we realised how thick it was. It didn't spray very well and just dropped onto the floor instead. Beth suggested mixing the blood with water, we tried this and it worked better. We tried this in the spray bottle and it worked well and actually sprayed the fake blood.
Prior to the trial Alex said that he would bring his water gun and we would use this like we did in the Transitions unit. I told Beth that this was another option, and showed her the footage from our tests with the gun as a blood splatter method. She said that it depends on what type of splatter we want, as this will determine whether we should use the water gun or the spray bottle. As this would be Alex's call as the director, I made a note to ask him what sort of spray he wanted before the shoot day so I could then inform Beth, preparing her for the type of spray we want her to create. Reading the script, Tim stabs the dog once which leads him to be covered in blood. In our Transitions unit, the vet was operating on the dog in surgery so he constantly stabbed the dog which led to multiple splatters. The difference between our Transitions film and this sitcom is that in this film, he accidentally stabs the dog once, meaning that there should only be the one splatter. With this in mind, the water gun may be the best option for the single splatter, however, the spray bottle may be beneficial for the look of the splatter after he has been hit with the water gun.
We ended the trial run with the knowledge of how well the spray bottle and spray lid works. Beth and I will be able to inform Alex of the result of both sprays and we already know how the water gun works, therefore, we should be fully prepared to work with the fake blood on the shoot day.
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| Water gun Vs spray bottle |
- Taking to Beth and getting her to practice beforehand was very beneficial for both of us. I learnt that the colour of black eyes change over a period of time. This seems obvious now but I hadn't thought of it prior to the trial run. If I didn't get an experienced make-up artist on board I would probably had to create the black eye myself and I would have just put black make-up around the eye, rather than thinking about the colours and how dark it would be in terms of where we are in the story.
- Meeting Beth beforehand was an opportunity for me to get to know her as this was the first time I had met her. On the two shoot days that we need her for, she won't know any of the crew or cast, which may be a bit daunting for her. Therefore, I was eager to meet her and hopefully make her feel comfortable around me and then if she has any problems during the shoot days, she can come to me.
- Beth said that getting someone with a similar amount of facial hair to our character was beneficial as the make-up blends outwards, rather than just being around the eye. Seeing the black eye on someone with a beard made it easier to picture on Tim. As a result of this, I was pleased with myself for thinking ahead and considering the facial hair.
- Getting Beth involved before the shoot day was helpful because we were able to test a couple of methods for the blood splatter, this will save time on the shoot day as we have practiced it before. Beth also has a fresh mind into the project, and will be able to give us new ideas.
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