MattHawkins Online - Film Making Forum

I've done my fare share of decapitations, myself (in the movies of course) and the method that I'm the most fond of is running a bloodline up through a dummy and meeting the fake head at the neck stump. When the head is pulled, sliced, bitten (hey I dunno') off, you pump the blood through. Now you p...

I don't always use a ton of gore in my films. Although I know it may seem that way judging from my posts for technical advice. I have made several productions in the past that were not gory at all. I guess that people see me as mostly a gore-director because the gore I do shoot has a lot of technica...

As I have probably stated in this forum before, one of my all time favorite films (not just horror films, but FILMS) is DAY OF THE DEAD, as I'm sure it also ranks high among other horror buffs. Anyway, one thing in that film that was especially wonderful, was Tom Savini's gore effects and how gosh d...

Is the head being torn off with someone's bare hands, getting hit with a cricket bat, sliced off with a machete, or what? There's several ways you could do this, each one varying in difficulty.

well, to fill the water bombs, you need some kind of pressure to get the blood in there. Use a turkey baster full of the blood, or use some kind of a squeeze bottle, like for shampoo or liquid soap.

yeah, it was going to be the jugular. And don't worry...blood isn't a problem...I have it in copious amounts in my garage....all in different shades and viscosities. We've also decided that to really try and get your lunch all over the TV screen, the blow to the neck will not be a fatal one. Instead...

very nice. I want to see this movie!

Yeah, I'd go with balsa wood. Shelves are usually pretty thin so it'd look pretty good using some real wood, and balsa breaks so easily that it won't even matter which one you use. but try to stray from using styrofoam unless you need long planks of wood. It's got a realistic sort of snap to it when...

Oh okay. Thanks. I think we're gonna' shoot this scene this weekend. We have so much blood sitting in my garage that it's just rediculous. A lot of it's homemade. We have some of the little 4 oz tubes of the good store-bought stuff. And then I just discovered this "Mass Casualty Blood Powder&qu...

wait a second...where exactly would I fit this hose? Also, for one of the shots, I am going to have the hacked off screwdriver pressed up against his neck, so it appears that the entire shaft is inside. And if the camera is in the right spot, then I can fill a small water balloon with blood and have...

A scene in my film requires (or not...I can rewrite it) a man to be stabbed in the throat with a screwdriver. It's intended to be sort of a long and savage stabbing, one where the assailent really works at killing this guy...not just a "one blow and he's down". I don't want multiple blows ...

Yeah totally do this old school. Either run with the bus, but make sure people can't see under the bus or through it's windows. Or just run away. Either should work. I can't imagine that this would be very difficult. It's an effective shot and sounds pretty simple if their timing's right.

Yeah, having someone up there would probably be your best bet. Make sure it's full of debris and dust and stuff like that. And make sure that you hit it very hard so it appears to actually EXPLODE and not just fall apart.

They both said they were from Sydney.

The film I'm shooting now, I hope to one day enter into a festival. There's a bunch up here in Seattle.

A friend of mine purchased several from an army surplus store just last week. I have no idea why (I should probably fear for my life in the weeks to come). By the way, I met two girls from Australia that were up here in the states just yesterday. They were visiting a friend here in Seattle. I don't ...

yeah, what type of scenery?

Yeah, I want to see this inventive idea in action. Sounds cool.

If you were VERY VERY careful, you could probably light the dummy on fire. I've used the dummies that are just a bunch of stitched-together clothes full of newspaper before, and I'm saying that you probably won't even need any lighter fluid. If he's full of paper, he'll light right up. In this case,...

Writing a fake newspaper.

This site walks you through making a fake newspaper. I have no idea how good it is. But you might as well look into it.

They also do fake certificates (death, birth, marraige, etc.).

I come up with the basic outline in a sort of list form, on a pad of paper. Usually, just random scenes that I think should be included also pop into my head so I jot those down, whether they work with the story or not. I can work on incorporating them in later. This method works best for me so then...

Yeah why don't you just try an Army Surplus store. My friend got a real grenade from one. It doesn't work of course. But on the outside, everything's there and it looks real.

I also agree that you should probably steer clear of a script that calls for a snowy location when you really don't live in a place where it snows. I'd write it out.

yeah, a little light and thin. But you've got some okay wounds going there. So that's always good.

I don't use music from other soundtracks. The theme to our newest film is done originally with a YAMAHA keyboard. But for the rest of the music in our films, I go through my extensive album collection and match up songs for specific scenes. Now, if I intended to make a profit from any of my films, I...