Anyone have any ideas how to do this? Or a link to somewhere to look?

http://www.gotterdammerung.org/japan/film/kurosawa-akira/sanjuro/sanjuro-013.jpg

Compressed air and a hose is my guess. But that's quite a lot of volume. The picture is from "Sanjuro". If you've seen that scene you know how much blood comes out of that. Literally, a fountain of blood.

Really hard to tell from that small picture. Do you maybe have a clip?

I was on the set of a major slasher flick, where they pumped blood with a "Compressor sprayer" like you see exterminators use. You can buy them at a hardware store, poor the solution it, attach a length of plastic hose to the nozzle, pump it up, squeeze the trigger, and before you can say "AAAAAARRGHHHHH!" it's an arterial spray.

Keith, that photo is from the end of Kurosawa's "Sanjuro" and it literally defines: "fountains of blood".

Richard, was the sprayer powered or was it one of those pump dealies you can get from Home Depot?

The sprayers yo are refering to are called "Hudson Sprayers" in special effects jargon. They are normally used for applying insectiside, plant food, direct watering of plants, etc.

They are hand pumped. You would cut the metal "wand" that is attached to the lever valve. Then you slip a piece of flexible tubing over the metal stub and secure it with a hose clamp. The hose clamp is important because the pump can produce some pretty good pressure and the tub could blow off and make a hell of a mess.

I anyone has any special effects questions ( not sissy computer effects questions, but real man's rain, fire, wind, smoke, pyro <grin>, questions), you can e-mail me directly or call me at 408-202-2214.

After 20 years in special effects and stunt rigging, I still have no marketable skills, but I can still blow the everlovin' crap outta stuff.

I also consult on low-no budget stuff on occasion.

David

uh.....Sweet!

"I blowup things."


Rob:D

"After 20 years in special effects and stunt rigging, I still have no marketable skills, but I can still blow the everlovin' crap outta stuff."

God I love that line! Just for the record, it is easy blowing things up. Anyone can do that. However, Mr. Mesloh obviously has been trained and is experienced. The difference is, knowing how to control it, exactly what will happen, and how to keep anyone from getting hurt.
Keep this in mind, Kiddies. Do not attempt this yourself.

David, thanks for your reply (and everyone). I have secured a new pumpy bug sprayer and vinyl tubing. Thanks for the tip about the clamp. I will go back to Home Depot and find one. Do you have any advice about making sure that there is volume over a cut? The pages I've found refer to gun hits and this effect is supposed to be from a sword slash. Like I said, if I can get it as close to that scene in "Sanjuro" as possible I would love it.

I don't know where to find them any more but I used to have this hand-held pump thing that you plugged the incoming on one side and the out on the other and you turned this circular crank... man, we could spray blood out of that like there was no tomorrow and because you were cranking it there was almost an artieral 'pump' to it... LOL!

I recently had to have a shot where a character had to wash a wound out and needed the water to turn a good red color but couldn't get it with the traditional blood mixture I was using so I ended up... and here's the patented part ... Adding a secret ingredient to the blood mis which thinkened it up and made the water color really well:

Ready? Cherry Kool Aid mix.

Worked like a charm!

Unless you are goingto use a prostetic (sp?) appliance over the tubing you are going to have to conceal the rig some how. I suggest shooting the action that causes the cut. Cut to a close up of the initial wound. The actor grabs the wound with both hands. the blood starts streaming out of the wound behind his hands, over his hands, down his arms....get the picture? His arms and clothing conceal the rig, specifically the tubing.

I was thinking of shooting from behind as it starts jetting up so the appliance (wound in front) is hidden by the actor's body (or in severe foreground). THen after the initial gout or spray (I'll see how gouty I can get it), the next shot has the villain sinking to his knees clutching the wound and the blood can be streaming then with less pressure.


I'll have to discuss this with Dylan after I finish building the kit and test it out.

Keith- Just a thought here... You wanted a long gash like a sword cut? Try plugging the end of your tube, and slicing along the length about six inches.

That's an idea but how do you get the blood to flow out the gash evenly instead of all out the first part of the gash?

Possibly by using a stiffer tube, so that the cut doesn't just blow wide open? And I would think that the beginning of the slice would be the deepest and bleed heavier. Depends on how the sword actually slices the flesh.

What you can also do is close the end of the tube/pipe. Then
make holes in the tube/pipe for as long as you need. That way
you have multiple things spraying at once. Don't make too much
or too long because the pressure will be gone fast.

Yes, I was wondering about the multiple puncture method.

Actually, I think we will be filming the bleeding hidden by the body in the foreground and have a spurt of blood coming from behind. That way I won't have to worry about taping it into clothing.

Trying a few tests. It occurs to me that the 5/8ths vinyl tube that I have over the valve is too wide for adequate pressure. But in the example below they are using a garden hose! I pumped it a good fifty times and - using water as a test - it only comes out like it's coming from my tap.

Question: do I have to prime the tube as in this example?

http://www.exposure.co.uk/eejit/blood/

is the rest of the blood going to be stored in the pump's bottle (reservoir)?

Oh by the way the Cherry Kool Aid mixture recipe is working out the best, but it's lumpy so I'm going to put it into a blender.

And the hose clamp was a good call. I had it come apart on me unclamped, spraying water all over the kitchen.

Someone wanted a fake blood reciepe.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm

I figured out the principle behind the Hudson sprayer. SMALL HOLES.

First blood test. Hudson sprayer: failure. Blood: pass.

http://www.pyroglyphfilms.com/productions/ladyx/bloodtest1.mov

With my second batch of blood I conclude:

SUGAR FREE CHERRY KOOLAID MIX IS NOT THE SAME AS REGULAR SUGARY CHERRY KOOLAID MIX.

In fact, it is PINK, whereas the regular cherry koolaid mix was satisfyingly BLOOD RED.

**** YOU 'GOOD FOR YOU URBAN YUPPIE STORE' that only has sugar free!

Keith,

You should've left the shower like that and invited some friends over to watch a movie. ;)

Does cherry Kool-Aid stain? How about the grout in the shower? Is it pink now?

Seems to come off okay. Of course I watered it down right after that blood bit.

I have a feeling it probably stains pretty badly. You might want to get some light colored cloth scraps of different materials, splash them with this stuff, let them dry, and then throw them in the washer and see which, if any of them, washes clean. If a certain material does wash clean, that, at least, might save you some expense in buying more than one outfit for the actors.

I guess with the sugar free pink Koolaid stuff, you could probably do the pink Kilngon blood from Star Trek VI. My friend had some fake blood that looked really good and tasted like cheery Jam. Don't know who made that stuff though. Good luck with your blood effects.