Lights, Fake Blood, Costumes!

I want to get into the miss-en-scene elements of my trailers now that I have my storyboards done and I pretty much have an outline of what I'm doing for both trailers. And yes, I do need the fake blood. Psychological thrillers typically do have blood, and plus, I feel like just making fake blood would be fun. So I'm doing it. 

I found a great Variety article with a Special Effects Artists that includes a video detailing how he makes fake blood here. He uses basic supplies that I already have, and I would really only need to stock up on the food coloring. He also details the different kinds of blood and how to mix it so it can stay on the skin better and really cake the skin. Now I know that I can just add a little bit more yellow food coloring to make the blood appear like it's a freshly cut wound, and add in brown if I want it to look like it came from a deep artery. Apparently soap is great at getting the fake blood to that perfect texture and helping it stay on the skin, which I didn't know. 

Just so I don't forget, the ingredients for it are:

-1/4 cup corn syrup 

-1/4 tsp red food coloring

-1/2 tbsp cocoa powder                                     

-distilled water                                                                 

-drop of green food coloring

-drop of blue food coloring

-1/2 tsp corn starch

-5 pumps hand soap

I might also have to buy some black food coloring. For the close-up shot of the blood running down the arms, I wanted that blood to be black to symbolize Val's transformation from human to demon. I'll still probably use the red blood as well. Actually, it might work great with that scene of Val's husband Steve in front of the tv after he's been "turned". There could just be a small amount of blood dripping down his head that could make the shot just a little bit more disturbing and creepy. And it could work great with that shot of Steve grabbing Val's arm as she's reaching for the door handle. The blood could drip down his arm, with the lights flashing and everything. Yeah, that might work great. 

Lights!

I also want to work on my lighting scheme. Again, the thrillers that I studied all had a particular light motif. It is conventional for psychological thrillers to play with lighting and that contrast between light and dark, so I want to get this right. 

This was a great little tutorial. Although this was more focused on horror, I definitely picked up some things I could use for my thriller. I want to have more of that shadow effect, especially for some scenes with Val and Sigma. I also learned not to just settle on the first light choice: that it might be better to change it up a little bit or to even remove or add some light to the scene. Considering I'll be filming a lot of scenes more in the dark, I'll have to start finding some interesting light sources already. I want to see if I can use an object to create suspense as well. It may not be a bush, but I do want something covering Sigma at some points, just so the character can be even creepier at times because not all of him/her is revealed at once. 

And though this video didn't explicitly mention it, I also picked up some other things besides lighting design. I found that there was some sort of movement in almost every shot, whether it be the waves in the pool or the slight blowing of the bush, or even the movement of the light. It creates more suspense to have that movement, and it never lets a shot of still, which is something I want to use for my trailer. I also found that the sound design was important and creating suspense. Whether it was the sound of the wind or the splashing in the pool, it was never really that quiet. I also think that I can make some parts of my trailer more quiet, and then hit the audience with a black fade-out transition before going to a creepy shot. It also depends on the background music I put in as well, since that could add the suspense element for my trailers early on.

Costume Design:

Unfortunately, there will be no demon outfits for my two trailers. I want them to seem like normal townspeople, so there won't be anything crazy supernatural that I'll have to design. I will have to figure out makeup, especially for Val and Sigma, but I'll get into that later. For right now, give it up for conventional husband Steve and his potential costume design:

I want that old-fashioned look for both Steve especially. The typical button-down white shirt with the belt and jeans. It would fit in well with the idea of the perfect suburbia and might create an even more forbidding tone because this is taking place in the current time period. The asynchrony adds another level to the thriller.

For Val:

I was thinking she could have an older-looking dress. If I can't find something suitable, it could be more modern. I just want a part of her costume to include red, whether it's the dress itself or an accessory, just to act as a warning signal. Or, I could stick with color theory and pick something that would not mesh well with green (symbolizing the struggle between Val and the town). I was thinking blue would be another good option.

I was thinking of doing something similar to the makeup look above for Sigma and when Val starts turning into a demon. It doesn't have to be as extreme as this, but I did want to put shadow around the eyes and maybe use eyeliner to put in some dark veins around the eyes or even mouth.

For Sigma, you'll just have to see my next blog post. I'll probably talk more about my setting and plan out more of the rise-en-scene design a little more. Until next time.