Creating A Blood Spray Effect from Off Screen

Dear Greg,

I’ve just bought your Blood Juice for a feature film I am working on. I wanted to ask if you had any advice as far as creating a blood spray effect. The idea is that blood would spray onto an actor’s face from something happening off screen. Let me know what you think!

Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

You have a bunch of options for a spray effect if its coming from off screen. The first thing to determine is how the effect drives the story. If gore and horror drive things then a larger amount of blood will be effective and that will influence how the blood is delivered. If the final image of a spray on the actors face is important, then less blood will get the job done and that will necessitate a different device.

The simplest spray effect is to fill a spray bottle with the juice and use it from off screen. This will give a wide splatter on the face with fine droplets. Its also a bit safer for the actor since the fluid is flying at them with little force. You can also take a fresh paint brush and flick the blood Jackson Pollock style.

If its an artery type spurt you can use syringes or aspirators to squeeze the blood in a stream and let it splatter on contact. Here, aiming is important for maximizing the effect on the face and avoiding a direct hit to the eyes or up the nose.

The idea is to start with the simplest delivery method then build up from there if needed.

Best,
Greg

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