casualty effects

Throughout the personal research, the author decided to specialize in 'casualty effects' as she grew a great interest in this type of makeup effect.

Casualty Effects includes: bruises and black eyes, slit throat, slit wrists, scratches, stitched wounds, Burns, tooth blackening, scars, broken noses, and bullet wounds.

The best known special makeup effect and perhaps the most impressive visually are ‘Casualty Injuries’. There are ‘two’ stages:

1. Applying and building the material to create the effect,
2. Finishing the effect with colour and texture.

Basic casualty effects are used for productions ranging from medical documentaries, through drama, to horror movies. All the materials needed can be obtained from professional makeup suppliers, although many can be made by using kitchen ingredients. The type of materials needed for 3D effects on the skin is latex, wax and plastic scar, but most of the other materials can be found in food stores; gelatine powder, vegetable colourings, glycerine, petroleum jelly (from chemists), coffee cranuals, cereals, and black treacle.

It is easy to get carried away when doing casualty makeup effects, due to being over-enthusiasm may result in going over the top effects but also in creating effects that are difficult to reproduce when for example you need to do the same effect because of a re-shoot of a scene. In horror films, it may be fine to go all the way but restraint should be taken into consideration.

things to consider before performing casualty effects

Wound:
• How obstructive is each wound to be
• What caused it
• How will it heal
• How can you repeat it

Bullet:
• What calibre was the gun
• From how close was the shot fired
• Is the casualty dead or alive

Bruises:
• Where are the bruises to be positioned
• How old are they
• What caused them