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This is how they make fake drugs for movies

Dec 23, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic 4 Comments
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There are a few methods to make fake blood for the movies (or you can simply buy it). But what about drugs? Of course, the actors won’t use the real thing on set, but it’s not that easy to find substitutes as one may think. Fake drugs need to look and act the same as the real ones, but they also have to be completely safe to ingest. So how do they do it? In this fantastic video from Insider, prop master Joel Barkow shares some tricks of the trade and reveals how fake drugs are made for movies.

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The Purge series passes off a DJI Osmo as an eye scanner

Oct 15, 2018 by Dunja Djudjic 2 Comments
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The Purge is a horror series that takes place in dystopian America of the future, where all crime is made legal once a year. And in this future, it looks like DJI Osmo gimbals will be turned into eye scanners. Someone caught an interesting frame of the series, where a DJI Osmo is being used as a “futuristic” eye scanning machine.

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From bugs to poison: the weird history of fake blood

Feb 20, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment
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Nowadays you can simply buy fake blood, even online. But if you don’t have a high budget and you’re filming the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre – you will probably still want to rely on DIY blood. Ketchup doesn’t really work, so – what’s the perfect recipe?

Before cinema and TV, there were only theaters. And in theater, a red handkerchief symbolized blood. However, the directors wanted something less symbolic and more realistic. And that’s when they started searching for the perfect recipe for stage blood. They came up with some pretty weird recipes over the years.

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This is how a piece of photographic gear became the iconic Star Wars prop

Feb 14, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 1 Comment
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Did you know that the most iconic movie prop ever was made out of a piece of photographic gear? While George Lucas was making A New Hope, he used all sorts of junk as props. He wanted to suggest the sense of history and make the items in the movie seem used. Because of this, set decorator Roger Christian looked for props in thrift stores and at antique dealers. At a small photography shop, he found a piece of gear that will become something we can’t imagine Star Wars without, and a prop every Star Wars geek dreams of having.

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How to create real clouds for photo shoots with soap

Oct 16, 2016 by Udi Tirosh 4 Comments
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If you want to have really fluffy clouds in your photos, you basically have three options: The most time consuming option is probably shooting on a day where the weather fits. Your second option would be to compose some clouds in (there is quite a wide selection here). But the most fun way would be to create your own clouds.

We shared one method before which involved balloons and pillow stuffing, but this method was is definitely more fun, and kids friendly. Not to mention it will make your house smell nice for about a week.

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DIY Props: How to Make Realistic Aged Paper in five Minutes

Dec 31, 2015 by Liron Samuels 3 Comments
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We all know that the devil is in the details, and sometimes what makes or breaks the final output, be it a video or still image, is the tiniest thing.

When it comes to movie or studio props, ancient maps and dusty old parchments are pretty common. What’s not as common, however, is this quick and easy technique to create realistic aged paper, brought to you by Lewis McGregor of Ugly McGregor.

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Dear TSA, This Tip Can Save Your Project

Nov 29, 2015 by Udi Tirosh 6 Comments
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If you are doing projects that require traveling with gear, props or costumes you know that a major risk is getting your gear inspected and messed up by the TSA. Especially the gear that goes in the belly of the plane, where you can’t explain first handed what it is.

Most “regular” bag content can take a bit of rough search, what’s the worst that can happen? A wrinkled Hawaiian t-shirt? Delicate gear and costumes, however, deserve a more delicate treatment. Kat Gray of Valkyrie Studios shared a very insightful tip on how to let the TSA know that they should be careful. Kat places a note telling the TSA what are the weird things in the bag and how they should be treated. She is also very precise when describing the box content, and highlighting the fact that it took a lot of work to create the things inside the box. All that while showing nothing but respect to the TSA team doing their jobs.

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This Is How To Make Fake Blood And How It’s Been Used Throughout History

Nov 1, 2015 by Udi Tirosh Add Comment
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Blood is crucial to movies. And it is not just the gore-filled, army oriented, zombie killing movies. Every time someone get hit and need to bleed a bit, there is the issue of where blood comes from.

Of course, you can not use real blood. There are moral and ethical issues with that. Not to mention the hygiene catastrophe that would unfold with  real blood. But then, movies have been showing blood for a really long time. So how do they do it? Using fake blood.

This tutorial from Filmmaker IQ shows how to make fake blood and how fake blood was used throughout the cinematic timeline.

One of the interesting facts on the tutorial is that much of the blood was cut out from films during the 1930 because of self censorship coming from the big Hollywood studios (A.K.A the Hays code). Then in the 50’s the code died, when television came in, among other reasons.

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Make Your Own Fake Ice Cubes For Photography Staging

Jul 17, 2015 by Allen Mowery 10 Comments
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I’m an impatient person.  I’m also very singularly-minded, so when I get an idea in my head, everything else gets put on hold while I’m pursuing it (and, often making a mess in the process).

I needed some artificial ice cubes for a few personal photo projects, but I didn’t want to have to buy any or be arsed to wait for them to arrive in the mail.  So, I decided to make my own, adapting a great tutorial by Kyle May.

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Creating Realistic Looking Clouds With A Fog Machine And Water

May 19, 2015 by Tiffany Mueller 1 Comment
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A few years back, we shared this tutorial on how to make some DIY clouds to use as props in your photos. It’s still a great tutorial, and certainly a much longer lasting way to make clouds than the method we’re about to show you, so remember to check it out when we’re done over here. But, first, discover the work of Berndnaut Smilde, a dutch artist who has truly perfected the science of DIY cloud making.

As the image above suggests, Smilde’s clouds are quite realistic and are made using a fog machine, water, and ingenuity. You’ve probably figured out by now these clouds are also very temporary, often only lingering just long enough to make a photo before they drift away.[Read More…]

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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