really nice positive thing about the entertainment business every single
day of the year, including weekends. Sometimes it may be something
simple, like a video that showcases something fun and sometimes it may
be a movie poster that embraces the aesthetic we all want Hollywood to
aspire to. Sometimes it may be a long-winded diatribe. Sometimes it’ll
be from the staff and extended family of CHUD.com. Maybe even you
readers can get in on it. So, take this to the bank. Every day, you will
get a little bit of positivity from one column a day here. Take it with
you. Maybe it’ll help you through a bad day or give folks some fun
things to hunt down in their busy celluloid digesting day.
8.3.10
By Elisabeth Rappe Author Page, Twitter Page, Facebook Page
This week, I watched True Blood and some Sergio Corbucci back to back and it struck me … damn, I’m glad our faux blood has improved. So glad. It’s a tiny thing, but it makes a world of difference in modern filmmaking. Where would our vampires, torture porn, 1980s action movies, Martin Scorsese, or historical epics be without delicious, thin, blue-based blood that could be gleefully splattered against walls and sheets, or pools so beautifully in corners and beneath heads?
Well, they would be pretty ugly. Imagine Quentin Tarantino stuck using that awful orange-based Tempera-paint stuff? Where would Rambo (4) be if the blood just sat there, congealing luridly? It’s like a big signpost screaming about the limitations of modern chemistry and color palettes. You can feel the filmmakers shrug. “This is the best we can do. Yes, we know it’s not the color of the stuff that actually comes out when you cut yourself. But this is movies. This is movie blood. These people bleed orangey, ok?”
Once, I read a post on a long forgotten message board where someone complained about 1960s and 1970s blood, and suggested that modern SFX companies go in and alter old films to bleed more realistically. Sometimes I think that’s a good idea — those puddles of Tempera can distract the eye something fierce — but I also think it’s important to leave traces of special effect history. It’s good to know where we came from, and how far we’ve come. Would digital blood seem as special if we didn’t see that crud drying on Franco Nero’s face and hands? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, stop and give thanks that we don’t have to look at it globbing down a leading man’s forehead any longer.