Video Response: "The Cinematic History of Fake Blood"

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    One main factor that goes into making a film look more realistic is the use of fake blood. It goes without saying that fake blood is mainly used to make someone or something look injured, however, it's also what determines if a film was made for kids or for mature audiences. Fake blood has been used for centuries, as long as there's been a need for bloodied characters. This video, created by FilmMakerIQ.com, not only explains the history of fake blood, but also teaches you how to create your own.

    People first began experimenting with fake blood onstage in a theatre called Le Theatre du Grand-Guignol, located in France during the 1890's through 1960's. It quickly became a huge attraction for tourists because it was known for its gory plays, which included dismemberment and eye gouging. They obviously didn't want the actors to have to use real blood due to sanitary issues, so instead, they used a mixture of carmine and glycerin.

    When TVs came along, one well-known director, Alfred Hitchcock, decided to start using chocolate syrup for his films. Since they were in black and white, audiences couldn't tell the difference. It looked gory and the mixture was gooey enough to look realistic. However, when colored films started being produced, film directors turned to a different base. One of the first colored movies to ever use fake blood was The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957. The fake blood they created was referred to as Kensington Gore, and was made out of golden syrup, water, food coloring, and corn starch. They also added a bit of mint for taste, but you can also use peppermint oil. (Fun fact, they used this kind of fake blood in the famous elevator blood scene in The Shining !!)

    Kensington Gore was used in a number of films after it's creation, but as time went on, it became modified into a different mixture referred to as Dick Smith Blood. This is made using corn syrup, water, ehler red and yellow food coloring (or just regular food coloring), zinc oxide (or non-dairy coffee creamer), methyl paraben, Kodak photo-flo (or non-bleach detergent, however both of these ingredients are poisonous, so you can use lecithin to make it edible), and peppermint oil. Lastly, the video talked about how to clean the blood up - you can use shaving cream to keep the fake blood from staining your skin.

    This video, although rather cheesy at times and somewhat long, did give a lot of useful information for filmmakers wanting to either learn more about the history of fake blood or wanting to create their own (or both, in my case). It's cool to see how far the creation and use of stage blood has come. Before I watched the video, I honestly didn't know how it's use even came about, so it was interesting to see! Also, I'm very glad they showed us how to make our own, because I might just use that in future videos and projects.