Author: Godot
"The crew's ketchup, absolutely!" / Stills from "The Whale Game"
The director of "The Melting Pot", Huang Dong Hyuk, has reappeared, and this time he and "Netflix" Netflix have joined forces to bring a heavy battle royale web series "Squid Game".
Although the episode itself is lackluster, the bloody scenes that frequently appear in the film are fierce, and some netizens commented: "The ketchup of the crew is absolutely amazing!" ”
What exactly is the plasma in the movie made of? Chicken blood, duck blood, or ketchup? Accounts differ and opinions vary.
Although none of the above answers are correct, the "fake blood" in the film can indeed lead to a "recipe" evolutionary history.
The earliest artificial plasma can be traced back to the theater.
At the end of the 19th century, horror fans could only seek excitement in the theater. /Web pictures
At the end of the 19th century, before cinema became widespread, horror fans could only seek excitement in theaters. In 1897, in Montmartre, Paris, a 300-seat mini theater opened near the famous Moulin Rouge.
This small theater, called Grand Guigno, focuses on "cult" dramas — violence, killing, ghosts, eroticism, and anything that makes people "uncomfortable."
Soon, this humble little theater made headlines: "blood" splashed around, "eyeballs" burst out, making you scream!
At the time, different theaters had exclusive fake blood recipes, but Big Keno stood out because its "plasma" was extraordinarily real—not only was the color real, but the "plasma" would coagulate under stage lights, exactly like real blood: when blood flowed out of the wound, it usually became a gelatinous clot after 10 minutes.
Big Keno stands out because its "plasma" is extraordinarily real. /Web pictures
The "plasma" formula of the Grand Keno Theater is not complicated, with glycerin as the main body, followed by some carmine or red food coloring as a dye, and finally the addition of corn starch to reduce the transparency of the "blood".
The glycerin texture is viscous and has a high gloss, which can successfully deceive the audience's eyes and create a real blood tension.
With the advent of the cinematic era, the traditional horror theater began to decline, and audiences began to seek the thrill of adrenaline rushing in front of the big screen.
In the 1960s, Hitchcock's "Horror" became the first work of psychological thrillers. In the famous "Bathroom Killing" scene, the director uses a lot of chocolate sauce to show the blood splattered when the heroine is victimized.
The chocolate sauce fake blood in "Horror Story" has become the most delicious "blood plasma" in film history. / Stills from "Horror Story"
It is said that shortly after the squeeze bottled chocolate sauce was on the market, the crew bought a bunch of them and frantically squeezed the sauce into the bath during filming.
Why chocolate sauce instead of ketchup? This is because in black and white films, light red ketchup does not show color, compared to black chocolate sauce can provide deeper color.
However, the best "plasma" in film history did not last long, and in the era of color films, "plasma" was not so easy to fool.
After the 1960s, a pharmacist from the United Kingdom invented a fake blood formula called Kensington Gore.
Similar to the pseudo-blood recipe of the theater era, Kensington Gore also consisted of two parts— a stain, and a viscous body. This fake blood is first based on sugar gum, then diluted with water, toned with food coloring, and finally cornstarch.
Considering that such a mixture may be smeared on the faces of actors for a long time, the humanitarian crew will add mint flavor to this plasma in order to make it smell a little pleasant.
Ghost director Kubrick's horror film The Shining used Kensington Gore's fake blood recipe.
For each "Sea of Blood" shot, 1368 liters of fake blood were used. /Stills from The Shining
In order to create the plot of the "Blood Sea" pouring into the corridor, the crew did not hesitate to buy kilograms of sugar glue, because every time a "Blood Sea" shot was filmed, 1368 liters of fake blood were used, and this shot was shot several times.
People who don't know the inside story see the continuous flow of sugar glue to the set and think it's a food movie.
However, today's audience may complain that the plasma color in "The Shining" is not real enough, and this peach red is a bit out of the play?
So, Hollywood special effects makeup artist Dick Smith personally took the lead, improved the Kensington Gore formula, and then developed the popular plasma standard in Hollywood - Dick Smith Blood.
A guide to making plasma. /Video screenshot
Dick Smith swapped the gum for cheaper corn syrup and added two chemicals — methylparaben for "sterilization and preservative", and Kodak wetting agent, which makes fake blood flow more natural.
However, because of the addition of these two chemicals, the "plasma" can not be eaten, and due to the high toxicity of the wetting agent, the actor must be careful not to accidentally eat his own "blood" poisoning.
In China, the "blood transfer" formula of major drama crews is even more bizarre. From red wine and brown sugar to honey and cough syrup, the fake blood recipe is like a therapeutic competition.
Interestingly, although fake blood has always tried to imitate real blood, it has never been allowed to be "overly realistic". Because the censorship system will give due consideration to the psychological endurance of the audience, try not to "scare everyone to death" in the theater.
In order to pass the Motion Picture Association of America's censorship, Martin Cicoses had to color the film while post-processing Taxi Driver. / Stills from Taxi Driver
To this end, Martin Scorsese had to color the film and move the plasma closer to dark brown when he was post-processing Taxi Driver to pass the Motion Picture Association of America's censorship.
A similar story is Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, where the bloody fight is halfway through before it suddenly turns black and white.
Infinitely approaching, but not reaching it — this is the philosophy of making false blood.
Resources:
[1] Formulation of fake blood | Movie Trivia: When We Talk About Movies, What We're Talking About
[2] In the film, "Blood" originally did this | Golden wrong knife
[3] Subcultural Union | Flesh and Blood in Paris: The Legend of the Grand Keno Theater