Hot Props & SFX Posts
How To: Make a fake movie prop brick
A fake brick is a great movie prop for any action film. You can break through brick walls, smash a brick in two, or throw a brick at someone without being charged with murder. The majority of this fake brick is made of foam. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make a fake movie prop brick.
How To: Make a latex skin over carved foam
Are you in need of some kind of mold or cast for your next feature film, but need to save a few bucks? As an alternative to casting (making a shape from a mold) one can carve foam into a desired shape and then coat the foam with liquid latex. This will not create a perfectly smooth surface, but is much less expensive than casting as it requires fewer steps and less resources. So, with this video tutorial, you can learn what you need to know about making a latex skin over carved form.
How To: Make a flying crank ghost on Halloween
Check out this Halloween tutorial video to learn how to make a flying crank ghost. This is essentially like making a big Marionette ghost puppet. All you need is the following easy to find materials: a styrofoam skull, 7 wire coat hangers, black spary paint, pliers, cheese cloth, tacky glue, and laundry detergent. This flying crank ghost promises to be a delightful scare on Halloween trick or treaters!
How To: Make a cheap corpse head prop for Halloween
Dr Kreepy, Halloween crafter, shows how to obtain a rotting head without killing someone! For this project, you will need a skull, paintbrushes, liquid latex, black spray paint, brown paint, and cotton balls. Watch this video prop-making tutorial and learn how to make a cheap corpse prop head for Halloween.
How To: Create the effect of someone crawling through the TV
This week, Indy Mogul, Erik shows how to recreate the effect of someone crawling out of a TV. Just like in that scary movie The Ring. It's actually not expensive, just about $30. You will need scrap wood, poster board, tape, and flat bright green paint. Watch this video film special effects tutorial and learn how to make the effect of someone crawling through a television.
How To: Make fake and drinkable blood
In this Halloween Science Video Series, Dr. Diana teaches you how to make fake and drinkable blood using ingredients from your kitchen. This recipe is perfect for your Halloween Party. Now all you need is some fangs for that blood to drip down, and you'll have the scariest costume.
How To: Build a fake wall that you can smash
This video will give you tips on how to make your very own fake wall that is perfect for smashing, thrashing, or just plain old throwing people through. This backyard special effect should really spice up your amateur film making. Just be careful, this fake wall can sometimes look like a real wall.
How To: Make a level three foam boffer sword for LARPing
If you're a LARP maniac, or just a fan of LSD-themed (Latter-day Saint) games and activities, then you can't miss out on this. Check this video out to learn how to make a foam-padded sword that is easy and inexpensive. This level three boffer sword will take care of your LARPing opponents like Chuck Norris. If you're a fan of live action role-playing, then this boffer sword is the best of the best for kicking serious ass.
How To: Make cheap moving dragon wings controlled by the body
Check out this video tutorial on how to make cheap dragon wings, controlled by body posture. You can do this project for $18 if you use plastic garbage bags and Scotch tape for the membranes. You'll see how to make very light and strong costume wings. How strong? That strong.
How To: Make a fake ghost amateur video
This video show you how you can add a fake ghost to an amateur film or home video.
How To: Create the Indiana Jones face melt effect
Welcome to our Indiana Jones special. This week, we've been challenged by Eric Zala, the director of "Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation" to create an awesome face melt effect for cheap! This is probably Indy Mogul's grossest effect yet, so you better not get nauseous or anything, because you might just want to use this for your film!
How To: Make cheap vomit effects
Ben and Paul of Zero Budget studio Blunt Productions demonstrate their way to do vomit effects on the cheap in the first of a many part series.
How To: Do the sword stabbing effect with a harness
Have you wanted a cool stabbing effect without doing the cheesy "hold-the-sword-in-your-arm" routine? Well, thanks to Langaman26, who submitted this awesome tutorial, you now have one!!! Build this awesome harness from things found around your house.
How To: Make a fake brain
This video from Backyard FX and Indy Mogul shows you how to make a fake brain. Making a brain is not hard but it does take time and creativity. You can make cauliflower brains, gelatin brains or the one I am going to show you out of bread and glue.
How To: Create a falling effect
Steve Nelson from Indy Mogul shows you how to create cool falling or jumping from a building effect. Use a combination of camera angeles, green screen, and editing to create this cool action effect for your films.
How To: Make fake blood and scary props
In this Halloween props video series, learn how to make fake blood and other Halloween props from Halloween expert Matt Cail. Matt will show you how to make fake blood for Halloween, using corn syrup and food coloring. He will teach you how to make Halloween props such as fake arms, and how to stuff the arms to give a realistic effect.
How To: Make Star Trek Comm Badges
Star Trek Communicator badges rule. If you're a Trekkie, you know they are iconic to the TV series. The Next Generation, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine all had these awesome communicator badges.
How To: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Grenades (Portal 2's Cave Johnson Would Be Proud)
Portal has been one of the most critically acclaimed and universally loved games of the last few years, and there's plenty of fan art to prove it. From building a Portal gun, to a gravity defying Companion Cube, and even installing Portal onto a graphing calculator, fans have found some innovative ways to show their love for the games.
How To: Film Moving Seat Belts in a Car?
Im filming seats belts in a car.....I want them to move as if they are alive and dancing. How can this be done.? Can someone help me?
How To: Build a Star Wars Lightsaber (Infographic)
There are many ways to make a lightsaber. You can turn a flashlight into a steampunk lightsaber, you can make a lightsaber from junk, and you can make one that looks totally real (if you've got the money and time). Heck, you can even make one in Photoshop. And now you can make one using an infographic! Who doesn't like infographics? This infographic by Herbert Pocket, which may or may not have been inspired by this lightsaber infographic, will show you the quick route to making a Star Wars wo...
How To: Hacked Portal Gun Prop Actually Levitates a Companion Cube!
Portal, the popular game from Valve, has been critically acclaimed since its release in 2007. Its unique gameplay and humorous storyline is the reason for its popularity amongst nerds everywhere. This has also spawned a large community in cosplay and prop design. The most popular aspect of the game has to be the awesome portal gun. The gun creates companion portals on almost any surface that allow the player to jump form place to place with ease and also allows you to move heavy objects with ...
How To: Turn an Old Aquarium into a Cloud Tank & Create Creepy Alien Atmosphere Effects
Need some creepy visual effects for your alien flick, but don't want to spend a bunch of money? With some pretty basic materials, you can turn an empty aquarium into a "cloud tank," which can be used to create several different atmospheric effects. Before Hollywood started using CGI, cloud tanks were used for scenes in a lot of famous movies. Remember this one? Besides Raiders of the Lost Ark, cloud tanks also helped make some wonderful non-CGI effects in Independence Day, Close Encounters of...
News: Bored with Your Cycle? Turn It into Your Very Own Batpod!
Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy has been one of the most successful film series of all time, so it comes as no surprise that everyone wants their own real-life versions of the Dark Knight's gadgets and vehicles.
Becoming the Dark Knight: 8 DIYers Show Us How to Build Batman's Belongings
The final chapter of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is here, The Dark Knight Rises, and if you're anything like me, it made you want to immediately don a cowl of your own and run around punching criminals. Don't forget though, one of the most awesome aspects of Batman is his never-ending supply of crazy gadgets. Unfortunately for most of us, we don't have a billion dollars, nor Morgan Freeman, so we'll just have to make do with some good old-fashioned DIY tricks. Read on for a rundown of ...
How To: Construct a drill arm from the video game series BioShock
If you want to put the finishing touches on your new BioShock cosplay outfit, of if you just think it would be awesome to charge at your friends with the favorite weapon of Big Daddys across Rapture, this is a guide for you.
How To: Build a crowbar prop out of foam rubber
Trying to act out a fight scene with real weapons can be dangerous, so this foam rubber crowbar is the perfect prop for theatre or film. This Backyard FX segment by Indy Mogul will guide you through making your foam weapon. So grab some rubber latex, foam, and a few other tools and start constructing your crowbar.
News: The N7 Rifle from Mass Effect 3 Replicated in Extreme Detail
There's still about eight months before the final chapter in the Mass Effect series comes out, but some trigger happy fans are already building replica costumes and prop weapons to celebrate the upcoming release. BioWare themselves recently commissioned some of these projects, which were shown at their booth at Comic-Con 2011 a couple weeks ago in San Diego. One of these projects was the armor that turian Garrus Vakarian sports in Mass Effect 3, by Kommissar Props. But even more impressive wa...
How To: Build a flesh eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors
Straight from the Little Shop of Horrors to your front lawn! Watch this video to learn how to build a flesh eating plant prop that you can use to give people a good scare, in your next movie or when Halloween rolls around.
How To: Build the A.S.H.P.D. Portal Gun from Portal and Portal 2
How cool would it be to have your own A.S.H.P.D., aka Portal Gun? Find out for yourself. Learn how to build your own Portal Gun, just like the one in the game, from affordable parts by watching this Indy Mogul Backyard FX video guide.
How To: Create a hole in the chest special effect with green screen and gore
Indy Mogul Backyard FX is here with an awesome, cheap, special effect build that will have your audience jumping out of their seats. If you're a filmmaker on a budget you've got to watch this video and learn how to make a hole in the chest effect that look exactly like there is a hole in the actor's chest.
How To: Create a ground explosion SFX for your film on a tight budget
Just because you don't have money to blow doesn't mean you can't blow things up. If you're looking to add a Michael Bay quality explosion to your backyard film project, check out this Indy Mogul Backyard FX video. The total cost of everything you need to make this special effect is less than one hundred dollars.
How To: Build a Pirates of the Caribbean inspired prop sword for thirty dollars
Yar! If swashbucklin adventure be yer fancy, check out this awesome Indy Mogul Backyard FX video to learn how to build a Pirates of the Caribbean style sword prop out of foam. This video explains what materials you need and what tools you'll use.
How To: Build awesome Sci-Fi armor for less than one hundred dollars
Looking to create the look of a blockbuster Sci-Fi epic, for the price of a student film? This Indy Mogul Backyard FX video will show you how to build incredible looking science fiction armor out of foam for about eighty dollars. Be sure to follow these instructions carefully and be patient.
How To: Build a Mole Man makeup for 30 dollars
Check out this great episode of Indy Mogul's Backyard FX where you'll learn how to build a Mole Man makeup appliance on a budget. For less than thirty dollars you can create a shockingly realistic, and creepy, Mole Man latex appliance.
How To: Apply a prosethetic appliance to create a zombie or werewolf attack effect
Are you working on a zombie movie and need to step your gore up? Or do you just want to scare your friends with an ultra-realistic halloween costume? Check out this video that shows you how to apply a prosthetic.
How To: Make a monster out of foam latex for stop motion filming
This tutorial shows you how to create your own monster, from start to finish, out of foam latex. You can use this as a prop in your movie by using stop motion techniques. Get your inspiration for the monster from anywhere!
How To: Replicate some props from the video game hit Fallout
If you're a fan of the hit video game Fallout, you may want to check out this how-to video which gives an overview of building several different props from the game. Check it out and see if you can get your Pip-Boy 3000 up and running. No mutants allowed!
How To: Construct a realistic light saber prop from Star Wars
What more to say? It's a light saber! You will need need 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe, a dremel, a drill, a hot glue gun, a riveter, some rivets, a 12 inch metal pipe, a brass nut, a beveled rubber washer, a one inch thumb screw, a rubber door sealer and some hardware. Construct a realistic light saber prop from Star Wars.
Behind the Curtain: The Visual Effects of Boardwalk Empire
HBO's hit period drama, Boardwalk Empire, is chock full of elaborate effects, created by VFX company Brainstorm Digital. Below, get a behind-the-scenes survey of the before and after breakdowns of scenes from the first season.
How To: Make a hoverboard from the Back to the Future movies
Make your own hoverboard prop from the Back to the Future movies! You can do this whole project for about twenty dollars. You will need a large piece of foam board, green posterboard, some Tupperware, a few pieces of hardware, scrap Velcro, metallic plastic and paint and brushes.