Hot Props & SFX Posts
How To: Make glowing LED creature costume eyes
By using LEDs that only put out a little light the eyes can be lit in dim room light but still appear white, the moment the eyes are in shadow they glow bright red. Watch this video tutorial to see how to make glowing LED creature costume eyes for your film or costume project.
How To: Make a cardboard replica prop of any gun
Cardboard is not the most sturdy of building materials, but it is cheap, abundant, and somewhat rigid. That's all you need to make this awesome prop. This video will show you how to make cardboard replica or prop of just about any gun, in this case a Glock handgun. It looks surprisingly real and is very cheap to make, so if you need a gun for your film or costume and don't have money or carpentry skills, this gun should fulfill your needs.
How To: Make a Flamethrower prop out of PVC for your film
Turn up the heat in your background movie with this awesome Flamethrower prop build. If you're making a movie on a tight budget, let Indy Mogul Backyard FX show you to turn common materials like PVC piping and squirt guns into a realistic looking Flamethrower.
How To: Do professional quality Voldemort from Harry Potter makeup
Voldemort, the seemingly unstoppable antagonist of the Harry Potter series played so compellingly by Ralph Fiennes in the films, is one of the best villains in the history of fantasy. If you want to scare the bejezzus out of some children this Halloween or pay homage to Harry Potter in a film, watch this video to learn how to recreate the Voldemort look without makeup and prosthetics.
How To: Make a double-barrel sawed-off shotgun prop
Using guns in low-budget films is tough. You probably can't afford a real gun or a replica can you? Especially for more specialized guns. Fortunately, this video has the solution. It will show you how to make a really realistic sawed-off shotgun prop for cheap. You will need some carpentry skills and tools, but the gun looks so cool that even if you don't have those things now, you should probably invest in them. You'll be able to use them to make more props later anyway.
How To: Make the fake "glass in the hand" Halloween effect
Show your kids how to make special effects for the movies, haunted houses, or disaster drills. You can really freak some people out with this special effect makeup. Just watch this video tutorial to see how to make the fake "glass in the hand" Halloween effect.
How To: Build a "Ghostbusters" Ghost Trap Prop
What's a proton pack without a ghost trap? Useless, that's what. Don't pay megabucks for some fake Ghostbusters costume when you can build your own with household materials.
How To: Create an extreme nose bleed trickle and gush
Here, we unveil a brand new type of BFX episode called "BFX On Location"! We've been invited by directors Giancarlo Fiorentini and Jonathan Grimm to create an extreme nose bleed effect for their film "The Old Man and the Seymour". This movie stars Streeter Seidell, Amir Blumenfeld and a VERY bloody nose. Check out all the action as Erik's skills get a real world test!
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: 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: Make really simple and gross fake blood
There are a lot of recipes for fake blood online. This one is one of the simplest, and one of the grossest-looking. Just take some white corn syrup, red and blue food coloring and corn starch, mix them all together and you'll soon have an appalling concoction that will terrify your audiences and leave a stain on your rug that you'll never, ever get out.
How To: Build a flamethrower movie prop
Make monster flames with this homemade flamethrower. With some materials from your local hardware store, you can make this PVC flamethrower in no time. It's perfect for your big blockbuster movie (or to just scare your friends to death). Just make sure you don't leave a fire trail behind you as you set fire to the sky. Actually, this flame maker doesn't shoot real flames, it's just a prop. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to build a flamethrower movie prop.
How To: Create a fake hand
Erik Beck from Indy Mogul shows you to create a fake or prosthetic hand for your films that you can stab, smash, or blow up in your special fx scenes.
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: Do a makeup open wounded face effect for Halloween
Fake wounds are one of the most popular makeup elements to include in Halloween costumes, and are also very useful in making films. This video will teach you how to create a realistic open facial wound using makeup. It looks so real, any doctors that you run into will probably try to rush you to the hospital immediately.
How To: Build a smashable guitar prop
You're not really going to smash that guitar are you? It's a piece of art. Parker put together this tutorial to show how to build a prop guitar you can smash and let out all that rock and roll angst. You will need a glue gun, chess pawns, cardboard, duct tape, a gift box, glue, a garbage can, paper, paint, string, and a ruler. Watch this video prop-making tutorial and learn how to build a prop guitar for smashing.
How To: Make fake special effects explosive squibs
This video will show you how you can make fake blood for your amateur videos if you need anyone to be shot. The materials used are fake blood, a condom, and a model rocket fuse and a firecracker. With this video you can stick a squib just about anywhere to make the best fake gunshot wounds possible.
How To: Make fake intestines
Gross out—and fake out—your friends by making some frighteningly, disgustingly real-looking intestines. Inspired by the Instructables project: http://www.instructables.com/id/Great-looking-disgusting-intestines-for-horror-f/
How To: Make a fake special effects skin burn
This video will show you how you can make a scary special effects fake burn using cotton balls, tissue paper, liquid latex, and fake blood.
How To: Create a rotten diseased flesh effect for Halloween
If you want to make a movie with zombies, or the apocalypse, or the apocalypse and zombies, then you are going to have to learn how to create a really haggard-looking, disease-ridden face out of makeup. This video will show you how to do it using Rice Krispies, among other things. The end result is terrifying, and sure to scare your audiences or trick-or-treating targets into doing what you want (buying theater tickets or giving your candy, respectively).
How To: Make plastic costume chainmail
Learn how to make plastic costume chain mail for all your LARPing and Halloween needs. 1 Purchase enough 12" silver binding coil from the displayed suppliers for your project. 2 Using needle nose pliers, cut the rings as shown in the video. Make sure that there is plenty of overlap so the rings will stay closed. 3 Flatten the edge of the cut rings with your pliers. 4 Start to combine the rings together using the European 4 in 1 weave pattern. 5 Build squares of chain mail following this patte...
How To: Make cheap prop eyeballs for Halloween
Super cheap eyeballs without breaking the bank! While grapes are the safe standard to spook out trick or treaters, they don't look very realistic. For this project, you will need clear spray paint, white spray paint, black spray paint, blue acrylic paint, black acrylic paint, red acrylic paint, coat hanger or wire, tweezers, an artist's brush, a foam ear plug, a rag, sanding block or sanding paper, and bouncy balls. Watch this video prop-making tutorial and learn how to make cheap prop eyebal...
How To: Make a homemade electric chair
Whether you’re pro or con on the death penalty issue, there’s nothing more terrifying than having a real live electric chair in your own home! So you should probably just use these simple steps to create a mock-electric chair to “shock” your guests! This Fear.Net Halloween video shows us how to make a homemade electric chair to frighten the Trick or Treaters this holiday season! Make a homemade electric chair.
How To: Design and build cheap demon wings
If you watched the Demon Makeup episode and wanted more, then you really need to see this episode! Erik shows you how to make life-sized demon wings that you can wear. Dust off your pitchfork and press play.
How To: Make a cheap realistic blood splatter
In this video, we learn how to make a cheap and realistic blood splatter. After you have made your blood, you will need to make sure it's the right color you need for blood. Now, take Kleenex and rip it into five different parts. Then, stick these into a tube and grab a pesticide sprayer. After this, stick the blood into the bucket for the sprayer. Now, when you shoot the blood splatter the Kleenex tissue will turn the color of the blood and look like brains or parts of the body that have bee...
How To: Build your own Iron Man Repulsor Arm
If you love Iron Man 2 and wish you could have his gadgets or want to have a cool costume for Halloween, you too, can be Iron Man once you're done watching this video. This tutorial will walk you through the steps needed to convert household materials and inexpensive items you can find at virtually any store into an Iron Man suit repulsor arm.
How To: Make Your Very Own Hobbit Pipe—The Only Way to Smoke Pipe-Weed
A new trailer for Peter Jackson's Hobbit movie arrived recently, and it continues to look pretty awesome. If you're gearing up for the midnight premiere on December 14th, why not get into the spirit early by making your very own Hobbit pipe? In the film, the Hobbits smoke from signature rustic, wooden pipes with a very homemade look to them. Instructables user handcraftsup makes his own versions out of tree branches of what he believes real Hobbit pipes would like like. The tools he uses incl...
How To: Make fake heads
To make fake heads you will need Styrofoam head, flesh color spay paint, make-up kit, a wig, glasses, mustaches, fake blood and liquid latex.
Make edible prop bodily fluids: poop, vomit, snot, and blood
The human body is full of different kinds of fluids, most of which are either gross or dangerous to remove from a person for use in one of your films. Fortunately, most of them are pretty easy to replicate using household materials. This video will show you how to make edible prop fake blood, feces, vomit, and snot. They all look great, are safe, and will make you movie much more realistic.
How To: Make fake bruises for film or Halloween
Bruises may not be as gory or extreme as the gashes and slashes from some of the other fake-wound videos on the site, but they are an important part of the fake-injury world. I a brick falls on you, what you are going to have isn't a cut, but a very nasty bruise! This video will teach you how to make a realistic fake bruise on your arm out of makeup, which should be handy for you next film.
How To: Make your own vampire fangs
Scare the crap out of your folks with this one. Or scare the crap out of your audience if you're making a low budget film, because these suckers will impress. Realistic vampire fangs! You can't beat them.
How To: Make a fake cut throat with special effect make up
Make a fake cut throat with special effect make up. Great for Halloween or making movies!
How To: Make ripped off skin makeup effects
This is a simple and effective way to get a gruesome ripped off skin look for home movies using toilet paper, liquid latex and make-up.
How To: Make movie prop fake blood
This tutorial video will show you how to make fake blood that looks great as a movie prop, or a Halloween costume. This is a great video for amateur film makers and costume enthusiasts alike.
How To: Create a telekinesis effect
Indy Mogul shows you how to create telekinesis special fx for your films with just some simple video editing software.
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 the quick-draw sleeve gun from "Taxi Driver"
This video tutorial from IndyMogul shows you how to make the quick-draw sleeve gun from "Taxi Driver".
How To: Become Heath's Ledger's Joker with makeup and latex
And... here… we... go! This Halloween you'll be the Joker, the wry character Heath Ledger revitalized in the film "Dark Knight," but how? This video tutorial will teach you all of the little tricks to becoming Heath Ledger's Joker with simple makeup.
How To: Build a Tommy Gun prop on a budget
If you're looking to give your Mafia movie a real, authentic, look, but don't have a ton of cash check out this great Indy Mogul Backyard FX video to learn how to build a Tommy Gun. It may not fire bullets, but this fifty dollar prop packs some real punch.
How To: Make realistic claw marks on the face with makeup
If you want to have a character get attacked by a predatory land animal in your movie, you are probably going to need to put some claw marks on their body to make it look realistic and visceral. This three-part video will show you how to create a really realistic open claw mark wound on an actor's face, or any other body part. It looks really, really good, now try it yourself and scare your family and friends!