The Art of Practical Special Effects in Movies,… | Little White Lies

Video

The Art of Prac­ti­cal Spe­cial Effects in Movies, with Dan Martin

03 Apr 2017

Words by Adam Woodward

Watch Ben Wheatley’s go-to pros­thet­ic effects artist reveal the secrets of his craft.

Have you ever sat through the end cred­its of a movie and won­dered, What does that person’s job actu­al­ly entail?’ We have – which is why we’re putting some of the tal­ent­ed movie folk who work tire­less­ly behind the scenes in the spot­light as part of a new video series.

First up is pros­thet­ics effects artist Dan Mar­tin, who has lent his unique set of skills to over 60 film and TV pro­duc­tions, includ­ing Ben Wheatley’s A Field in Eng­land, High-Rise and Free Fire.

At his work­shop in south­west Lon­don, Mar­tin showed us some of the weird, won­der­ful and down­right dis­turb­ing props that he’s been asked to make over the years, from bul­let wound moulds to a sev­ered pig’s head to a blood-spurt­ing pros­thet­ic penis for Steve Oram’s Aaaaaaaah!

After you’ve giv­en the video a watch, we’d love to hear your sug­ges­tions for which below-the-line pro­fes­sions we should pro­file in future Cred­it Role’ videos. Get in touch @LWLies

Free Fire is in cin­e­mas 31 March. Check out the LWLies Rec­om­mends review and read more in our Free Fire print issue.

Two illustrated book covers depicting a smiling Black man wearing a hat and tie, with a city skyline in the background

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