How to Create an Explode a Head Effect with Andy Schoenberg
To watch the FREE lesson preview, simply click on the player above. Check out the Full Lesson page HERE: MASTERING SPECIAL EFFECTS DISASTERS
Andy Schoneberg can do anything. When he asked us what effect WE wanted to see, we put the question to our sizable Facebook fan base: what effect would you MOST like to see? The overwhelming choice: EXPLODE A HEAD.
Lacking the time and resources for what a proper exploding head effect would require (pyrotechnics, lifecasting, and molds of the actor, at the very least), we assumed it couldn't be done. But Andy told us that if we could find a head, any head, he could probably make it work.
With absolutely no prep and only a frightful silicone head over a resin underskull available for the effect..the resulting lesson ended up as a perfect--if dramatized--example of a situation every veteran effects artist has experienced some time in their career: The Effects Disaster.
Jump To Section
- Practicing Working on Set as a Makeup Effects Artist
- Working With the Wrong Head
- Reassembling Bad Silicone
- Prioritizing Communication When Working on Set
- Adding a Fresh Take to the Head Explosion Effect
- Working Under a Tight Deadline
- Facing Constant Changes in Movie-Making
- Making a Mess With Your Head Explosion Effect
(The lesson that launched a thousand careers. Of all the skills, if you can't keep your sanity... You will NOT make it!)
Practicing Working on Set as a Makeup Effects Artist
Andy’s nightmare begins with a simulated situation that could occur in any production. Time is short, prep is non-existent, and a change comes up. What was supposed to be a shotgun blast to the gut becomes a request for an exploding head!
If ever there was a “less than ideal” circumstance on set under which a makeup effects artist must perform, this is it! As Andy himself puts it, “The cards are stacked very highly against us!”
(Andy shows the sad, unmatching silicone head he's got to use to match his actor.)
Working With the Wrong Head
Usually, an “exploding head” effect has really two components: 1) an explosion and 2) a head! This time, we have neither. Explosives are out of the question. And the only heads available were made for completely different purposes and are not of the actor we’re doubling. We presented two heads and Andy chose the one made of a silicone skin over a resin core because he felt he’d be better able to make it come apart than he could the other head, which was a polyfoam-filled core.
Andy’s first challenge is to cut the head apart and find a way to affix it back together strongly and reliably enough to support itself.
Using a system of hinges made from gaffer’s tape and monofilament wires to pull the pieces apart sequenced to a blast of blood from a pressurized fire extinguisher. Andy begins to put his plan in action.
(Andy Schoneberg starts by scoring the fiberglass underskull and then slicing jagged lines into the silicone skin.)
Reassembling Bad Silicone
Though the cutting apart goes smoothly, putting the head back together becomes a major challenge. Due to the fact that Silicone is highly plasticized, almost nothing sticks to silicone for very long, so Andy ends up having to use copious amounts of super-glue (an emergency staple of any on-set effects kit) as well as hot-glue and popsicle sticks to give the head enough rigidity to stand on its own.
(Andy fights to re-assemble the flayed skull and face of... Matt?)
Prioritizing Communication When Working on Set
Andy keeps stressing communication, and it’s essential! There’s a tendency when the going gets tough to lower your head and pour EVERYTHING into your work. But movies are collaborations and informing other departments of your progress and your setbacks becomes absolutely critical, as we see. Will 10 more minutes make the difference between having something work and having something fail? Are there other situations beyond anyone’s control--sunlight, illness, technical difficulties, indecision—that might affect what you’re doing? Assistant directors, or set assistants, are the custodians of that information. Keeping lines of communication open is the only way to have a chance of putting your work in its best light.
(Matt Winston says, "I can look like that guy." Andy takes a deep breath and digs in to match the skin colors.)
Adding a Fresh Take to the Head Explosion Effect
Of course, we’ve seen heads explode before, but part of the fun, and part of the way Andy keeps his interest, is that he realizes through the course of the prep that despite all the compromises, his head explosion will, by necessity, be a fresh take on what might be an almost conventional effect done in the usual way.
(Crafts Services is the watering hole on set. You'll always find someone hanging around, snacking. This may be your ONLY HOPE in finding an organic standin for BRAINS and BLOOD.)
Working Under a Tight Deadline
Thanks to our limited crew of “interactors,” we attempt to provide Andy with the atmosphere that you might find on a movie set where ADs, actors, and directors are constantly feeding you with information and pumping you for information. In the home stretch, as Andy attempts to dress up the head to match his actor as closely as possible, the remaining time requires compromises. Will the camera see the top and back of the head? Probably not—so though he had something in mind, the wig he was going to use gets set aside.
(After the gag... the final shot is a bit gruesome. Good job, Andy! 'Matt? Are you ok? MATT?')
Facing Constant Changes in Movie-Making
Tricks, tips, and stories abound: bring more tools than you think you'll need; dip clear rubber tubing in warm water to make it more flexible; brush crepe hair onto a glue-prepped surface to quickly and convincingly simulate facial hair; use a pressurized fire-extinguisher to deliver a blast of air when real explosives aren’t practical; use available foods like bananas, granola and strawberry jelly to create gooey, gorey brains. You’ll hear about how Andy nearly lost a fingertip while making the hands for EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and his admiration for well-done blood effects that enhance great makeup, such as Dick Smith's work in TAXI DRIVER.
“Making movies is a pretty fluid experience,” says Andy. “Things change constantly.” Besides being an entertaining look at a makeup artist in panic mode, these moments of insight and wisdom deliver value to this lesson. It frequently happens as a professional that the effect prepared becomes, for whatever reason, different than the effect desired at the moment of shooting—whether because of a change in angle, or perhaps you’ve prepped a right hand and the actor wants to use his left. These moments are where the cool-headed makeup artist prevails and rises to the occasion. “You have to anticipate those things constantly,” says Andy. “And part of the makeup effects artist’s job is to anticipate those things when you go to set so that those kinds of things when they do happen, you’re already prepared for it.”
(Andy reminds us that if you're not having fun... you're doing it wrong. EXPLODE A HEAD!)
Making a Mess With Your Head Explosion Effect
When the scene gets choreographed, you’ll see Andy interact with our crew (playing the parts of a “real” move crew.) With assistance from everyone, pulling apart the head, triggering the blood, and additional hands for spewing brains and squirting blood, you’ll see how everything comes together in the final minutes of the day.
But will the moment be effective, or is it truly a disaster? Cameras and all of our helpers get covered in plastic sheeting to protect them from the spill. Matt’s performance as the head-explodee helps provide the necessary tension and build-up. Finally, the entire scene gets just a bit of post-production treatment so that when it’s all said and done, Andy has given our fans exactly what was requested: HE EXPLODED A HEAD!
Certainly one of the most unconventional lessons we’ve ever produced and also perhaps one of the most fun. The most important lesson learned here is that with perseverance, dedication, a calm approach, and equal parts skill and luck, ANYTHING is possible. Let Andy’s effects disaster inspire you to be daring in all your creations!
- John Ales & David Sanger
- Check out the Full Lesson page HERE: MASTERING SPECIAL EFFECTS DISASTERS
- For our Monster Maker Interview with Andy, click HERE.
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