Squibs to Create a Bullet Hit
by: Chris Poindexter

One of the staples of movie special effects is the bullet hit. A spray of blood, the rending of cloth. Never mind that a bullet hit in real life doesn’t look anything like that, this is story telling. Reality has to make that minor concession to drama, otherwise it would be hard to tell someone actually got hit. So we have the staple of movie gunfight special effects, the squib. Typically composed of a blood pack taped on top of a small explosive charge, quite a bit smaller than the average firecracker. That sits on a padded plate that protects the actor from the charge, triggered remotely at the appropriate time. The charge blows the blood pack contents through a hole in the costume that’s usually been pre-stressed in appropriate dimensions. The result is that spectacular bloody spray that’s become so ingrained in our movie experience.

Here’s a clue that might keep you out of the next release of the Jackass movie series: Unless you know exactly what you’re doing, do not try to make explosive squibs at home for your low-budget video production. Bad things will happen. You, or one of your actors, could lose important pieces of anatomy. Things that may not seem important now, but you may wish you had later in life. The people doing special effects for movies are trained professionals with years of experience, they get permits, they have professional liability insurance in case something goes wrong. You don’t have any of those things, don’t even think about it.

But the exclusion of pyrotechnics does not mean you have to deny yourself the joys of blood spray special effects. Because, let’s face it, a little blood and gore may be just what the script calls for and being able to cover yourself and your actors with fake blood and twitch at the impact of imaginary bullets, well that’s just part of the fun. I use a technique that uses compressed air to simulate a squib. Not quite as good as a pyrotechnic device, but a lot less dangerous in the hands of amateurs. This technique builds on the work of others who have published their early attempts on the web but extends it somewhat to give the actors a little more mobility.

What you’ll need: