• Create lifelike surfaces of natural things.
• Create blood that looks realistic and is easy to use in a filming situation.

• Brainstorm about:
  • ways to create lifelike surfaces (e.g. of trees, rocks, concrete)
  • what a cast is and some uses of casts
  • materials and processes used for making casts.
• Research more about casts or invite an expert to talk about them.

Extension:

Brainstorm about:

• the physical and chemical properties of blood (e.g. colour; smell; density; reaction with light, air, and other materials)
• what problems these properties could present to film-makers
  
• possible solutions to these problems.

e.g. etching, carving

e.g. for sculpture, metalwork, broken limbs

e.g. stickiness; staining; colour and smell when decomposing; health issues

See the examples of lifelike surfaces:

• Treebeard (zone 12)
• the prosthetics (zone 27)
• the dead Boromir (zone 8).

Focus questions:

• How do you think Treebeard’s surface was made? What materials might have been used?
• What materials might give the smooth, lifelike surface on the mannequin of Boromir?

• Choose something from nature that is suitable for making a surface cast (e.g. a leaf, bark, rock, a hand).
• Decide on the materials and a process for making the cast.
• Carry out the casting.
• Present and assess your work.

Extension:

• Brainstorm the properties that a material would need to replace blood in a filming situation.
• Suggest possible materials or mixtures that might be used.
• Carry out tests to evaluate your suggested materials or mixtures.
• Chart the results, showing advantages and disadvantages.

Possible materials: cement, plaster of Paris, wax, clay, latex, rubber.

e.g. red-black in colour, translucent, able to be refreshed by wetting, non-sticky (so that it doesn't glue swords inside their scabbards!), non-staining (so that it doesn't mess up costumes)

Possible materials: cornflour, glucose, water, red food colouring, acrylic paint.

Related activity links: