Fake arm/nub

Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones

Member
Hi, I was wondering what the best way to make a fake half of an arm still atached to someones body. Not the amputated half, but the half that is still there. I have looked a little at life casting, but was wondering if anyone knew the cheapest or easiest way to do this.
Thanks
 
the simplest cheapest way is to have your actor wearing something that covers their upper arm (even a t-shirt would do), and to strap their real arm behind their back while a fake arm stump dangles out the sleeve. Presuming the amputation happened very recently in the film, you probably have good reason to cover the stump in blood and gore, which will help avoid the stump looking fake. A very simple life cast of the actor's arm should be enough to make a stump of the right size.

Anything fancy, like a stump that needs to move, or a bare-shouldered actor, will make the stunt far more expensive and difficult - so plan your shots carefully
 
Thanks a ton for your help! Any suggestions on pulling off the life cast as easily as possible?
Should i use the bandages? Or should i do the entire arm?
 
You could poor-man the Forrest Gump effect by locking your camera and making two passes. First pass is with your actor wearing a green fabric up to the point of the nub, which should be enhanced to look as complete as possible with a prosthetic.

The background plate should be shot immediately thereafter without the talent in the shot. Roto out your foreground plate and you've got a pretty convincing effect.

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presuming you only need the stump and not the amputated bit, I'd think you could just wrap the actor's upper arm in plastic then plaster bandages, let it all dry for a few hours, cut it off _very_ carefully, then make a stump cast from that. Professionals would probably cast the stump in latex, if you have no money and the stump won't be moving much then plaster would probably cheaper.

If you need the whole arm, you'd probably have to make the cast itself in some sort of latex (like making a giant rubber glove) which is less of an option for amateurs.
 
Thanks for the great ideas guys, I will be sure to keep all of those ideas in mind as i go foreward with my project!
 
You didn't say where your from. In my home town, there are two borthers doing VFX rigs like severed arms for major VFX films. They were in the paper last week and work out of Montreal but live here. Very impressive stuff. 100% realistic.

Just saying.
 
A really low budget way I saw on indymogul without casting should do the trick if you aren't gonna do close up shots:

get a long sleeve t-shirt, and have your talent wear it.

use duct tape, tape over the entire arm (over the sleeve) neatly and firmly (but not too tight).

make sure your actor's arm is at the right position e.g. elbow bent or straight, etc.

now remove the t-shirt. if it's difficult to do so, cut the sleeve open with a pair of scissors. just mend the slit afterwards. the shape of an arm will be held by the duct tape.

now fill you have an an arm. depending on how the shot would be like, you can fix up the arm by spraying it skin colour, or going detailed like attaching a hand and making the skin more realistic.

fill the sleeve (the arm) with whatever is suitable, from newspapers to wool inside a pillow etc. pack tightly.
 
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