Blood Clean-up Suggestions

[mrtrudeau23]

Here's a conundrum for all of you.

We are doing the show Big Love. During one point in the show, the actors go under the tall platform jutting downstage, pull curtains closed and essentially take a blood shower under tubing running from a sump pump. We have thought of many ways to try and clean this up (we estimate using about 3-5 gallons of homemade blood a night), but all our ideas can't work for one reason or another.

Ideas we've thought of:
- A bin to catch the blood. Issue: The actors will be silhouetted under the platform so adding something after the curtain is closed is out of the question.
- Absorbant carpet/fabric that we can wash each night. Issue: Our lack of ability to wash something that big and this effect isn't at the end of the show, so actors still need to use that space as an entrance without tracking blood everywhere.
- Cutting slits in the platform they stand on and letting the blood collect in something underneath. Issue: There are legs in the center of the platform, so the bin would not be all encompassing and the actors are all in bare feet, so we can't have slits cut in the plywood for safety reasons.
- Dropcloth. Issue: Again, getting it out there with the silhouette wouldn't work, plus it would be noisy and difficult to clean-up.

There is a picture of the set below. I don't have a good closeup shot of the area in question (Pride Rock, as we call it), but it's the tall platform downstage center with a ramp down to the deck.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[gafftaper]

Slots in the floor are going to reject and splatter away as much blood as they allow to drain through.

Drop cloths and absorbent cloths are only going to collect a small portion of the blood. 3-5 gallons is a LOT of liquid and it's going everywhere on your stage.

I don't see any way around redesigning that platform. You need a built in basin, three to four inches deep like a shower. In fact, I would go to Home Depot first thing in the morning looking for a shower basin to make this work. A shower basin with a hose coming out the drain to return the blood to a bucket or some other storage basin. If you need that floor to be a continuous smooth surface before/after the shower then build some sort of elevated piece to sit in the basin. Remove it shortly before the shower. Your director may not like the look but the only way to keep that blood from going everywhere is to collect it in a basin.

When I'm teaching set design, I always tell my students, before you do any serious design work read through the script once specifically looking for weird things that are going to limit your design and require special attention. Figure out how you are going to solve these issues before you do any of your design work. Your situation is a great example of why this should be part of your design process.

 

[shiben]

Slots in the floor are going to reject and splatter away as much blood as they allow to drain through.

Drop cloths and absorbent cloths are only going to collect a small portion of the blood. 3-5 gallons is a LOT of liquid and it's going everywhere on your stage.

I don't see any way around redesigning that platform. You need a built in basin, three to four inches deep like a shower. In fact, I would go to Home Depot first thing in the morning looking for a shower basin to make this work. A shower basin with a hose coming out the drain to return the blood to a bucket or some other storage basin. If you need that floor to be a continuous smooth surface before/after the shower then build some sort of elevated piece to sit in the basin. Remove it shortly before the shower. Your director may not like the look but the only way to keep that blood from going everywhere is to collect it in a basin.

When I'm teaching set design, I always tell my students, before you do any serious design work read through the script once specifically looking for weird things that are going to limit your design and require special attention. Figure out how you are going to solve these issues before you do any of your design work. Your situation is a great example of why this should be part of your design process.

I suspect if the slots are numerous and large enough that one could theoretically make that work. Something like expanded diamond tread would be great, but probably uncomfortable on the feet. McMaster Carr has a couple of decorative versions that might be acceptable as well (more comfortable on the feet). In addition, our catwalk is made out of a steel grate that might work alright. However, I cant see a way to avoid needing a catch basin of some sort somewhere. Even if you do put a grate on the deck, you will need a collection system below it that can handle a couple gallons of blood, and that will need to be handled. Another thing to consider is going to be cleaning the set itself. 4 gallons of stage blood is going to require more than just mopping, and it would need to be cleaned off of the grate or basin too. My question is how thick is the blood? Is it going to splash and splatter, or is it oozing and kind of glopping around? But I fully agree with Gaff that a re-design is probably in order.

 

[erosing]

Cutting slits in the platform they stand on and letting the blood collect in something underneath. Issue: There are legs in the center of the platform, so the bin would not be all encompassing and the actors are all in bare feet, so we can't have slits cut in the plywood for safety reasons.

What about holes? A ton of ordered 1/2" holes that have been chamfered or filleted and sanded smooth (or unordered may work better, see a french rasp) and a textured UHMW covering placed over a new substrate that can support it (solid sheet steel and frame?) with as many reservoirs as needed underneath. Add in a lip on the sides and two low pressure hoses and two hidden stagehands, one on each side, to help wash it down quietly as needed.

 

[gafftaper]

Also home made stage blood recipes typically have a lot of sugar in them. I've read stories about the nightmares of a full run on shows that use lot's of blood. It's a pain to clean up and if you don't get it right you get bug infestations, the smell of fermented goo and all kinds of other nasty things. You want a surface that cleans easily.

I know Van will have some good advice, He did "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" a few years ago, so he's had some experience with gore.

 

[erosing]

Also home made stage blood recipes typically have a lot of sugar in them. I've read stories about the nightmares of a full run on shows that use lot's of blood. It's a pain to clean up and if you don't get it right you get bug infestations, the smell of fermented goo and all kinds of other nasty things. You want a surface that cleans easily.

Well, that's getting filed in the back of my head for eternity now.

 

[Van]

Also home made stage blood recipes typically have a lot of sugar in them. I've read stories about the nightmares of a full run on shows that use lot's of blood. It's a pain to clean up and if you don't get it right you get bug infestations, the smell of fermented goo and all kinds of other nasty things. You want a surface that cleans easily.

I know Van will have some good advice, He did "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" a few years ago, so he's had some experience with gore.

Aw Shucks! People say the nicests things about me.....

Well, that's getting filed in the back of my head for eternity now.

Yeah, and once youe smell rotting homemade stageblood It fills the back of your nose for quite some time too !

We used "Reel Blood" for our production of '...Inishimore' I both love and hate it. It's great in that it cleans up well, doesn't stain clothes < provided they are taken care of according to directions> and it looks absolutely fantastic on both stage and Film/Video. I hate it because although it doesn't stain clothes I had a horrible time with it staining wood and textured surfaces. Also if you don't get it all while it's 'wet', if it is allowed to dry on a surface it congeals into a hard plastic-like substance that is extremely difficult to reove and which even Killz has a hard time covering up.

How about replacing the cover of the platform with a fiberglass "T" grating then building a basin out of 1x3 under the platform line it with EDPM pond liner then pump it out each night or use Gaffs Idea of a drainthat recirculates into a bucket?
I used a fiberglass grating that was 12'x12' 1" tall and had 3/4" wide slats with 1/4" openings between the slats for the drain feild in our production of "Take Me Out" In which 4 men are showering onstage and we had no real slapsh or drainage problems. Here's a link, for reference: Northwest Grating - Pacific Northwest based architectural metals, grating, metal fabrication - Pultruded FRP

 

[leastlikely]

Hahahaha it took me a minute to figure out what scene in Big Love would require blood... I'm a dingbat. We used red flower petals, so it's hard to think of it as gore


ANYWAY - I would think about installing a drain in the floor platform, and putting a basin underneath it. You could probably find those circular metal grates (you know, the kind that are in the floors of public restrooms) at the hardware store. Cut a hole in the platform, put the grate in... and I suspect that just by virtue of the fact that there's a hole in the middle of the ply, it will bow when stepped on and will funnel the fluid into the drain. Oh I just re-read your post, there's a leg in the center of the platform. So put in two small drains, one on either side.


I'm stumped on the issue of not tracking it though. Because there will be blood on the floor, and feet will want to pick that up. Hmm. Would it be possible to pump water in immediately after the blood? In silhouette it would look the same, but it would rinse the floor. Just have a second hose for water right next to the blood pump. But this would also rinse the actors, so I guess that's not what you want.

Can you put stagehands back there with squeegees to force the remaining fluid to the drain?

 

[shiben]

Because there will be blood on the floor, and feet will want to pick that up. Hmm. Would it be possible to pump water in immediately after the blood? In silhouette it would look the same, but it would rinse the floor. Just have a second hose for water right next to the blood pump. But this would also rinse the actors, so I guess that's not what you want.

Can you put stagehands back there with squeegees to force the remaining fluid to the drain?

Or some sort of sprayer system just aimed at the feet?

 

[gafftaper]

ANYWAY - I would think about installing a drain in the floor platform, and putting a basin underneath it. ... and I suspect that just by virtue of the fact that there's a hole in the middle of the ply, it will bow when stepped on and will funnel the fluid into the drain.

That's not going to cut it. The blood is going to fall then it will splatter up and out. There's a reason showers have that 3-4" deep basin. It's to catch all the water that goes up and out. simply cutting a hole in the floor is not going to collect the blood. You need sides to contain it long enough for gravity to take over and bring it back to the drain.

I'm stumped on the issue of not tracking it though. Because there will be blood on the floor, and feet will want to pick that up. Hmm. Would it be possible to pump water in immediately after the blood? In silhouette it would look the same, but it would rinse the floor. Just have a second hose for water right next to the blood pump. But this would also rinse the actors, so I guess that's not what you want.

What about stepping into a shallow basin of clean water behind the blood shower in order to rinse the feet?

If not that then lots of towels to step on.

 

[What Rigger?]

I think Slayer ran into this issue a few years back when they did a few shows where they played "Raining Blood" live and actually did it with a blood rain rig over the stage. I know they put down carpet over the whole stage and then hauled it out back of the venue to wash it out. Then again, this was the last song of the set every night and they weren't nearly as "permanent" of a build as a theater set. If you can find the "Reign in Blood" live DVD, they talk about how they did it and how they managed to "contain" the mess.

Slayer - Raining Blood(raining blood in REALITY!!!) - YouTube