Severed finger effect?

JerseyMatt

Member
Hey guys,

Our community theater is doing a production of Election Day, and there is a scene involving a finger getting cut off with a kitchen knife (one character tosses the knife to another, who misses it, and the finger is cut off as the knife hits the table). II'm the tech guy and I've done stage effects but honestly I don't know anything about prop limbs. They need for it to bleed a bit and I have a vague idea of what I'd do there - micro tubing painted/made up skin tone with a small bladder that the actor could squeeze in his armpit - but I haven't a clue what to do with the finger itself. The hand will be covered by a towel quickly after it happens, so I guess that doesn't need to be made up, but the finger needs to fall on the floor (the actors actually fight over it).. So how would we accomplish that?

Thanks for any guidance you can give me!
 
This depends on how small you space is. You could make a banana into a finger and the UU section wouldn't be able to tell or small space and have to use a life like rubber finger.

This is one of those fun slight of hand gags. Cause you don't want to be putting hands near the knife especially if it has to stick into a table.

Actor holds a fake finger , knife goes , actor moves hand , knife hits and sticks actor covers up screams blood shoots out drops finger. Throw some light strobes in there for added distraction.

If you want to go full real. Hire an actor with a missing arm, attach a lifelike arm and chop away. You might scare people but you would get a great effect.

Personally if you could get away with option two it would save you time prepping the actors.
 
For such a small piece, I think you would be able to get away with making a paraffin wax mold of someone's finger and then casting it in perhaps a few layers of latex paint filled with some low-expansion Gerat Stuff. Melt off the wax and you're done.
 
LOL I wish we had a UU section. Our playhouse is a very "intimate" space to say the least (a small old church). The front row is literally three feet from the foot of the stage, so whatever we do has to look good up close. We don't know any people with missing arms, and the role has already been cast anyway (although that is a really good idea!).. The knife is not going to stick into the table (although that's what the stage directions call for), it's just going to be tossed to hit properly and will be blunted - mainly due to the proximity of the audience (can't have a rogue bounce hit someone in the front row).
 
Well then I would say distraction screams and blood and a quick cover up of the hand. The bigger the knife the better. I would say a butcher cleaver to hide the hand. If you insist on them seeing the chop I would look into fake hands and have the actor hold it at a distance. with a handle on then inside of the hand forcing him to curl his finger back towards him and then blood and the whole nine yards. Remove the fake hand in the first towel and grab a second one for him to walk around normal with the rest of the act.

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Does the effect happen fast enough that the actor being de-digitized could simply palm the fake finger? You could simply buy a bad fake rubber finger from a novelty store. They are hollow. Trim it down to be shorter than they sell them. Fill it with blood, cap the open end with Parafin or something crush-able. The actor palms it, squeezes it, He act like he's going to grab the knife, "Ow!" grabs his hand, drops the pre-bloodied finger (in the process smearing blood all over his now hurt hand) and the rest is just about keeping his finger folded to appear missing.

I understand your predicament; my previous theatre was thrust, with all of 4 feet separating the audience from the action. We did Lt. of Inishmore a few years ago. Having to dismember bodies and shoot folks multiple times that close to folks is quite a feat.

Oh,
 
How many runs of the show do you have? Can you just replace the actor after every 10 shows?
LOL it's only 5 runs, and we cast an actual EMT in another role so that's totally doable! :D

Ive had to rethink this, since last night I learned that the amputee-elect is going to be wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers and a wife beater, so the concealed blood pouch is out - since it can't be concealed. Basically we're going to have him with his back to the audience, and the finger (which is hollow and will be filled with the fake blood - thanks for that one Van!) will be taped under the lip of the table - so while he's fiddling at the table he can palm it for the amputation scene. It always comes back to KISS!! :)
 

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