# Homemade special effects **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923 "2016-05-28T21:13:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/1 "2016-05-28T21:13:30Z")
Me and my buddies are planning to make a short horror film. So, in one brief scene, some chick would turn into a vampire. As a part of the transformation, the fangs would appear, and her eyes would turn red, and glow. Any way such special effects can be done without bunch of expensive equipment?.. For the eyes, I’ve been thinking of buying red UV contact lenses-are these legit offers? [http://www.youknowit.com/costume-contact-lenses/i-glow-dark-red-contact-lenses-pair.html](http://www.youknowit.com/costume-contact-lenses/i-glow-dark-red-contact-lenses-pair.html) [http://www.spookyeyes.com/colored-contact-lenses/red-contact-lenses](http://www.spookyeyes.com/colored-contact-lenses/red-contact-lenses) For the fangs, maybe this? [https://gadgetsandgear.com/special-fx-retractable-vampire-fangs/](https://gadgetsandgear.com/special-fx-retractable-vampire-fangs/) But I think all that would need some adjustments and computer editing in order to look convincing. Edit: Damn links not working, aaargh! But you can copy and paste them into your browser, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/2 "2016-05-28T21:19:03Z")
The glowing red eyes would be trivially easy to do on the computer even with the technology of 20 years ago. The fangs are a bit harder, but still no big deal now. Just be economical with your shots. If you spend, say, four seconds on the transformation, that’s only 100 frames you need to edit. Immediately after the transformation, put in a cut, and before you re-start, have the makeup folks put on her fang and contact lens prosthetics. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/3 "2016-05-28T21:24:31Z")
Slinkys make great sounds if you mic them. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/4 "2016-05-28T21:31:43Z")
> [@Mislav](#): > > Me and my buddies are planning to make a short horror film. So, in one brief scene, some chick would turn into a vampire. As a part of the transformation, the fangs would appear, and her eyes would turn red, and glow. Any way such special effects can be done without bunch of expensive equipment?.. > For the eyes, I’ve been thinking of buying red UV contact lenses-are these legit offers? > [http://www.youknowit.com/costume-contact-lenses/i-glow-dark-red-contact-lenses-pair.html](http://www.youknowit.com/costume-contact-lenses/i-glow-dark-red-contact-lenses-pair.html) > [http://www.spookyeyes.com/colored-contact-lenses/red-contact-lenses](http://www.spookyeyes.com/colored-contact-lenses/red-contact-lenses) > For the fangs, maybe this? > [https://gadgetsandgear.com/special-fx-retractable-vampire-fangs/](https://gadgetsandgear.com/special-fx-retractable-vampire-fangs/) > > But I think all that would need some adjustments and computer editing in order to look convincing. > > Edit: Damn links not working, aaargh! But you can copy and paste them into your browser, right? You need to surround your urls with opening and closing tags like this: [noparse][somewebsite.com](http://somewebsite.com)[/noparse] You don’t have to worry about adding in the tags yourself, though. Just paste in the url by itself and the board software will automatically add them in for you. [somewebsite.com](http://somewebsite.com) ---
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/5 "2016-06-10T20:59:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The glowing red eyes would be trivially easy to do on the computer even with the technology of 20 years ago. The fangs are a bit harder, but still no big deal now. > > Just be economical with your shots. If you spend, say, four seconds on the transformation, that’s only 100 frames you need to edit. Immediately after the transformation, put in a cut, and before you re-start, have the makeup folks put on her fang and contact lens prosthetics. Thank you for the reply! Any input on what computer programs/servers should I use? And what type of camera and make up would be good to use? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/6 "2016-06-11T02:08:16Z")
I don’t know special effects software, but the eyes you could literally do in MS Paint. ---
**Author:** ![Mislav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mislav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mislav)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homemade-special-effects/755923/7 "2016-06-11T21:05:04Z")
Thank you!