Best Material for Stomach Prosthetic?

Red Helena

Hello! My name is Red. I am working for on a smaller low budget film, but still want to provide something of good quality for a top down shot of a man getting his gut ripped open by Zombies. I was thinking of doing this with a stomach prosthetic with a small layer of tear away medium covering it to reveal the guts and wound below. (Maybe a latex cover that the actress can break through with her nails to show the gore underneath.) I'm open to other, less costly ideas as well. 

However, I haven't made a piece for a whole stomach yet, and I was wondering what the best medium(silicone, gelatin, latex, etc) would be my best option to craft said piece in? 

Thank you very much in advance. 

(Edited for grammar)

Chris Ellerby

Hi Red,

Gelatin would be a good budget-friendly option that is also able to be torn/ripped.   I would do some test runs to see how it tears and if it meets your needs.  Then adjust the formula as needed.   It might be possible to score the back a bit to make tearing it easier, and you could have multiple layers to simulate skin, fat, and muscle.

Since a performer with nails will be tearing at it, it would be a good idea to protect the actor's skin under the appliance with some thick fabric or leather.

Silicone is another good option, but it would need to be cut since tearing it would be too difficult.  You could then seal the cut surface to lightly close up the cuts using something like sprayed on bald cap plastic, or just lightly glue the cut together at the surface.

The silicone version would allow for multiple takes after clean up and prep.  The gelatin version would likely only work for a single take.

I suggest lots of testing before the shoot to get the details all performing to your expectations.

Hope that helps!

/Chris