I just watched "Ninja Assassin" today because it was a holiday so I did not want to be around my family and while I enjoyed the film and the Mojito I had before sitting down it got me thinking. Throughout the film cgi was used extensively in place of the old fashion blood packs of yore. I grew up on the Conan films and other Arnold "The Governator" films so I was more use to seeing blood backs or handicapped actors, who did have real prosthetics limbs, get their limbs torn off in films like "Starship Troopers" so while watching "Ninja Assassin" I was kind of thrown out of the immersion a bit when I saw clearly computer animated blood shoot out of the actors.
I don't know what it looks like to bisect someone or cut off a limb but I doubt it would look so clean. With blood packs you get some chaos because even though you have a good idea about where the splatter will go it can go almost anywhere and splatter an actor, wall, or camera. With cgi it is precise and looks like a dam break of crimson coming out of the actors. I suspect the reason the director choose to use cgi was because certain scenes would be difficult if not impossible to shoot using a blood pack due to the constraints that technology has and for safety reasons.
Blood packs work by having a small amount of explosives hidden under an actors clothes and then detonated to explode a bag , often an actual condom is used, filled with a red gel or some other fluid. that requires a skilled pyro-technician and usually hidden wires leading to a detonator to explode the pack on queue. That would prove difficult if someone was running, jumping or generally moving rapidly and even if remote detonators are used you risk the receiver being scene or malfunctioning. CGI eliminates that but sacrifices some of the shock value, in my opinion, of seeing blood splatter all over the place.
Edit:
The correct industry jargon for blood packs is squibs. I also added neither or either as a choice
I don't know what it looks like to bisect someone or cut off a limb but I doubt it would look so clean. With blood packs you get some chaos because even though you have a good idea about where the splatter will go it can go almost anywhere and splatter an actor, wall, or camera. With cgi it is precise and looks like a dam break of crimson coming out of the actors. I suspect the reason the director choose to use cgi was because certain scenes would be difficult if not impossible to shoot using a blood pack due to the constraints that technology has and for safety reasons.
Blood packs work by having a small amount of explosives hidden under an actors clothes and then detonated to explode a bag , often an actual condom is used, filled with a red gel or some other fluid. that requires a skilled pyro-technician and usually hidden wires leading to a detonator to explode the pack on queue. That would prove difficult if someone was running, jumping or generally moving rapidly and even if remote detonators are used you risk the receiver being scene or malfunctioning. CGI eliminates that but sacrifices some of the shock value, in my opinion, of seeing blood splatter all over the place.
Edit:
The correct industry jargon for blood packs is squibs. I also added neither or either as a choice
