In movies how do they make people look like they have lost limbs ?

Question

I have seen many movies where they make a guy look like they have lost both legs ( and/or other appendages ) They even pick them up and move them around and I cant see any lumps like they have tried to disguise them either ?

Here is just one example : In "Forrest Gump" they pick Lt. Dan (Gary Sinise) up out of bed and carry him to his wheelchair and it sure looks like his legs are really gone ????

I have been seeing this for well over 40 years or so before they had the CGI computer stuff and other fancy gimmick stuff and as a newbie to Yahoo Answers I figured this would be great for my very first question ! ... T.I.A.

Tom S. -

Answer 1

Sometimes they use blue screen or green screen, as in 'Forrest Gump'. The camera was calibrated not to register green or blue, so a background could be added in later over the screen and the 'missing' limbs which were wrapped in the same colour.

In older films the limb would be strapped up somewhere. Sometimes you could see it, sometimes not.

War films where random people (with no lines or only a couple of lines) get arms and legs blown off, use amputee stuntmen with prosthetics that can appear to be blasted away. In the first 20 minutes of 'Saving Private Ryan' many such stuntmen appeared.

Answer 2

If you watch the making of the film...you will see they use blue/green screen...he wore blue socks...that later vanished when they used CGI on him.

Answer 3

They cut off their limbs. Really. They really, really do. Honest!