Depending on the size of mess I plan on making I usually just get the cheap painters drop cloths and they seem to work pretty good. If it's a more liquid type mess like batter I get the 3mm sheets but I was just curious how everyone else preps their spaces? Especially those that do really large messes, like multiple gallon slimings. Any good tips and tricks for making cleanup easier?

I use this thickness but usually the clear version

https://www.resapol.com/product/polythene-125mu-dpm-4m-x-50m-500g/

I don't try to pick up all the mess within the sheet though if there's been a lot - each bucket is between 10 to 15 kg so can get into crazy territory weight wise. I scoop up and flush or dispose in other ways. I like the thickness just because it doesn't rip or stick to me

There are a few advantages to using thicker plastic:

1. It's not 'crinkly' where it makes a million little folds. Instead, it remains fairly smooth.
2. Less chance of ripping.
3. Less chance of moving once taped into place.
5. When cleaning up, scooping mess off of it is easier.
6. It comes in huge rolls as building vapor barrier if you want to buy it in bulk.

And now you're probably wondering where point number 4 went.

What about this Uline Carpet Protection Tape?

https://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail/S-7076/Carpet-Surface-Protection-Tape/Uline-Carpet-Protection-Tape-24-x-200-25-Mil?pricode=YF885&gadtype=pla&id=S-7076&gclid=CjwKCAiA4rGCBhAQEiwAelVtiwesBGwffJsEHjbnOgWqY5fWlAbm71u-8i3GXvuKFbTf0kksUbKU8BoCnrMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

2 mil

These are some good tips, I typically just grab the thicker painters plastic in the pain isle at like Home Depot or Lowe's but I think I'll wander over to the construction side and see if vapor barrier as it might be cheaper in larger amounts... I am curious about the carpet tape stuff for transit areas... could be a game changer. I do try to save containers that are easy to thro away and just refill them with as much as I can to keep the garbage bags from getting to heavy. Thanks for the tips everyone!

I use very thin sheets, tape it to a mattress THEN put a bedsheet over the top. This
1. holds the sheet,
2. soaks some of the mess
3. feels better,
5. stops the sheets from sticking to you and
6. decreases the chance of tearing it.



...Hey, where is my 4 too? Did you steal it Bobographer?

I tend to use cheap shower curtains, they're not sticky/tactile, available in a wide range of colours, and don't look like plastic sheeting, so I can achieve a vaguely plausible look in my scene!

Probably just me that doesn't like seeing plastic sheeting or tarpaulins in view, it gives the game away and ruins the anticipation!

Home Depot brand disposable tarps:

Step 1: Whole area gets a 0.7 mil tarp.

Step 2: Entire backdrop stand goes up.

Step 3: A thicker 2 mil tarp is then set down, taped to the backdrop fabric.

Extras: Walls are thin tarped for thrown pie shoots and no matter what there's a thin tarp path right to the shower.

Love that picture!

So back in days when I did major shoots with CDM our mess containment and clean up strategy consisted of:

1. Small paddling pool - Contained most of the mess, from previous experience of doing events with a gunge tank with an open front I'd learnt sticking the tank in a paddling pool instead of regular tarpaulin saved time cleaning up later (unfortunately never got to use tank with CDM as it was too tall for the flat). If you intend to roll around in any of the mess at the end you also have more depth to the gunge than if it were a puddle on tarp. Sides of paddling pool helped with scooping the mess out of the paddling pool either for disposal or say on a food shoot allowed us to make our "slop buckets" mid shoot so we could instead create more complex effects like our "Seven Layer Drip" with the same food ahead of time.

2. Backdrop - Cheap photography backdrop contained splashes backwards as well as hid the gunge pourer (who did their best to pour slowly to maximise mess on the model rather than splattering on the wall) and the fact we were filming in a very small kitchen/living room in a flat rather than fancy studio.

3. Two all weather tarpaulins - Paddling pool sat on top of the tarpaulin (in case paddling pool sprang a leak or plug came out) and extended past the diameter of the paddling pool so as to catch the odd splash of mess that missed the pool completely. The ones I picked up were whatever the bog standard basic ones being sold by Wickes was.

4. Freesheet Newspapers - We would collect 10 to 15 copies of the Metro (freesheet newspaper in UK) in the weeks proceeding a shoot and on the day we would lay newspaper down (thickness of two sheets of newspaper paper) in any other area not touched by the tarpaulin (such as between filming location and bathroom) to extend protection. We quickly realised that the two sheets of newspaper paper was actually able to hold bigger mess splashes than expected and that scooping up the few pages where a spill landed and chucking it directly in our rubbish sack was proving quicker than cleaning the spills on the tarpaulin that we then started putting newspaper down over the tarpaulin up to the edges of the paddling pool which wound up saving us a lot of time in clean up. Most of the newspaper who not receive any splashes (thanks to the pool) but where it did we were able to scoop up those sheets of paper at the end of the shoot, chuck 'em and then lay down replacement sheets for the next shot.

By our later shoots the paddling pool and free newspapers were doing pretty much all the mess containment and allowed for pretty speedy clean up with the tarpaulins acting as a redundant back up underneath so there wasn't a disaster in case either strategy failed.

This is helpful to consider was just thinking about this today when I was doing a session with myself using a bathtub

So much good info, thanks everyone for sharing! I always feel like I'm somewhere in between not prepared enough and thinking I just made a kill room from Dexter... it would be awesome to see like a time lapse or something of a set up and clean up but I realize that's a lot to ask of people. Thanks again for all the sharing!

In the UK you have a few different options which you are more likely to find at the DIY sheds such as Wickes, B&Q, and Homebase.

Protection plastic - which is mainly to protect floor surfaces when decorating sometimes known as plastic dust sheets.

DPM plastics - A much heavier gauge plastic used under concrete to stop damp. The advantage apart from being tougher and thicker is it comes on big rolls, which means regular wammers will get multiple sessions out of one roll.

Happy to give a link to products if anyone in the UK is interested in these plastic sheets.

Always over tarp. You can always do less the next time if you think that's needed. I know if I have water in a shoot, I double thick tarp on top of the thin tarp and make sure the area is completely contained. Water goes EVERYWHERE.

I use the thin 0.7 mil drop clothes from Home Depot and use two layers of them rather than using a thicker tarp cause I find that the thicker options cause more of a "rain coat" sound when the slime hits them, and getting more of a TV studio-esque splatter sound effect is super important to me (I know, I'm fucking weird ) and I find that the thinner ones mute the sound of the slime hitting the drop cloth enough to not interfere with the sound of it glopping and splattering all over the victim's pretty little head.

My bf works in film and has said that we could just use actual sound gear to achieve what I want while using the thicker drop cloths, but I'm not trying to hire a sound guy or learn how to operate a 'boom' mic Would rather take the extra 15-20mins of double drop-clothing

We for the most part only use the drop cloths for a path to the bathroom in the target area we use the blue outdoor tarps, they can be bought cheaply at harbor freight or big lots.