"Face Off" Review

The only T.V. series that has sparked attention towards special effect makeup is one of Syfy's popular reality shows called "Face Off." I first came across the show by watching Season 2 and was intrigued ever since by catching up with Season 1. As contestants compete for $100,000, they are given 3 days to complete each task given and when a contestant fails to impress the judges, the person is eliminated from the competition.

An episode I favored from Season 2 was the Tim Burton challenge. The contestants were told to create an original Burton character from the choices provided for them, like a toy maker, ice cream man, cellist, etc.

The process of first creating a character is to sketch out a drawing and to complete a clay sculpture of that design on the first day. On the second day, the contestants should start the molding process as well as making props. As the third day arrives, they have four hours to apply they're creations on their models, as well as, finishing touches with the makeup.

Two of the popular looks and my favorite were Matt Valentine and R.J. Haddy's creations. The ice-cream man had an upside down ice-cream cone hat, both of his shoulders were hit with cones, and sprinkles and syrup all over his outfit. Almost as if his ice-cream truck blew up. The hotel bellhop was also a wonderful idea as the character had a chest made of drawers. The hotel bellhop appeared creepy, yet you could tell he meant no harm (like Burton's, "Edward Scissorhands"). Giving a description towards the Burton movie characters, Valentine said, "That child-like, sweet center, wrapped in a twisted barb wire concoction of black and white...its a crazy position that really works."

The judges of the Season 2 competition included award winning makeup artists Glenn Hetrick, Patrick Tatopoulos, and Ve Neil who has done most of the makeup for the Tim Burton films.

As "Face Off" will be continuing with Season 4 premiering on January 15, its packed with more fun and challenging themes of projects. Will you be watching?

Creature of the Dark Night

(Left to right) Max Schreck as Count Orlok  and Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen

Over the years, the appearance of a vampire has changed drastically in films. In 1922, the vampire in the classic silent film called “Nosferatu” was far beyond disguising himself as a human. The vampire, Count Orlok, had claws, pointy ears, dark circles around his eyes that made them pop out, two shark-like fangs in the front, and a long dark cloak. Not exactly the dreamy vampire Bella Swan would see herself to be with as oppose to Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” films. The only common characteristic between vampire’s in films then and now would be the pale white skin and keeping the tradition of fangs (but with slight changes in multiple films).

(Left to right) The cast from "The Lost Boys" and Kiefer Sutherland as David

In the 1987 film called “The Lost Boys,” the vampires appeared as teenagers. When the group of teenagers were provoked the form of their faces changed, especially above the eyebrow line and down towards the nose (created by a prosthetic). The makeup designer for the film, Greg Cannon, left a good impression with his work that he was recommended for the film “Blade” in 1998. Cannon’s work can be seen in many films, including “The Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

A scene from "Daybreakers"

A new feature shown in vampire films now is colored contact lenses. One of my favorite films, “Daybreakers,” revolves around a society full of vampires. The gold-colored contact lenses seen throughout the film brings out the creature inside the human without having to place a lot of makeup on the characters.

Another scene from "Daybreakers"

In “Daybreakers,” two types of vampires were shown. The vampires appeared to look as humans but if they were deprived by blood, they would permanently transform into a bat-like creature. The process of the creature was made out of a full body prosthetic, which included wings.

Throughout the vampire movies I’ve seen, many directors have had a different vision upon the monster. The goal within most vampire films now is to create them as more terrifying beyond anyone’s imagination.

*Photo Cite/ Also, click on photos*
http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/film/4ce2b74e11d41

http://www.moviefanatic.com/gallery/kiefer-sutherland-in-the-lost-boys/

*Top Vampire films*

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1855035,00.html

The Sea Creature within you

For this project, you will need Elmer's glue (If you don't own liquid latex), black Halloween makeup cream, bright eye shadow colors, makeup brushes, large makeup wedges, fake blood, and a body- loofah.

 The next step is to add a layer of Elmer's glue across your face. After the glue dries, repeat adding a layers until you can peel it off. Almost appearing as if your own skin is peeling off.

When your done, you could add some make-up foundation to make the glue appear more as skin.

Now you are ready to add the black cream makeup on the top half of your face. Once everything is covered, pull apart your loofa until you have a piece that you can wrap around the top half. 

Then grab your eye shadow colors of choice and start to place it on the texture of the loofa (make sure to press hard with the brush). For this project, I used a light green, blue, and gold eye shadow color. 

Remove the loofa piece and become amazed with the creature scales you have created. If some of the scales don't appear just add some more black cream on that area, grab a small piece of loofa, and repeat placing the eyes shadow colors on the texture. 

Don't become frustrated as this takes time. You can always trace the scales with a black eye pencil to make your eyebrows blend in with the makeup but that takes time and complete patience, which I don't have. Add some green eye shadow to your eyebrows instead. 

An item I did not have was fake blood. Add fake blood on the skin peeling off to add with the gruesome effect. 

And then your done!

** This look was inspired by Cristal Rodriguez, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzDt9Om6ZRU&feature=plcp**

*All photo's taken by the writer*

How to Create an Acid Burn

When creating an acid burn on your arm, make sure to wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty.


The main items I used for this project include:
Elmer's glue, cotton balls, cream make-up, blush powder (tan colors), make-up brushes, fake blood, and Alka-Seltzer tablets.

First, put a layer of glue below your wrist and let it dry. Repeat this 2 more times, so that you have about 3 layers of glue applied on.  

Second, apply cotton on top of the last layer of glue applied. And once that's completed, cover the cotton with glue gently. 

Once the glue is dry, carefully poke some holes using the point of a brush or with the tip of your fingers, pinch some of the dry edges of the glue to give it texture. 

The next step is as fun as the next and that is to play around with the make-up. Place a dark red cream color in the holes created to show wounds. And than mess around with tan-like colored powders and make sure to add brown powder around the wounds. 

The last step is to grab your fake blood and place it in the wounds. Also, blend it with the rest of the make-up applied. For a gruesome effect, crush an Alka-Seltzer's tablet. Place some crushed pieces on the blood as it starts to pop and ooze with the blood. 

*Inspired look from Beauty By Brig video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F47mjNVi6K4&feature=plcp *

-All photos were taken by the writer-

From Heroes to Villains

One of the fascinating transformations of a character from a comic book to a movie screen is the superhero called "Iron Man." As the director, Jon Favreau, of the 2008 "Iron Man" film partnered up with Stan Winston Studio to create the armor of the superhero, the process was started by drawings and images. The image then became photoshopped into a 2-D and 3-D colored model, which is then sent to a clay maker to create a visual model of what the helmet portion could appear as in film. Before the armor suit was created, the crew in Winston’s Studio created a two-ft. model of the superhero to study from while creating a suit made to fit a person. Altogether the suit consisted of 450 individual metal parts.  

Sadly, as the suit was not meant to fly in reality, the movie was mixed with computer-generated imagery.

As their have been a numerous amount of Batman films created, the villain that terrified me as a child was Tim Burton’s version of “The Penguin” in the 1992 film “Batman Returns,” played by Danny DeVito. Given a huge makeover compared to "The Penguin" from the comic books, make-up artist Stan Winston made prosthetics so that DeVito’s face would transform into a bird-like quality, which included the creepy pointy nose. The look also included flipper hands, crooked rotting teeth, pale white skin, dark circles around the eyes, and a fat suit.

 In order for "The Penguin" to give the effect of gruesome teeth, DeVito had to combine mouthwash, as well as, red and green food coloring in his mouth. The full makeup on DeVito took about two hours and DeVito took so much passion in the role, as he was known on set to stay in character during takes.

Whether the audience might consider her a hero or a villain, my favorite character was also Tim Burton’s version of "Catwoman" played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Compared to Anne Hathaway’s costume as "Catwoman" in the latest Batman film, I tend to believe Pfeiffer’s costume was more realistic for the role that showed great detail between Catwoman’s rage and sex appeal that included a dangerous whip.

The costume was created by rubber material that also showed a trail of what appeared as staples around the edges of the body. The co-costume designer, Mary Vogt, stated, “One thing with the black rubber, it almost looks liquid on the body. And she looks like she’s wearing black glass and its incredibly beautiful.” On set, more than sixty Catsuits were designed at a cost of a thousand dollars each.

Although most of Marvel's superhero films are computer-generated, some of the thoughts throughout a character still consist of going back to the drawing boards and creating the make-up and costumes by hand.

Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlmK9n_l6k8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcoO5jxaX4E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPDjwdxBRQw&feature=related
**Click photo's for sources

A Look Behind Oz

As the 1939 film of "The Wizard of Oz" celebrates its 70^th anniversary, many have had the privilege of recognizing the infamous characters of Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Throughout the film the audience can capture a great deal of color among scenery and the costumes of each character in the film. Most of the ideas for the costumes brought great difficulty among the actors as make-up artists and costume designers worked to bring each character to life from the book.

One of the characters in need of a heart, the Tin Man, involved many experiments among the body suit with materials like real tin, silver paper, and cardboard covered with a silver cloth. The original suit was then made of leather and buckram (a stiff cloth) that was painted silver. The first man originally given the role of the Tin Man, Buddy Ebsen, was forced to give up the role due to the first choice of makeup called powdered aluminum dust. After completing four weeks of rehearsal, Ebsen suffered an allergic reaction to the aluminum dust and the role was then given to Jack Haley. The funnel-hatted character’s makeup was then replaced with silver paint and blue highlights added, as seen in the film. 

               Jack Haley as Tin Man

Another look that involved great detail was the Scarecrow. His final look consisted of a rubber mask simulation of burlap. The actor Ray Bolger once stated, “The rubber mask wasn’t porous, so you couldn’t breathe through your skin. I felt like I was suffocating.” The Scarecrow’s

 costume was made of lightweight cotton and denim that was stuffed with actual straw.  This made it a lot easier for the actor to jump and dance to during each scene.

As for the Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr wore the costume that weighed over fifty pounds. The costume was constructed together from a wool and cotton jumpsuit and some of the pieces were actually made of lion fur, like the tail. The wig on the character weighed about five pounds and on top of his head two plastic ears that completed the outfit.

On the brighter side, how could I forget to mention the Munchkins? One of the biggest projects was creating different looks for a total of 124 Munchkins. Every character had a different charm from ballerina’s to the “Lollipop Guild.”

                                                                                    The Lollipop Guild

Even though "The Wizard of Oz" was not an easy task to film, some of our young and older audiences tend to not realize the hard work and struggles that came across creating a character for the film. As well as, the unique actors and actresses that stay in character while filming. 

Sources

Essman, Scott. “Return to Oz.” Make-Up Artist Magazine (Dec. 1998): 6. Print.
**Click pictures to lead to source.