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.