Make up research - Olutobi Odeleye

Make up application

We are deciding to apply make up on our antagonists face, so it adds to the effect we are intending to create. We want the male character to look rough and badly beaten, in order to do this we need a make up artists to create this facial effects for us, however because we do not have high budgets i will apply the make up, hence why I decided to do some research on how its done, so it could look professional and not “cliché” looking.

Since the beginning of filmmaking, filmmakers have searched for ways to make their characters and stories more believable. One of the keys to making creatures and situations more real is special effects makeup. While simple reactions, such as tears, require relatively few products to produce, a more complex false nose, or bald cap requires far more. Full-on special effects makeup costumes require the combination of several elements, depending on the look you are trying to create.

A Character who has been through a Fight: For costumes that need to look roughed up, bruises and fake blood are virtually always helpful. Create realistic bruises using matte eyeshadow from a drugstore, makeup store or effects makeup supplier. The most effective colors tend to be black, dark blue, dark green, yellow and dark pink. Experiment with these colors in different amounts until you arrive at your desired effect.

Alien, Mythical or Animal Features: For some character costumes, such as aliens, part man/part animals or characters with exaggerated features, face putty is the makeup artist's best friend. An easy and effective recipe for face putty is one part microcrystalline wax and one part petroleum jelly. Melt the two together over medium heat, stirring in colored powder to tint it. Once at a smooth consistency, let cool. You can now reshape the putty to fit onto a subject and exaggerate facial features.

For Bigger Transformations: Some costumes require more complex transformations, such as bald caps, some extreme false noses and giving a young actor an elderly appearance. These effects are often achieved with a painted gelatin prosthetic to match the actor's skin tone. Create a mold for your gelatin special-effect piece by taking an alginate mold of the needed area of your subject. Once the alginate mold is set, create a positive mold of the subject by filling the mold with plaster, then letting this set. Once the plaster mold is dry, affix clay to the mold and sculpt the desired effect. Create the gelatin prosthetic from this final plaster mold.

Fake Blood: When it is necessary to make the action more real, fake blood is great enhancement for any of the above techniques. Fake blood is relatively easy to mix up as well - the only ingredients are light corn syrup, food coloring and diaper rash powder. Pour the desired amount of corn syrup into a mixing bowl and slowly add drops of red food coloring. Stop when your blood is as dark as you prefer, then slowly mix in a few pinches of diaper rash powder (to make it more opaque).

In order to make the beaten up make up effects look good as the ones in the description above, we have to buy special stage dramas and film make ups, this was a limitation as we didn’t have enough budget to cover this , therefore I have decided to use my personal make up from accessorize to create the effect, which I hope will turn out good.

Useful resources

To buy stage make up : http://www.backstageshop.co.uk/index.html
Special Effects Makeup Costumes for Movies | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8065365_special-effects-makeup-costumes-movies.html#ixzz1JAFGLbe8