Filming - The Final Days

I've now come to the end of my filming experience at 'Ruthless', with today being my last day of filming.

I've left set today feeling very positive about the work I completed during filming and I feel that I have finished the project successfully and to the best of my ability. Although I'm starting to feel slightly apprehensive about the outcome of the final edit and the first release of the film, I'm also excited to see other people's reactions to the film, specifically the make-up and hair. 

Yesterday (Day 5 of filming), started by filming the opening scenes of the film so this involved just natural make-up for the main actors. I've found unusually that sometimes the natural make-up especially for the male actors seemed to be more challenging than the extreme zombie make-ups, I suppose natural make-up for males isn't something I have practiced much during my time at university but through filming I've now had much more experience of this and I feel more confident in completing a basic male make-up look. These opening scenes included a lot of speech and not many touch ups so I used this time to keep my work station as tidy and organised as possible, bringing with me to set bin liners to keep the area tidy. I've also noticed through filming that the most important and useful thing to carry in a make-up kit is a healthy supply of face wipes as during filming I went through a full pack a day.

Through tried and tested techniques I've now learnt that latex and tissue has been the best solution for creating successful zombie bites in the working conditions that I was placed in as it stuck to the skin well, dried quickly and didn't move or fall off during filming, the only downfall is that latex is difficult and sometimes painful to remove on hairy areas of skin so I was limited to where I could put the bites. I've had to refer to my own photographs for continuity purposes and this part of the process is what I've found probably most difficult however I've tried my best to create something as similar as possible to the earlier images so that when the film is edited and put together no differences are apparent. 

The budget for the make-up products started of at £200 but with all the extra products I've had to buy throughout filming the final budget reached £300, this has taught me about how budget and spending can change throughout filming.

Upon reflection if I was to complete a similar project and in the future I have bought a mixture of both dark and light coloured bloods to create depth of old and new wounds as towards the end of filming the blood colour became repetitive and on camera began to look too bright and slightly unrealistic.

Although there are elements of the filming process that I would change it has been a big learning curve and has helped me to build upon both new and old skills for future employment. 

Today (Day 6 of filming) and my last day on the set at 'Ruthless', most of the shots today were filmed outside on the roof of a high building, so I had to take into consideration the weather conditions here. Today was a very quiet day for me and a nice way to end the filming process as I could watch the scenes being filmed and it felt like I was fully involved with the other members of crew. Collaborating with other artists is a good way to collect contacts and learn from other people, as we all got on so well as a team we have swapped contact details and I'm hoping to work with them again  for future projects.

Over the three weekends of filming I can now say that I've thoroughly enjoyed my first filming experience, it's given me a great insight into the working life of a free lance make-up artist for TV & Film - a career path I hope to take upon finishing my degree. It's shown me both the exciting and difficult aspects of the job, such as travelling and long working hours, but as well as this it's also shown me the benefits and accomplishment that you feel when completing a project successfully and to the best of your ability.