Before the Christmas break I was approached via a friend to
work with a team as part of a 20 minute zombie film called 'Ruthless'. While I was preparing for
the film and testing products in the studio with my make-up teacher Sue, she
suggested that I use this film as part of my final major project as it was a
large amount of work to take on and would use a variety of my make-up and hair skills. I’m
apprehensive about how the process will run but I have spent a month planning now;
creating and designing make-up the looks, organising and buying the products
and preparing how the looks will run from call sheets so I feel I am organised
enough to start the project confidently.
'Ruthless' is a 20 minute zombie horror film based in London and shot on location at the London School of Economics University The short film presents 'a satirical portrayal of a zombie apocalypse, bringing together three strangers as they try to outrun the zombie hordes and fight against the un-dead.'
'Ruthless' (2013) will be filmed over three weekends in February, the 9th- 10th, the 16th - 17th and the 23rd - 24th of February, 2013. It will bring together a number of societies, that specialise in different aspects of the production, with departments such as camera and lighting by Hunter Daly - recent work seen here (http://vimeo.com/hunterdaly), script writing by Joe Pearson, producing and directing by Dominic Thomson, the actors and actresses, a locations manager, stunts people, props organisers, costume designers, music and sound specialists and a marketing team - these are the departments that I will work alongside and liaise with.
As the head make-up artist I will be organising and working with a small team of three other make-up artists, delegating job roles and overseeing the whole process, as well as designing and creating the character make-up looks. The make-up transformation from a normal looking human into a zombie will involve using appropriate products and technical skills to create believable characters that are essentially dead to appear as if they are alive. This will be challenging as a make-up artist but will allow me to use all the skills that I have learnt through technical make-up sessions. It is also good experience in that I have to budget and source the make-up and hair products and use my accounting skills to make sure that I stick within the films budget. As well I am hoping that this project will give me an insight into a future career free-lance make up artist.
As the head make-up artist I will be organising and working with a small team of three other make-up artists, delegating job roles and overseeing the whole process, as well as designing and creating the character make-up looks. The make-up transformation from a normal looking human into a zombie will involve using appropriate products and technical skills to create believable characters that are essentially dead to appear as if they are alive. This will be challenging as a make-up artist but will allow me to use all the skills that I have learnt through technical make-up sessions. It is also good experience in that I have to budget and source the make-up and hair products and use my accounting skills to make sure that I stick within the films budget. As well I am hoping that this project will give me an insight into a future career free-lance make up artist.
In order to begin the designing process for the film, I began to research into the history of zombies.
A Zombie is described as ‘a dead human that’s been reanimated to a state between life and death’ or ‘a human in a death- like state’ (Casciato, 2009), and will usually resemble a dead corpse with pale skin, black sunken eyes and usually covered in human blood.
However the producers of the film have described their zombies characters as being not actually dead but instead they are infected with a virus that turns them into flesh eating monsters. The key inspiration for the look and concept of the film came from the modern zombie film franchise of ’28 Days Later’ (2002) and ’28 Weeks Later’ (2007), directed by, Danny Boyle, whereby the zombies resemble monsters that are ‘not dead, just merely infected with a disease’ (Stokes, 1984).
A Zombie is described as ‘a dead human that’s been reanimated to a state between life and death’ or ‘a human in a death- like state’ (Casciato, 2009), and will usually resemble a dead corpse with pale skin, black sunken eyes and usually covered in human blood.
However the producers of the film have described their zombies characters as being not actually dead but instead they are infected with a virus that turns them into flesh eating monsters. The key inspiration for the look and concept of the film came from the modern zombie film franchise of ’28 Days Later’ (2002) and ’28 Weeks Later’ (2007), directed by, Danny Boyle, whereby the zombies resemble monsters that are ‘not dead, just merely infected with a disease’ (Stokes, 1984).
By taking influence from a broad range of sources, the film
will involve features of realistic prosthetic make-up, involving some more
challenging make-up creations, such as the use of gelfix to create realistic
bite wounds with teeth marks. Wound filler and a cut and bruise
wheel will be used for a head injury involving an abrasion, and also teeth
enamel will be used to change the zombies teeth to a stained brown colour. I'll also use glycerine to create sweaty, dishevelled looks for both the humans and the zombies. I will use and value special effects and make-up skills
learnt through my technical sessions and my other skills learnt through a six-
week prosthetic course.
No comments:
Post a Comment