Backstage "Someone who'll get it" by Highasakite process and thoughs SFX makeup

Yay! My secret project is finally out for everyone to see! This is what I was doing all throughout December and January, and why I went MIA for a while here. I was creating and designing the special effects makeup for this video. So what did I do? I created the craters, painted Ingrids tattoo over on our dancers arm, helped around, covered our dancers own tattoo, sprayed oil in different places like the ears and the nose and made the craters look like they where bleeding oil. I worked with Mari Holen as a makeup artist, she's a certified makeup artist and hairdresser and had responsibility for face makeup and Ingrids hair.

Photo by Geir Mogen

A little background story, we didn't have a very high budget for this film, this is also why they used practical effects for many of the shots instead of doing it VFX. I and a more experienced sfx artist consulted and decided to do the pieces in gelatin, as it's very affordable. If I were to do this with no limit to my budget I'd want to make them in silicone, specifically third degree or kryolan artex because it gives you insanely thin edges that melts into the skin with some alcohol and it looks hyper realistic. One of the reasons this is the best looking result is because gelatin tears so easily, you can't get paper thin edges to blend out, and therefore you will always be left with some visible edge. And second is that somebody with my experience (Self taught, two years) doesn't have the same skill set as somebody with 20 years in the business.

If you read my blog regularly, you know that I am quite young, I have worked with clients on a private basis, but rarely on set, and not in this situation. So to be the head and only one on special effects makeup on my first opportunity was pretty grand, fun, exiting, petrifying and problematic due to the lack of experience. The people I worked with, all of them, are great and such talented people. But none had ever worked with special effects makeup in this way, they told me, so they were as clueless as I into what we should do to prepare and make things go smooth. And lack of experience on my part can lead to some problematic situations and that's truth, I won't lie and say everything went smooth all along. You're not super at your first job, alone with no guidance, that's just not how it works.

We tweaked a bit on design, and we changed it as we went. Firstly we were thinking a more diseased look, and then we changed to a more alien concept. We were thinking different sized craters, two on the insides of the thighs and two on the outside of the thighs as well added to the original design, but it came in the way for the pole so we had to drop it. 

Photo by Geir Mogen

I made quite a lot of pieces, we needed around two a day, which calculated is 168 pieces, plus extras. This is were the cost comes in, 168 pieces in gelatin is around 250$, 168 pieces in any type of silicone is around 3000$. The reason we needed so many changes was that the oil dissolved the glue and made the pieces fall of, and at the same time the glue and skin would absorb the black oil. It would always be a black film on the next appliance, that also made the appliance look faker and it wasn't removable without quite a lot of time scrubbing in the shower, and we didn't have the time. We started the mornings of applying the pieces, and then when we needed to film un-dirtied ones I cleaned them up as good as possible, and then changed them when there wasn't more to work with and they lifted. This alone led to more VFX work.

Photo by Geir Mogen, cropped to show the makeup

They were sculpted in flat lay, then cast in plaster and lastly the pieces was ready to be done in gelatin. The pieces was originally centered around some plastic tubes that were supposed to pump out the black oil. And since the smallest tube I found was 0.5 cm, the finished pieces also ended up being quite chunky. To be honest, I wish we did the stop-go technique we did for the rest of the shots because they'd looked so much better if they where thinner and less raised. But you learn as you go, and this is one of the examples why it's so important with experience. I'd have known this already and dismissed the idea, but mistakes will be made. And we all learned from it. But I think the chunky look did match the video, so it didn't really affect the outcome. 

Photo by Geir Mogen

One thing I do want to mention because I was so happy with it, is the tattoo I recreated on our dancers arm. I am honestly no drawer and haven't had much experience with tattoos yet, and it turned out very similar, and even the crew was impressed with how identical it looked, so it felt good making that so similar and know that I did a good job. And the coloring around the prosthetics made a neat surface, but blended them out naturally, which I was really happy about. 

Photo by Geir Mogen

Photo by Geir Mogen

Photo by Geir Mogen

Even though these problems came up I think the result ended out great, it was such an incredible experience and I learned more about being on set getting tested like that then if I'd just observe as a assistant. And I definitely fell in love with the high pressure studio work and feel very honored to get this opportunity. And I am happy with the work I did, it wasn't perfect with the low budget. The producers knew my abilities and experience when they choose me, and I put a lot of pressure on myself, so even though I see problems, others that's seen the pictures has been impressed. With that said, I am exited for what comes next and I'm more experienced for my next job. And my work of course wasn't limited to the sfx makeup, so Mari and I helped the assistants carry Ingrid around in the goo, wash her, and helped around the set. This isn't really that relevant to the makeup, but if any of you want to do this, I guess prepare to do other things then just makeup. But that's honestly just as fun!  

Photo by Geir Mogen

Photo by Geir Mogen

Want to know my process behind it? Don't forget to follow me on instagram, bloglovin or email, I'll write about the process behind how to make the look in a later post! 

Photo by Geir Mogen

Photo by Geir Mogen

Photo by Geir Mogen 

Photo by Geir Mogen