Script

Introduces with title (special effects makeup) while music

is playing and loads of pictures of scary and realistic fx
makeup sliding into a collage.

Speech:
Special effects makeup has been around in film and on the
screens for many of years and it has evolved and improved
drastically throughout time. It doesnt always go noticed in a
lot of films but there are a lot of films that have stood out
in history for there special effects makeup such as The Fly,
Alien, Jurassic Park, An American Werewolf in London, and many
others. Fx make-up has been an evolving art since the start of
1900s, since this era makeup has become increasingly more
popular as the extent of what you can do with it is quite
vast. Fx makeup has adapted through history due to new
supplies and new techniques.
The history and development of Fx makeup and how it has been
showcased from films in history to nowadays have changed in
some ways but some techniques have remained the same. In
addition, makeup artists in newer movies would have made
slight changes in the way they applied prosthetics to make
effects look more and more realistic. The modern day Fx make-
up is more advanced and detailed.

You will find that horror films have the most special effects
makeup and prosthetics used in them more than any other genre
as the horror genre requires more gruesome and horrendous
scenes. This is where Fx makeup up comes in to really scare
their audiences. The horror genre has noticeably changed over
the years from ancient legends in tribes about werewolves,
monsters and demons to the stories in films nowadays. Peoples
fears have changed depending on what is going on in the era
and horror films would have to change too to suit their
audiences. Horror films would also have changed due to writers
coming up with different and scarier ideas to base their films
around. This pushes special effects makeup artists and
designers to come with new and original creatures and monster
to give their audiences a fright. In the 1930s you would find
that films were based on literate, for example Frankenstein
and Dracula were produced in those times. Special effects
makeup artist Jack Pierce created the makeup on both of these
famous characters. For the character, Dracula Pierce designed
a special colour greasepaint for actor Bela Lugosi. The most
significant creation of Pierces was Frankensteins monster;
He would spend roughly four hours of applying makeup onto
Boris Karloffs head. His head was built up of
cotton, collodion and gum, and green greasepaint was applied
to his hands and face to make Karloff look pale on black- and-
white film.

Horror in the 1950-60s they introduced new characters and

creatures into the genre, the results were films like
Godzilla, The Blob and The creature from the Black Lagoon were
created. In the 1958 film Godzilla special effects makeup
artist Eiji Tsuburaya and Director Ishiro Honda worked
together to come up with the idea to put the actor Haruo
Nakajima into a rubber suit and use miniature buildings to
create the film. The suit was made up with a combination of
wires, bamboo, chicken wire, fabric, cushions and latex,
interesting huh.

In 1970s horror, movies included a lot of realism and more

relatable moments as this is thought to generate more fear as
it relates more towards the audience. Films that were produced
in this era were films such as Halloween, Jaws, The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist.

In the 80s slasher horror films were extremely big, such films
like A Nightmare on Elm Street, My Bloody Valentine, and
Friday the 13th. Also in the 80s special effects were used more
and more during this decade resulting in films like An
American werewolf in London, The Thing, and The fly.

Next is the 90s, the 90s psychological thrillers were

introduced and the fear of the unknown was applied widely in
films. Films such as The Blair Witch Project, its unique style
completely changed the horror genre. Other films like Scream,
The Silence of the Lambs were very popular in those times and
still very popular to this day.

The 2000s had a lot more gruesome horror films, for example,
saw was made. Also predictions for world chaos and destruction
such as The Day after Tomorrow and 2012, as well as
inescapable and unprovoked deaths as in the film Final
Destination and saw. The saw movies are known for having
extremely gruesome and gritty scenes. Eleanor Sabaduquia was
the head of the makeup department on the set of saw; she led
her team to create some extremely gory scenes.

Nowadays many creatures such as monsters, ghosts, demons and

other scary characters would still be used and remain
unchanged, the only thing that filmmakers do change about
these characters would be to make them scarier with makeup,
prosthetics and maybe CGi. In horror movies now, you would
find that these characters would be presented and portrayed in
different and innovative ways to make them more unique from
horror films in the past.

Makeup isnt just to make an actor or actress look more

perfect in a film. It is important because it can help an
actor or actress to portray their character and help show
their audience who their character is through their makeup and
acting skills. A very famous special effects makeup artist
under the name of Jack Pierce once said The sole reason for
any makeup and particularly character makeup is not to
proclaim the skill of the artist or the actor, but to help
tell the story.

Pre 1935 cameras could only shoot in black and white, this
meant that makeup was limited and was applied differently to
how it is nowadays. From research it was clear what materials
they used in those times were putty, morticians wax, spirit
gum and collodion. They didnt have as much equipment as they
do now which meant that there was a limit to how professional
the characters were in a movie compared to nowadays where they
use all kinds of different materials to create different
effects on peoples faces and bodies. Nowadays, they have
liquid latex to add features onto peoples body parts and they
could create whatever they like such as; scars, bullet wounds
etc.

There are many special effects makeup artists that have made
history by creating ground-breaking creatures in well-known
films such as Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, The
Exorcist, and Aliens. Some of the most successful special
effects makeup artists were Jack Pierce, Lon Chaney, Dick
Smith, Stan Winston, Rick Baker and Rob Bottin.

One special effects makeup artist whose work has fascinated

tonnes of people was Dick Smith. His work amazed the film
industry especially his work in the film The Exorcist where
he transformed a little girl into a terrifying demon thats
head spun 360 degrees. He managed to do this scene by creating
a fibreglass replica of the little girl, Blairs head in the
film. Another bit of his work in the The Exorcist that
really stood out was his transformation of a 44 year old
actor, Max Von Sydow. He transformed the actor by applying
prosthetics to turn him into a 74 year old in the film. He
also did similar makeup to other actors in different films to
make them appear older, for example another one of his aging
transformations was in the film The Godfather where he turns
Marlon Brando into the character Don Vito Corleone (Jowls).
Smith won two awards; he won an academy award in 1984 for a
film called Amadeus and a lifetime honorary award in 2011.
Thanks to Smiths amazing techniques and skills of layering
facial moulds instead of using a mask in films. We can also
thank Dick smith for the realistic blood in horror movies,
this is because he created and perfected a recipe a long time
ago that revolutionised the problem of unrealistic bright/
cartoonish fake blood. They had the problem of the fake blood
in movies as in those time they had to adapt to coloured films
and because they used a different formula which included
chocolate syrup for black and white films.

(Include pictures of the ingredients in Dicks Smiths recipe

and the modified recipe).

Some filmmakers would modify Smiths recipe to suit them. This

is due to some of the ingredients in the recipe, such as Kodak
Photo-Flo. Kodak photo-Flo is a wetting agent but it is quite
expensive and this could become an issue for some filmmakers
that are on a budget. There are two alternatives to this
ingredient, which are bleach detergent and Lecithin. Kodak
Photo-Flo and bleach detergent are both poisonous ingredients,
Lecithin is a much safer ingredient. Lecithin, is a naturally
occurring fatty acid, which is commonly added to foods as an
emulsifier or wetting agent. This means that Lecithin is
edible so it would be safer for actors or the artist using it.
Dick Smith is one of the best special effects makeup artists
because he had so much knowledge of how to achieve realistic
looking effects and had loads of amazing techniques. He also
taught and passed down this knowledge to two other famous
special effects makeup artists, such as Rick baker. Rick Baker
was the first protg of Smiths. Baker assisted Dick Smith on
the set of The Exorcist and he then went on to creating work
of his own, for example Baker created the incredible
transforming scene of a werewolf on the film An American
Werewolf in London. For this particular scene Baker achieved
the first Oscar in makeup and hair. This scene was so good
because Baker did not use any CGI to make the scene, he only
used makeup and animatronics to create the transformation
(include scene from An American werewolf in London).

The second student of Dick Smiths was Stan Winston. Stan

Winston also became a very successful special effects makeup
artists as he won many Oscars for makeup and design from his
work in many films. He is mainly known for his work in movies
such as Aliens, Terminator, Predator, Edward Scissor hands and
Jurassic Park. He spent so much time and dedication creating
and building massive full-sized animatronic dinosaurs in the
original Jurassic Park film.

Quick notes for what to include in my documentary:

Tutorials of some Fx makeup and how its done

Time-lapse of my own take on a Fx makeup look