Exploring Specialist Techniques

I YyExplore- special effects

-Media Makeup
-Fashion Makeup
-Prosthetics
-Wigs, facial hair ect
-body paint
-hair designs

look at artists work to inspire me and research how to do it..
dont do it on masks do it on someone take images.
do I need scenes?

I've started off by researching a woman's face to transform into a mermaid but using Photoshop. I thought it would work well for this project as in my FMP ect I have been creating things by hand like masks, face paint and it would be good to try create the look in a different way and then for in future I could design my things on Photoshop to see what I like best then make it by hand.

In this image I have used Selective colours to brighten up the face and also I have used the brush tool to go around the eyes and change the colour of the eyes to make them more disobedient. The hair I have again used the brush tool but turned dwn the opacity to get the different shades in by going over some bits in places for drker strands.

I thought at this point does it have to be a mermaid? no it doesn't so I went onto smudge the nose and play around with different effects but I didn't really like it so I scrapped this idea.

the pink around the nose and on the forehead was annoying me so I selected the paintbrush and also selected the same colour  as the skin on the forehead and went over it turning the opacity down.

2000 word essay contextual.

In this essay I will be writing about my chosen subject area which is Makeup and special effects the time period I will be looking into is the 1950's for T.V and film. Makeup and special effects within films in the 50's wasn't as good as it is today. I will be talking about how it was done in the 50's and how it has changed over the years. Alongside general makeup on a day to day basis.

1950's special effects
In the 1950s televisions took over, this meant no more paying to see films as it was available to view for free in their own houses. Moving up in the world they started to film most movies using colour alongside this they also worked to improve the size and quality of the image and widescreen was finally introduced. Whilst people were to watch films for free in their own homes and now in colour theatres were closing as the mass of people watching films at home increased and the population decreased watching at theatres. Movies at this time tended to be violent and action moving at a lot faster pace. As the vast majority of theatres were closing down the special effects department were also closing as they had such little use. For years people struggled to create special effects as it wasn't as simple as it may seem and they needed new ways in which they could make it more advance, But the public were unaware of how hard and complicated it was to bring a still image to life and as of this they admired film artists because they were able to do so.

How has it changed over the years? well like where as in the 50's people were struggling to create special effects and it was like magic now people just upload a computer and its all done on programmes also it is better, faster and cheaper than the 50's. Both in the 50s and as of today creating special effects takes a lot of work to create. In the 1950s, Bruce Mozert explored and did what no one had every done he sealed his camera in a waterproof case and it was an astonishing outcome and this is where underwater technology started. Television changed America that wouldn't come again until the internet, before internet, Television was most effective way to get things out there because everyone was watching the same thing due to there only being one channel BBC. Over the years the stations grew also advertisements. When television grew the genres of shows grew too.
social environment.
At this time in the 50's colour was a big thing and it was used for TVs this helped show colours of the picture and was much better than an original black and grey colour was a big improvement on the earliest television technology in which the image is displayed in shades of grey. In the 1940s' war in Britain was still ongoing, throughout the war trade routes were cut off. What happened in the British war was rationing, everyone had to try and make food last as trade routes were cut off this effected everyone Because of rationing it wasn't just food so design slowed down a little rationing finally stopped in the 1954.. In 1952 seven years after war had finished every one went mad after being starved of things so they craved for colour and other things. In the 40's Britain had lots of bombings where lots of houses were lost and cultures were attatcked by cathedrals being bombed. Houses in the 50's were flat terraced houses with toilets outside not like our houses today with toilets maybe two one downstairs as well as upstairs. At this point both men and women could work not just men as it was wrong for women to work as they were seen as to be housewives. As things advanced after the war electricity was becoming more popular inside the houses along side washing machines and this was due to both men and women working so it was affordable. This influenced special effects as people had enough money to buy televisions that now had colour and special effects was becoming more effective. As everyone had a craze after the rationing TVs were a big part of the craze sales rose and 4.4 million families in America had a television sets where there free time was sat watching TV. People spent so much time watching TV, that movie attendance dropped and so did the number of people listening to radios. Abstract expressionism and artists were influential but colour field paintings became more popular. The style of clothing and housing furniture and many other things became brighter and more positive, there was nothing bad, this is where pop art the art movement emerged. it started in England and made its way to the united states in the 1960's. when appeared in Britain it referred to mass media and comics. Andy Warhol was a big pop artist he released a lot of work like photography, installations and one that caught my eye a series of experimental films called 'Empire' it was an eight hour shot of the empire state building.
Festival of Britain:- (1951) Herbert Morrison, was one of the main organisers as he was the labour MP. The festival was an exhibition where everyone celebrated the recovery after the Second World War. Although it was a national festival, London was at its heart as after the war London was still in ruins. Many Londoners saw their first ever television pictures. More than half sponsored documentary films were made for the Festival. The festival was to have shown the future by being alive and colourful. It was a celebration to show a battered country can make a new future with science, design and innovation. Was good to get people together and be happy. It was a new vision of what Britain could look like, they were building a future and a new begging. It was to have changes Britain forever.

films in the 50's
A film that really indulged me in the 50's was 'The creature from the black lagoon' (1954). This film is about scientist that capture the gill man from the black lagoon, he breaks free and he returns to the black lagoon to kidnap Kay Lawrence with who he has fallen in love with. In the 1950s, Bruce Mozert explored and did what no one had every done he sealed his camera in a waterproof case and it was an astonishing outcome he did this to record Ginger Stanley underwater for the scenes of this film. Ginger Stanley is known as Kay Lawrence her name in this film, the beauty that the Gillman falls in love with the moment he spies her swimming above him. The actor playing the creature was Ben Chapman (on land). Robert Hickman was one of the main makeup artists on creating the gill man he is also known for the makeup in the film Around The World In Eighty Days (1956). The costume was made from foam rubber which shows it was made simply and not with the high technologies we have today. The costume wasn't very heavy but it took 2-3 hours to get in and out of. It has been 48 years since the film so costume has now disintegrated as it was only made from foam rubber. The three costume designers were three brothers Bud Westmore, Jack Kevan & Chris Mueller called the 'Westmore family'. Bud Westmore and Jack Kevan were the two who transformed ben into the creature.

Whilst looking into the Westmore family I got really indulged into their work for the film Mr. Peabody and the mermaid (1948) and This island Earth (1995).

This island earth is a horror/sci-fi film about aliens who seek scientists to help them from earth in their war. Bud Westmore was the makeup artist within this film working along side
Cleo E. Baker working on special effects. Unlike most other 1950s the Gill Man (Creature from the Black Lagoon ), the Metaluna mutant for This Island Earth (1954),Special effects films, which were Monster Movies, This Island Earth becomes a Space Opera halfway through. The "mutant" costume originally had legs in comparison to the upper body but they struggled making the legs look and work properly they were made by studio deadline to have the mutant wear a pair of trousers but as posters were shown that the mutant was supposed to have legs. Faith Domergue was wearing the costume and said it was too tight that she was unable to wear underwear. Most of the sound effects were picked up on a short length and played at different speeds. A shot from this film is shown briefly in the film 'E.T'

Another film that I was interested in was The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1952). This was the first film that used a split screen technique to insert models into the live-action later known as 'Dynamation'. Ray harryhausen was offered to take this film on board in 1951 after he had shown Jack Dietz models and drawings, alongside little sections on Evolution and Mighty Joe Young. There must have been a spark as they also gave their approval for the use of Rays stop-motion. As Ray was so determined to work on this project he didn't make much of a profit and lost out but he wasn't bothered as the film was big at the time.

The difference between the first two films and the last on is that the first two had artists for costumes special effects and makeup ect. But in the last film it had used dynamation for the first time ever.
Ray Harryhausen
Ray Harryhausen was a genius in the 50s well known for his work of many films which contained special effects, realistic creatures and helped develop stop motion model animation an a split screen technique called dynamation. The first film Ray did the technical effects for was in 1953 and it was a film called 'the beast from 20.000 Fathoms'. In this film it was when Ray first used a technique he created called "Dynamation" that split the background and foreground of pre-shot live action footage into two separate images.
Millicent Patrick
Millicent Patrick was a costumer, character designer, and illustrator for many films back in the 50's. She took a big role in creating the SF cinema’s most distinctive characters. she was known as Mildred Elizabeth Fulvia di Rossi. She was the daughter of an architect and engineer. Millicent's early ambitions were to become a concert painter where she didn't follow through with this she went to study art on a scholarship and later became hired by Disney as an animator in the 40's. She was the first every female to be hired by such a big studio. Millicent designed both the creatures from the above films the Gill Man (Creature from the Black Lagoon ) and  the Metaluna mutant for This Island Earth (1954). She was a very big name in industries and was amazing at what she did and everyone wanted to see what she had to offer.
Bud westmore
Bud westmore was a very talented man who specialised in special effect for films in the 50's. His family are well known for makeup 'Westmore Family'. Over 450 movies and television shows he has been credited for. From the first film 'The creature from the black lagoon' he assisted the designer where he was credited for his creatures conception Not just films but Westmore also worked very hard on television. In 1957 Bud Was asked to design a makeup model of their soon to be iconic doll which he produced the Barbie doll. As everyone knows now the Barbie doll is well known and has been effective. in 1959 it was introduced with both blonde and brown hair. The largest building on the Universal Studios Backlot is named in his honour. He was a tremendous and very creative man.

I chose these three Artists as these were the ones who indulged me the most and the films that these artists are in seem to be very interesting. I find it hard to watch films now days never mind watching films from the 50's but these for some weird reason I got stuck into and I think the reason for that is because I have researched into how the costumes were made and how the special effects were created. And I like the alternate between the costume, the special effects and also the stop motion model animation. I decided to include Millicent Patrick into this as she was a female and at the time in the 50's it was just the start where females were aloud to work and she also blew me away with her work and it was very interesting. Its not very often to find women working on such things like this in the 50's.

I chose to write about my subject area (special effects and costume) in this decade as we see special effects now and everything is all high tech and simple but where as in the 50s they went through lengths to try create such magical work for the nation to be happy and joyful after the war. I really enjoyed doing this research in my contextual lesson and thought it would be good to write an essay upon.