Production diary 1: Making the props

Since my trailers were going to have a number of scary creatures, I had to try out some different ways to make those creatures. One of those ways was to use a person and cover them in Fx makeup, to transform them into a scary looking demon.
So, I visited the 'Party Shop' in Peterborough and bough some makeup supplies (e.g. eyeshadow, liquid latex, white face paint and makeup sponges) to try out some looks.
I decided that I would be the makeup artist, since some experience with Fx makeup.
The blood is made from honey, mixed with red and blue food colouring. This is the cheapest, easiest recipe I could find and in my opinion, it looked quite realistic.
I found that if you leave the mixture in a room for a couple of days, the honey will crystalize and the 'blood' will have more texture.

 

So here are the test results, from a few makeup tutorials that I found on YouTube. In conclusion, I liked the outcome of some (like the scars and bruises) but when it came to the larger wounds, I found it difficult to use the liquid latex and scar wax. Overall, Fx makeup is time consuming, messy and to be honest I'm not that good at it. With this level of 'skill' I don't think my creatures are going to look very scary.

For the second technique, I decided to do something which I'm more familiar with: Sculpting. This particular type of 3D creation was made with paper mache.

 

First, I bought a cheap mask, adding some clay eyes and filled the head with tissue and glue.

 Then I sculpted the face.


















Then I painted it and added a wig.


































It was important to decide whether to use props (e.g. horror puppets) or fx makeup for the creatures in the trailer. I had already decided that puppets would be more realistic and doable, since my creature designs didn’t resemble normal humans.

I chose an existing horror icon (Samara Morgan) to make, as it’s easier to see how realistic the prop and makeup looks, when compared to the existing picture.

As I thought, the prop looked better than the horror makeup. I could work on it for longer, the features were more exaggerated and it lasted longer during filming. I felt that there were no limits when creating props, since you didn’t have to shape the design to anyone’s features.

With a sculptured piece, you can work on it for hours or days on end, improving bits and taking breaks so as to see it with fresh eyes. But you didn’t have this luxury when working on someone’s body. I produce better results with materials like papier-mâché, instead of makeup. This is important since I’m the one making the visual horror in the trailer.

A disadvantage of course, is that the props can't move. But since this is a trailer, they will only be shown for a couple of seconds, so very little movement (e.g. a twitch) is needed.

I decided to compare this method with the makeup method, to see how they compared.

Here is my makeup version of Samara Morgan:

 

Problems with the makeup included; skin irritation, makeup rubbing off and it being tiring for the person wearing it – as they’d have to sit through hours of application. If additional filming were needed, the makeup would have to reapplied. This takes time and energy and could create discontinuity errors if the look isn’t exact.

 

Overall Conclusion

After trying both methods, I have decided that I will use a combination of both for different parts. But I will mainly rely on digital effects, since time is limited and I don't have enough time to improve my makeup skills or create another mask.
For example, one of the creatures has to crawl through an alley. I will use a person (in makeup) for this, since it would be very hard to manipulate a puppet or animate a digital character.
Since I have already made the Samara mask, I decided to use it in my trailer. I only really created it for practice, but it turned out looking good. Samara Morgan is associated with 'The Ring' franchise, but she will just be a typical scary black haired girl in my trailer.
But the other creatures (like the shadow figures and tall skinny creature in the bedroom) will have to be edited in. It just takes too long to make a mask and do makeup.