A producer asks you to bid on makeup effects for an indie feature. Todd Debreceni explains how to break down the script, budget and plan the FX work.
Let’s say, hypothetically, you get a call from a producer who’s seen your work and wants you to bid on a low budget indie feature currently in preparation to be the Makeup Key. You get an overview during the phone conversation, and they send you a script and a makeup and effects breakdown. You’re intrigued because there are numerous facial prosthetic makeup effects, battle wound prosthetics, and wigs, and it shoots on film (super 16mm, and 35mm, some plate shots) on location in the jungle of Central America. Very cool! This is about as challenging as our work gets: In today’s parlance, ‘low budget’ is very subjective and could mean anything from $15,000 to several million dollars. The latter would be great, obviously, but I’ve been working in this business for close to 30 years, and I know better than that. It’s certain the producers aren’t going to make this picture for $15,000, either. Not on film, anyway, and not on location in Central America. At least they aren’t expecting to start shooting in 10 days. There is lead time.
What this means is there is homework to be done, and lots of it. In essence, the Makeup Key must become a producer too, and know how much creating the makeup and effects for this movie will cost so he doesn’t wind up losing his shirt. I am going to share my mantra with you:
Nothing is more important than pre-production! It’s all about planning… planning for every conceivable contingency. Which just isn’t possible. It’s about anticipating every spitball, changeup, and curveball that will get thrown at you, because they will get thrown at you. The more prepared you are, the less affected you’ll be by anything that will pop up.
That being said, where do you go from here? The first thing to do is read the script, and make notes to compare to the makeup and effects breakdown that was provided. Next, get a solid actor body count for background, featured and lead actors. If most of the makeup is going to be done on background actors, then the appliances we make will be less critical than those needed for close-ups. On the other hand, if you’re going to have lots of tight shots of actors in appliances, then you’re going to have your work cut out for you. Either way, here are some things you must take into consideration for working in a remote location. This is by no means a complete list, and this article won’t get into the financial aspects of this project.
Very close to the top of the priorities is, “What is the weather going to be like?” Since this feature is going to be shot in the jungle of Central America, it’s a safe bet that it will be warm and humid, if not downright hot and rainy, so you can rule out the use of gelatin appliances. Gelatin dissolves in water and melts in heat. That leaves essentially three choices for appliance material – foam latex, foam urethane, or silicone – and each is its own potential Pandora’s Box.
Cold foam (urethane) can be touchy in damp environments. It has a tendency to collapse, but could feasibly be used on location if additional appliance pieces need to be fabricated on site. It’s that easy to work with. It’s also fairly inexpensive and expands when you mix it, so a little goes a long way. It’s also very light, doesn’t require a heat cure and is rather quick to set up so you can demold it in about 30 minutes. It can be made to be very soft, so it might be just fine for background actors. But it’s probably not good enough to sell up close.
Foam latex can also be touchy in damp environments, and when you add the warm climate, it gets really touchy. I’ve seen foam seize up in mid pour from a mixing bowl into a mold in a controlled room. Plus, foam latex optimally requires a heat cure, and that takes time… not to mention the toxic fumes it gives off when you heat it. You also need a dedicated enclosed heat source. Using a hotel oven, for example, will render that oven useless for food preparation forever. But foam latex is very light; it breathes, and could very easily be used for background as well as foreground close-ups. However, I doubt that foam latex fabrication on site would yield much productivity. I could easily be mistaken, but I’m operating under the assumption that our location will not include staying at a Grand Hyatt resort hotel. If foam latex is decided upon for anything – facial appliances or wounds, it will all have to be done stateside before going on location.
Silicone – either tin or platinum – is the most life-like up close. New appliances could easily be made on location, and there are some new silicones that kick (set) very quickly, so you could be very productive quite rapidly if necessary. Silicone is not nearly as light as foam latex, but we’re not talking making fat suits, we’re talking noses, lips and earlobes… essentially. Did you notice the word platinum? Platinum is a precious metal. More precious than gold. The more platinum in a silicone, the faster it kicks. Also the more it costs. To give you an example, the cost of alginate to cast an actor’s face for a prosthetic appliance is maybe $5, tops. The cost of a skin-safe silicone to do that same lifecast is much closer to $100 than to $5, say around $85. I think silicone is the best bet here no matter the cost, which if you factor in the success rate of making silicone on location versus foam latex or foam urethane, it really isn’t bad at all. Once the total number of actors is known, a budget for the amount and cost of materials – silicone appliances, adhesives, adhesive removers, cleansers, makeup, Q-tips, etc., can be made. The list will be long, I assure you, and it’s better to ‘Scotty Factor’ everything, just to be safe. The Scotty Factor is a Star Trek reference to how Mr. Scott would always overestimate how long it would take to fix the Enterprise when it broke, thereby making himself look good when he finished earlier than he said he would. In our context, it’s better to have more of everything you may need than to run out and find yourself in a real bind. Shooting on location in the jungle means there probably isn’t going to be a Walgreen’s nearby you can send someone to for more Q-tips.
The actors, as I understand it, are all in Central America and will not be coming to Denver for lifecasting of their faces for prosthetics, so everything will have to be done by proxy, which is less than ideal. That’s somewhat of an understatement if you didn’t catch it. That means there will most likely be numerous on-location alterations. Yippee! Let’s hope nobody is allergic to silicone. Better have a plan B or even a plan C for some appliances and adhesives… I’ll look into the foams again, and perhaps even some gelatin just for grins; gelatin is very easy to work with and it’s hypoallergenic. That’s a big plus, but heat and moisture are going to be problems… While we’re still on the subject of allergies, make sure about any potential allergies to latex. Even if you don’t use foam latex appliances, you may be using latex stipple to blend edges, add wrinkles, etc. Latex allergies can be very nasty and in the jungle, the last thing anyone wants to see is someone going into anaphylactic shock as a result of contact with latex!
What about the makeup itself? What you color the appliances with, whether it’s with an airbrush or with crème foundation, anything that contains oils or fat as a base is susceptible to heat. Think butter. In excessively warm climates, crème makeup, lipstick, waxes and any of the aforementioned oil-based products will tend to melt. You will need a way to keep the products cool or cold (but not so cold as to be unworkable).
Obviously, you will need a power source like a generator for an airbrush and quite likely a portable hair dryer. Let the electric department know – or if you’re involved very early and have a producer’s ear – let them know what your power requirements are as early as possible. Every department will be asking for power, so the earlier your producer, gaffer, assistant director and location manager know your needs and the needs of others, the earlier they can arrange for an additional generator if necessary.
When it comes to working on location and not being able to send a PA on a quick run to the store to pick something up, it’s best to pack more than you’ll need than to not pack enough. This can’t be overemphasized. There’s no such thing as being too prepared.
Todd Debreceni began his career at PBS and has worked for TBS, 20th Century-Fox Television, Warner Bros. and Disney. His credits include “Contact” and “My Favorite Martian.” Todd has created makeup effects for numerous theatre productions, and also conducts regular seminars, workshops and private classes in special makeup effects for film, television and theatre. Todd and is an adjunct professor at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver.
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