specialmakeupeffects
mechanical devices
Since the 1950s when some new and different textures and effects were introduced in ‘The Technique of Film and Television Makeup’, the advances into the complicated field of makeup special effects has expanded in many various directions and is only bound by human imagination. Entire makeup laboratories have become the places of more blood and guts, monsters, and alien creatures through talents of a small band of make-up artists that has gone far beyond the usual. Workshops of Dick Smith, Tom Burman, Stan Winston, Rick Baker, Rob Botin, and others are incredible places where the illusions of these makeup artists come to life for the screen.
An increasing development towards the transition from human face and form to what might be called ‘puppets’ whose behaviour are controlled by cables and wires, both manual and mechanical, and other means of manipulation, has over passed the visual imagery in magical ways to lead the audience deception when combined with clever editing. The combination of makeup skills with casting, sculpting, latex and plastics, painting, and mechanical devices produce the learning level that pervades in their results.
Special Makeup Effects in contribution with Mechanical Devices
The section of makeup artists who adore character work always fascinated with on-screen, progressive facial and body changes due to the fact that they offer a variety of approaches to achieve these effects.
Rick Baker
The most outstanding transformation
on-screen was the film ‘An American Werewolf in London’ devised
and executed by Rick Baker in 1981. This was done using special devices that
went beyond to make the transformation from a man to a wolf-creature. He called
his body parts “Change-Os” to define them from static reality.
The first spectacular effect was two stages of a Change-O-Hand. In addition
there was the Change-O-Heads which was used for the facial progressions, and
the Change-O-Back effect also reveals the number of technicians required for
this change.
The leading British makeup artist, Christopher
Tucker produced the film ‘A Company of Wolves’ for which he had
created a number of transformations of humans to wolves in different sequence
forms. His character was designed to show humans believably changing into
wolves rather than wolf-like creatures. This effect was achieved by creating
al life-sized head of the actor, Micha Borgese with a foamed latex skin over
a hard plastic form. In order for the wolf’s head to emerge through
the mouth, the mouth of the head was lubricated. The eyes, neck and head movements
were controlled by cables.
