By Chance Shirley
September 2, 2004
Part Twelve: Effects (Special and Otherwise)
From the time I started writing HIDE AND CREEP until a few days before we actually started shooting it, I kept forgetting it was a zombie movie. I mean, I never forgot about there being zombies in the movie. I was just concentrating on the human characters and the comedy.
As day one of production approached, it hit me. "The script calls for all these zombies, and we've got to do something to make our actors look like the living dead. We're gonna need makeup."
Since we'd put off this important task until nearly the last minute, we decided to keep it simple. Local makeup man Ed Easter stopped by and gave co-producer Stacey Sessions a crash course in basic zombie makeup, a la NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. You know -- pale skin and dark circles around the eyes.
The script also called for people getting shot, bit and stabbed. And one character was supposed to have his skull torn open and his brains eaten. We didn't have long to either figure out some things about special effects or start rewriting scenes.
Basic Makeup
In most movies, any actor who gets a close-up, be it a guy or a gal, wears makeup. Which is fine if you have an experienced film makeup person on the crew, and you want all the actors' faces to look flawless.
If you don't have a pro in charge of prettying everyone up, though, makeup can be tricky. With the women, it's usually no big deal. They're generally accustomed to wearing makeup and know what works for their particular skin tone and complexion. Making up men is a different story. If you're not careful, your rugged hero might look like he just got through performing torch songs at a drag show.
We decided to let the ladies in the cast wear their usual day-to-day makeup, and we left the fellas alone. This worked out well for us, especially considering we were shooting under fairly natural lighting conditions -- as opposed to hard core staring-at-the-sun movie lamps that come into play on some more expensive features. Also, the look of 16mm film tends to flatter actors. It's a little softer than 35mm and a lot "warmer" than video.
If you are working on a movie and letting the women in the cast do their own makeup, encourage them to keep it simple and to avoid anything overly glossy. And stay away from glitter, unless you want the girls to look like they're beaming down from the STARSHIP ENTERPRISE.
The one makeup product that's pretty hard to mess up is powder. On a warm day, an actor might start to sweat a bit. Sweat on the face can cause the actor to look "shiny" on camera, and touching up the actor's face with powder will go a long way toward getting rid of the shine. Just use it sparingly, and keep it away from the camera, especially the lens.
Simple Effects Makeup
Like I said earlier, we decided to keep our zombie makeup simple -- pale skin with dark circles around the eyes.
Stacey got a lot of mileage out of just a few colors -- white, black, base and purple. For the basic zombie skin tone, she mixed the white with the base to get a very light grayish color. Go totally white and your zombie movie turns into a mime movie, and that's the wrong kind of scary.
For the area around the eyes, she mixed the purple with a little black, for a dark, bruised-looking color.
After she was happy with the basic zombie face, Stacey would then apply a quick coat of the light gray mix to any exposed skin -- ears, neck, arms and hands, and the occasional back and torso of a shirtless zombie.
As for what kind of makeup to use, I'm sure there is plenty of good stuff available. Stacey chose basic theatrical/costume makeup for the white and black, and she went with M-A-C for the base and purple.
If you're working with zombies, don't forget dirt -- on the clothes, in the hair -- anywhere the actor will let you put it. It only makes sense that a zombie would be grimy, especially if he just dug himself out of the ground.
When Stacey decided a particular zombie needed a scar, she got creative with a little liquid latex and oatmeal. She'd take a handful of oatmeal, uncooked, and mix it with the latex. Add a little fake blood (which we'll get to shortly) for color, apply it to the zombie, cover it with a little more liquid latex to hold it in place and, voila, you've got a pretty nasty scar. If you want to do your own experiments with liquid latex, it's pretty easy to find, especially at party and costume shops around Halloween.
And that's about it. The HIDE AND CREEP zombie makeup won't win any Oscars, but it's simple, inexpensive and effective, three important attributes of every facet of an independent movie.
Another thing that helps out with any kind of makeup: start with a clean surface. Sweat, dirt, and especially natural oils can cause problems when applying makeup. It might not go on evenly or, at worse, it won't go on at all. If you've got soap and water available, have your actors wash their face right before you start applying makeup. You might even want to use an astringent (rubbing alcohol works) to get faces extra clean.
Also, if at all possible, do a makeup test using the same camera and lighting setup that will be used in the movie. If the makeup looks good in real life, it'll probably look good on camera, but a test will let you know for sure.
Blood
I wonder if anyone's ever made a zombie movie without fake blood. It might be possible... no, I don't think it is.
I've talked to one bona fide makeup expert and read up on a few more, and the two ingredients that are pretty much a given for fake blood are white corn syrup (Karo brand, for example) and red food coloring. Otherwise, everyone has a favorite secret ingredient or two.
Co-director Chuck Hartsell came up with the blood recipe we used for most of HIDE AND CREEP -- corn syrup, red food coloring, a little corn starch (to make it less transparent), a little peanut butter (again, to make it less transparent), and a little green food coloring (for a deeper red color). He'd usually add some water, too, to keep the stuff from being so thick it wouldn't flow.
After his first few batches of fake blood, Chuck discovered the following:
- If you follow his recipe and use peanut butter, make sure that's the first thing you mix with the syrup. Peanut butter will blend pretty smoothly with the thick syrup, but once you thin it down with the corn starch and water, it will clump up and you'll never get it mixed.
- Add the green food coloring a drop at a time until you get the color you want. It's very easy to get a purplish color if you add even a little too much. You can use blue instead of green, but same caution applies. You're likely going to get a bit of a purple hue no matter what, so add a drop or two of yellow to help with that.
Jonathan Thornton, the professional makeup artist who helped us out on a couple of tricky HIDE AND CREEP effects, pointed out that corn syrup is expensive. He recommends going to a wholesale food place (like Sam's Club) and buying the biggest container of regular old maple syrup you can find. It works just about as well, though Chuck notes that regular maple syrup isn't as thick as corn syrup. For large amounts, he likes the maple method, but for smaller amounts that need to stay thick, Chuck still prefers corn syrup.
As for specific measures of these ingredients... well, making fake blood is as much art as science. Even Jonathan says each batch of fake blood he makes is mixed uniquely, depending on the look he wants, the requirements of the scene, and even the weather.
If you check around, I'm sure you can find plenty of other blood recipes in makeup effects books and online. Or just experiment and see what you come up with. Fortunately, the ingredients are common and inexpensive.
Oh, yeah -- if you happen to be shooting in black and white, you can just use chocolate syrup, thinned out with a little water if necessary. Chuck and I went that route with BIRTHDAY CALL, our short zombie movie. I also believe Hitchcock used chocolate syrup for the infamous PSYCHO shower scene.
