Meeting #4 - 01/03/13

We decided that it would be best to arrange a meeting where both Charlie and Pete could be present so that the process of making prosthetic pieces could be explained to Charlie in detail in order for him to understand the time and budget needed for this type of project.

We began by coming to a final, concrete decision regarding the number of Orcs needed, the actors who would be playing them and the numbers needed for close-up camera-ready shots and background shots. The decision was as such:

• -        Hunter Orc – John McDonald
• -       Featured Orcs – Josh Lonsdale, Josh Whorriskey, Liam Atton
• -       Background Orcs – Ben O’Shea, Jay Warner-Jones, Ethan Brewer

Although Paige and I were very relieved to finally have this decision made, we had our concerns about the choice of one of the actors. Although a lot of the Orc actors would be doubling up as main or ranger characters and would be growing out their hair to a certain extent, Ethan has a large amount of very long, very curly hair. Paige and I did not feel that hair of this length and volume would be suitable to put under a bald cap as an Orc and felt that this would be making our applications on the days of shooting unnecessarily lengthened. We put this point to Charlie, however, he was initially unwilling to change his mind as he felt that if he began asking any other actors to fill the role he would be using people that he could no longer rely on for their dedication and time keeping. The only option that he considered was for himself to play a small cameo in the film and act as an Orc character himself. No final decision was made, though Charlie did agree to give it his consideration.

Next we moved onto the time considerations for creating prosthetic make-ups to the standard and scale that Charlie had requested. Pete broke the process down as such:

• -       Life casting (head, neck and shoulders) – 2 hours
• -       Making head cast ready for sculpt – plaster cast, sanding, silicone, fibre glassing – 2/2 ½ weeks
• -       Sculpting and making fibre glass mould – 2-4 days
• -       Injecting silicone – 1 day
• -       Removing piece, cleaning, painting – approx 1 week
• -       Hair punching (optional) – approx. 1 week

-       Total time for 1 full head silicone piece = approx. 4-5 weeks

Charlie seemed very shocked at this information and began to understand the magnitude of what he had asked us to create, especially when we reminded him that each make-up would need to be recreated every day that the character was on screen as the edges would be ruined after each wear. This interfered with his initial plan of shooting the film chronologically to allow the actors to get into character better.

Finally Pete broke down the expenditure for a single full head silicone piece, including the casting and mould making process:

• -       Head casting materials - £35
• -       Casting Silicone - £55
• -       Silicone - £60
• -       Other materials to consider: paint materials, illustrator, aqua fix, hair, etc

-       Total cost for 1 full head silicone piece = £200-300

This realization brought us onto the subject of budget as the numbers had changed from the initial estimation we had been given of £800. The budget that Charlie was currently working with across the departments was £2500, although with further sponsorship and fundraising he was certain that this would increase, he estimated to £4500-£5000. The current budget would be broken down into:

• -       £1000 to make-up
• -       £1000 to costume
• -       £500 to production design

With the figures that Pete had provisionally calculated it was clear that this would not be enough to create everything that Charlie had asked for, however, he assured us that the next load of money to come in would be given to the development of the make-up department. For now though, we would have to budget to the limit of £1000.

The final topic that was discussed was the location for filming as there had been some significant changes. Charlie had decided that it would make more sense logistically and economically to scrap the idea of filming on the farm in Devon where all cast and crew would have to camp on location, and change instead to shooting in the New Forest. Although some cast/crew members would be camping it would not be necessary for everybody to as most of us had houses close by in Bournemouth . The only reservations that Paige and I had was regarding the storage of the make-up and the space for the application process. It was not logistically sensible to be transporting the large amounts of make-up equipment and prosthetic pieces to location everyday, however, neither was it feasible to store delicate and expensive equipment outside on location. Paige and I suggested that it would make more sense for the more complex make-ups to be applied at our house prior to filming and the actors transported to site once these were complete. Charlie did not seem particularly keen on this idea and provided a few alternative ideas, however, none that all parties were currently happy with. This is an issue that will need further discussion.