Discovering the project

I was approached by actor, Neal Williams, who I had worked with on a previous film with in my first year at AUB. He very briefly spoke to me about a film production that he was involved in that would be based on J.R.R. Tolkein's 'Lord of the Rings' and that was seeking a make-up artist.

'Lord of the Rings' was one of the films that first inspired me to become a make-up artist as I had always been fascinated in the way in which the orc characters were created using make-up and prosthetics. I was very keen to be part of a project that would enable me to design and create characters inspired by these very make-ups and therefore told Neal that he could put my name forward to the director. As the film was not being shot until the summer, and the exchange of messages between myself and Neal had been very informal I did not expect to hear anything back for some time. Surprisingly, however, I received a message from the director; Charlie Siveyer, a few hours later.

Forming a make-up team

Charlie had suggested that for the quantity and scale of make-ups that he wanted created, a team of 5 make-up artists would be suitable. He mentioned that because of the accommodation situation whilst filming on location this would be the maximum number of people I could use. I struggled at first with the decision of who to ask to be a part of my team.

I had read an article in Make-up Artist Magazine by the editor, Michael Key, that spoke of the responsibilities of a make-up designer when recruiting a team. The advice in this article that was most poignant to me was this;

'RECRUIT THE BEST PEOPLE POSSIBLE TO BE ON YOUR TEAM.
Don't hire people who are less talented than you are just to make you look like the most gifted person in the room. This one-chief-the-rest-are-Indians approach will undermine confidence in your team. Strive to find people who are as good as or better than you are. It is a challenge to lead people who are more talented, but as long as they're loyal, you'll accomplish great things and win the respect of others.'

With this advice in mind I decided to approach Paige Wilkey to see if she would be interested in being part of the production. In the first term I had witnessed first hand Paige's increasing confidence and skills in the area of prosthetics and knew that she would be a vital asset to the team. Being a good friend of mine and having worked together on collaborative work experiences previously also meant that I had the upmost confidence in our ability to work well as a team. Paige was equally as excited as I had been at the prospect of working on a 'Lord of the Rings' inspired film and instantly agreed to become the second member of the team.

The decision regarding the other 3 make-up artists proved to be slightly more difficult. I wanted somebody who showed great enthusiasm for prosthetic make-up and would therefore remain motivated and reliable over the 6 month period leading up to the scheduled filming dates.

In order to maintain a level of continuity throughout all of the characters; both human and orc, they all needed to be designed by the same person/people. Having 5 different people designing and making the prosthetics would not achieve this level of continuity, in my opinion. I felt that with Paige on board we could tackle the amount of design and production work between the 2 of us pre-production, however, during the filming stages the larger team would be necessary for application, final checks on set, maintenance of equipment and supplies, etc.

I felt that, although level 5 students would be appreciative of the opportunity to work on a larger scale film such as this, they may feel slightly undermined to be working at what could be termed 'assistant' level. Michael Key also comments on this in the article mentioned earlier, saying;

'NEVER REFER TO THE ARTISTS YOU HIRE AS ASSISTANTS.

...in the Hollywood community, you refer to fellow artists as coworkers or colleagues, but never assistants. One of the reasons for this is that it's common for two friends to interview for the same job. Whoever gets hired to be the department head may hire the other to be the second. On the next gig it could be the other way around.'

With this is mind, I decided against asking anybody from my level of the course and instead decided to approach some of the level 4 students. One of my disappointments from my time studying at level 4 was that I was never given the opportunity to work with and learn from more experienced students. I felt that students at level 4 would be able to be taught the same application process and adapt well to the environment of working as part of a team with a designer and supervisor. It was crucial, however, to seek out students who would benefit most from the experience; those who had expressed the most interest in this area of industry. 

Meeting #1 - 04/02/13

Now that I had another make-up artist on board it was time for a formal meeting with Charlie to discuss the details of the film. We scheduled to meet on on Monday 4th February, accompanied by Walter Mirks, an actor playing one of the principal characters.

Charlie outlined the ideas of the film; a sequel to 'The Hobbit' and a prequel to 'Lord of the Rings'. It obviously could not be a feature film made for any profit or the legal issues would be monumental, instead Charlie aimed to market it as a fan film. He suggested that we take a look at two other fan films that had been released called 'The Hunt for Gollum' (over 96 thousand views on youtube) and 'Born of Hope' (18.6 million views on youtube), the latter of which has also received a number of awards. Charlie felt confident that although these films had proven very popular with online fans, the make-up let both of them down a little and we could definitely aim to do better.

The costume department had already been arranged and was to be lead by Kim Pickering, Grace Noble and Yolanda Collins; level 6 costume students. We would be liaising with them to ensure costume and make-up worked appropriately together.

In terms of cast there would be seven principle actors, a number of additional supporting actors and potentially a larger group of extras for a crowd shot. Six of the principle actors would be playing human characters; inspired by the style of Aragorn in the 'Lord of the Rings' films. They would all be asked to grow their hair and facial hair in the lead up to filming, however, some of them may still require some pieces of postiche and potentially wigs. The strongest image that Charlie had for these characters in his head was that they needed to be "dark but detailed" and a little "grubby". The seventh actor would be playing the character of the 'Hunter Orc' and would require a lot of make-up and prosthetic work. A large percentage of the supporting actors would also require orc make-up, although not to the extent of the 'Hunter Orc'.

Charlie explained that the film was being funded by a production company formed especially for this film called Seven Stones Productions. The budget as it stood at the moment was £5,000 and was ever growing. He estimated that the budget for make-up would be about £800 but, should we need more than this, this could be requested.

Contracts were discussed from both sides. Charlie explained that a contract would be drawn up for all members of the cast, crew and production company, saying that if the film was a success with the online audiences and a second film was made, that we would be on board to continue our make-up work for this. In return, we explained that in order to ensure that we would be properly credited for out work on the film, we would draw up a contract of our own, which Charlie said he would be happy to sign.

'Born of Hope' and 'The Hunt for Gollum'

Charlie had mentioned the two Youtube hits that had already received a large number of views and, in some cases, awards. I decided to take a look at the films in parts and the type of make-up that had been applied for the Orc characters in each of them.

Although Charlie had said that the make-up in these films was a little unimpressive and he hoped to be able to achieve better, I personally thought that the make-up on 'Born of Hope' was very impressive. For somebody working on an independent film budget, and potentially not with much industry experience, I thought that the prosthetics were very convincing. This did make the prospect of creating Orcs for Charlie's film a little bit more intimidating as I wasn't certain that Paige and I would be able to create anything better than this.

The makeup for 'The Hunt for Gollum' however was not nearly as impressive and had clearly not been made to fit the actors faces as it hung strangely in places. It was also most likely made of a cheaper material like latex or foam as it did not have nearly as a good a surface texture as the make-up in 'Born of Hope'. I felt confident that as a team we could create a higher quality make-up than this, however, this film did have the upside of having a very large number of Orc characters in make-up which would be much harder for us to achieve. 

The Main Cast

Neal Williams - Roran

Matthew Jopling - Stanis

Walter Mirks - Reigna

Will Hobby - Cadoc

Jack Boswell - Halbarad

John Macdonald - The Hunter Orc

Liam Atton - Bill Ferny

(all images provided by Charlie Siveyer, Director)

Supporting Actors

A selection of supporting actors would also be needed for various scenes throughout the film as Rangers and Orc characters. In order to keep numbers down, Charlie had requested that actors could double up to play both characters. This proved a slight problem as originally we had intended to ask all of the actors playing rangers to grow natural beards out, however, if they were also playing Orcs it would be difficult to lay prosthetic pieces over facial hair. This would mean that each actor playing a double role would require both a collection of facial prosthetics, but also a pre-made beard and moustache.

Orc/Ranger - Josh Lonsdale

Orc/Ranger - Jay Warner Jones

Orc/Ranger - Josh Whorriskey

Analysing the Script

Following our first meeting with Charlie we were sent a copy of the script to look over to get a better feel for the story and the characters. This proved to be more enlightening that we first thought as it revealed a great number of areas where make-up would be needed but had not been previously discussed.

- The story opens with a character named 'Old Man' - is this an older actor or will it be a young actor that requires ageing and postiche?

- There is a market scene in which the main characters pick pocket members of the crowd - how many extras will there be? Will they all need make-up and hair work?

- Bill Ferny is introduced - what type of make-up and postiche is required for him?

- In the tavern scene there is mention of girls dancing and one sitting on Reigna's lap - how many girls will there be? What sort of hair and make-up is wanted for them - are they supposed to look like common girls?

- A barman and innkeeper are mentioned - are they the same person? What make-up is required?

- A burly man enters the tavern, the father of one of the girls - what make-up is required?

- In the initial fight with Stanis, Reigna is said to be 'nursing a blow to the head' - will this require a prosthetic wound and blood?

- Stanis receives a cut on his thigh - prosthetic wound will need making.

- Throughout the story when the orcs are killed - do they all require wounds? What colour is orc blood ; black or red?

- In a 'company of orcs' - how many orcs will there be?

- The Hunter Orc is shot in the chest with an arrow - director has already requested that Hunter Orc be bare chested - do we need to find a way to embed an arrow into a prosthetic wound?

- Same scenario when company of orcs are all shot in the back - they are wearing costumes, can arrow wounds be hidden beneath costume or do they need to be visible?

- Principle characters are said to be 'nursing their wounds from the fight' - specifically what wounds are needed?

- Hunter Orc climbs out of the river - can make-up stand up to getting wet?

- Both Hunter Orc and Roran are injured in their fight - specific injuries?

- Hunter Orc is axed in the back by Reigna and then Roran plunges a sword vertically down into his chest - do these wounds need to be shown? How will this be accomplished?

All of these questions will require definitive answers before we can begin designing and making a number of the prosthetics so a meeting will need to be arranged with Charlie as soon as possible to discuss this.