Heartsfelled is a storyteller, as old as time and as wise as any story.
This blog captures our adventure whilst filming "The Identity Stealer", an Anglo-Saxon Saga style story told by Heartsfelled with brilliant live action demon slaying and more .....
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The crew, Zak Wylde Productions, are getting the equipment ready;
the staff (that's me and Richard aka Brother Scuttle) are setting out the catering and comfort facilities; the artiste Heartsfelled (Nigel Gant) and his amanuensis (Julia) are preparing to fill the Museum of Stories with myth and magic ...
the next round of filming starts tomorrow and it's going to be fun.
Zak and a random Dalek check out new camera equipment.
Storyboards - the director and cinematographer create these and then either totally ignore them or use them as working guides to the shoot.
It's been a little while since my last post as I have been busy set-building and writing.
Whilst I've been busy doing that, the rest of the crew have been busy filming elsewhere as well as practising their martial arts skills and winning wonderful medals. Well done to all the Aisle O'Var Backsworders, Old Gamesters, and Team TE-MA Combat folks.
Yes, that's Zak Wylde Holland, our Director of Photography in the middle with some of his trophies and medals from this season. His radiant smile even more handsome in the sunshine at the Oyster Fayre.
And despite the bruises, oh yes, they have the bruises "the Kiss of The Ash" it is all done with an admirable spirit of sportsmanship, fair play and gentlemanly conduct. So proud to know them.
But, coming back to my main item for today, as I said I have been set building here in Lincolnshire along with my partner and Ghost from Times Past, Brother Scuttle (aka Richard Buck). As we have been building we've also been writing, Scuttle and I ... you see it wasn't until we stood inside the Museum of Stories that we realised what a mystical, magical place it really is. When you find your way there - and you have to remember to go through the "long forgotten door" with your heart and your mind open to the stories and the magic that lie beyond - when you find your way there you find that you are standing among a myriad of portals. Each portal leads to more than one other place where stories have been born and, if you know how, each story can be visited . . . But that's as much as I can tell you for now. I can sense Heartsfelled the Storyteller putting down the lap dogs and coming to put me in my place (gently of course) if I give away too much.
The film and the accompanying Special Edition Book will tell all, all in good time :)
If you're a film studies student or somebody who loves to understand what you see in the movies, then you'll be aware that even the most ordinary looking person on film has been made to look the way they do.
From the very earliest days of moviemaking, cosmetics artists have had to refine their skills to make movie makeup work. And the makeup artist is a true artist! They have to understand colour, light, shade and many aspects of photography.
For example, actors in silent films often had to wear very yellow makeup to compensate for the "orthochromatic" black and white film that was not able to capture anything red.
The first make-up range ever designed just for movies was launched in 1914, Max Factor's Supreme Greasepaint . . . you wouldn't want to name any cosmetic product anything-"grease" nowadays I guess!
1969 saw the longest ever single make-up application for a movie. For the "Illustrated Man" actor Rod Steiger had to be, well, illustrated! Applying those tattoos took a make-up artist and assistants 10 hours on the torso and another full day on the lower body, hands and legs! Personally, I cannot imagine being that patient.
On the other hand, where a film has many extras and special background actors, there needs to be a fast technique, you can't do everything by CGI. Frank Westmore had to make up several thousand extras each day for "The Ten Commandments" (1956). The spray-painting technique he developed to do the job quickly is still used.
Types of Makeup Artist:
Nowadays Hollywood's union regulations classify movie make-up artists based on the area of the actor's body being made up! A make-up artist is only allowed to apply cosmetics only from the top of the head to the top of the breastbone, from fingertips to wrists and from toes to ankles. On the other hand, a body make-up artist applies cosmetics as required to any other areas of the actor's body. While the regular make-up artist generally works throughout filming, the body make-up artist is hired per day when needed. The key make-up artist, or make-up designer, is the person in charge of the make-up department for a movie. During pre-production, the designer reads the script and meets with the directorand screenwriterto discuss their needs and ideas for the film.
The key make-up artist also will work with the key hair designer, costume designer, set designer and director of lighting throughout the film. After that, the key make-up artist researches and determines how to design the make-up and special make-up effects for the film.
GoT actress, Natalia Tena (property rights Game of Thrones / HBO)
Sometimes the MUA just has to prevent an actor or actress' features from bleaching out under the lights, sometimes enhance their beauty and sometimes, well, to switch off the beauty and dirty them up!
Often complex effects or prosthetics are handled by a special effects department or a consultant company. The key make-up artist also brings together additional make-up artists for the film, sets their work schedule and supervises them during production. She or he then has to check everybody's work, make sure the make-up applied matches the agreed style, and that continuity is maintained every day during shooting.
In addition, the key make-up artist develops and stays within a budget. Once prosthetics, hairpieces and other make-up elements are finalized, they all must be inventoried and stored when they are not in use.
Where there is a big team the key makeup artist might have a senior makeup artist under them who has responsibility for continuity as well as ordinary makeup artists and assistant makeup artists.
It's a long but creative day, finding solutions to make the 'look' and make that look work on screen. Putting it all on the actors from extremely early in the morning and then taking it all off again after the end of the working day. Annual earnings for makeup artists seem to start at around £14,500 per annum and can rise, over time and experience, to anything around £62,000 per year. A practised eye, skilled hands, creativity, determination and a splash of luck are required to get into this field, so it's a good thing to have a focus of interest like our Key Makeup Artist, Nealy Horsfield who really aims to get into blood scars and injuries for tv!
Nealy is already superb at what she does, now that I know her I'm excited to watch her career blossom. Here she is talking to me on the day she agreed to join our team:
I often mention Zak in my posts, and you'll already get the impression that I am rather impressed by his creative and artistic skills as a filmmaker (trust me I've worked in the entertainment industry for 20 years and as a film studies teacher for nearly 15, I am qualified to know when something extra special is happening). Cinematography and directing a successful film shoot are true arts and Zak is, without any doubt, an extra-ordinary, upcoming artist in his field.
Sometimes I post photos because, let's face it, he is a good looking young man, isn't he!
I can only imagine that, over the next few years, Zak will have his own fan club of followers and enthusiasts for his work.
Zak is made all the more charming by the fact that he is not in any way vain, he's strong, fit and intelligent but at the same time incredibly gentle and down-to-earth. That's not to say he isn't a fireball of energy, he loves adventure, challenges and new experiences just as much as he loves his crackling home hearth and purring cats.
I shall be spending time on location with Zak Wylde Productions over this coming weekend and am planning to get some video interviews so that you-all can get to know Zak, and other cast and crew members, better. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with a short video to admire Zak exhibiting just a few of his phenomenal gymnastic skills in 2017 . . .
