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FREAKED I N F O
M A I N P A G E
 DVD
T O Y Z
NOVELIZATUN
SOUNDTRAK
BEHIND THA SCENEZ
OUTTAKEZ
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Check out the Clips!
HERE'S
SOME PICTUREZ:
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| Here is a
rare photo of Keanu being turned into Ortiz!
Shake? C'mon ladies? |
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Here's the lovely Megan Ward and
Michael Stoyanov looking a bit hung over... |
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AND FINALLY....
"FREEKING OUT"
by
Steve
Johnson and Bill Corso
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I've
been doing this stuff professionally for about 15 years now. So
at this point in my career, the single most exciting aspect left-
the place where there are no boundaries, where you don't have to
worry if the paint will stick to the rubber, or if the clay is
too thick or too thin- is the design and conceptualization
process of the characters and FX. So when
Alex Winter, the star and co writer/director of "Hideous
Mutant Freekz", first called up in the spring of 1991, I was
thrilled. Here, he explained was a project I could go nuts on.
Virtually every character in his film(co-written and directed
with his longtime friend and partner, Tom Stern) was a makeup
effect? AND they were all heavily inspired by two of my all-time
favorite underground cartoonists: Big Daddy Roth and Basil
Wolverton. Because of the time constraints, the prosthetic work
was to be split up almost evenly between myself, Screaming Mad
George and Tony Gardner.
Happily,
we were awarded Alex's makeup as one of the six characters
designated to our studio. I knew this one had to be special, so I
set out to break ground and designa makeup that would not only
amaze the audience, but also torture Alex and create countless
problems for the production. I'm proud to say that with the
support of a talented crew led by Bill Corso, I believe we
suceeded. Bill sculpted and developed the makeup after working
with myself and Alex on the initial concept, then he and Jim
Eustermann handled the day-to-day application. Bill will now
guide you through the process...
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PHOTO
1: The evolution of Alex's character Rick Coogin, spoiled actor
turned sympathetic freek. From these original design sketches, we
created the test makeup to determine whether our approach was
correct, and to work out potential problems with the mouth
apparatus. Note the enhancements from test to finished makeup. |
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PHOTO
2: After a warm greeting and a few inults, Alex delights in the
start of the makeup procedure, which had an average daily start
time of 3 a.m. The first step of the process is the application
of the partial vacuformed skullcap onto which the appliances will
be secured. The round chamois on his cheek is a buffer, explained
in the next caption |
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PHOTO
3: Next, the mechanical ear prosthetic is applied to the cap with
355 adhesive. Here, I'm prepping the lip actuator cable for
hookup. It will run across Alex's cheek (where the chamois
prevents cable abrasion) and into the RC (remote control) pack
hidden in Alex's monstrous back hump. |
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PHOTO
4: A rear view of Alex, showing the RC compartment. There are two
remote-controlled functions incorporated into the makeup: ear
forward and back, and lip up and down. |
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PHOTO
5: With the back of the head secured, I apply the facial piece
next, paying careful attention to the alignment of the lip cable
and the blending edge.
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PHOTO
6: The forehead piece and hump are next.
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PHOTO
7: With the teeth inserted, the upper lip edges are now locked
down. The lip appliances were designed with a wraparound feature,
which creates the illusion of Alex's normal lips seamlessly
blending into the prosthetic mouth.
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PHOTO
8: The lower lip has been applied, and all the edges have been
locked down and carefully blended onto Alex's skin. The next step
is breakfast. After smearing his artfully applied makeup with
french toast and hash browns, Alex is cleaned up and prepped for
the painting procedure. |
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PHOTO
9: The paint used is PAX, applied with a base color and
successive layers of gels to arrive at an exact match of Alex's
tone where the makeup meets his face. The hairpiece has been
applied and dressed into Alex's own hair. Here I'm painting the
exposed cheek, which will simulate the gum tissue when the
dentures are added. Final details such as gloss, pus and
traditional makeup for Alex's human side are added |
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10: The final product: The dentures and contact lenses have been
added, along with a grotesque Freek arm, leg and foot. From start
to finish, the application varied from three and a half to four
hours (depending on the length of the movies we were watching in
the process). An interesting side note: Because Alex was the star
and co-director and had to perform in full makeup for 30 to 40
shooting days, we adopted an unusual practice to cut down on the
application time-he actually slept in the makeup. Three nights in
a row was our record! *This
article was originally published in GOREZONE #26. |
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