Back in October I believe, I showed you some really modestly priced items that you could get to put in a make-up case if you were interested in doing some "Low Budget" ... or if you have the resources I have - "No Budget" Filmmaking. After that I realize ..hmmm... results. "Hey TJ put your money where your mouth is ..all that is well and fine , but what do those modestly priced items produce aestheticaly and for the love of God what do they look like in a photo-op or on screen?".

Well the story starts with the production of "Longfoot", and if you have been following the progress thus far I'm happy to report that we are now in Post-production. The main puppeteer and handler of LONGFOOT himself with a pensive look on his brow - always highly engaged and willing to learn all he could, mentioned to me his interest in film and the process in general. During production I was happy to open up to him on the technical aspects and various workflows of producing a film for consumption. Towards the end of the process he came to me with music, storyboards, and an evolving screenplay that is right up the alley for you "Uddershiet Crew". I saw the drawings , I talked with him about the tone, the feel... and I was intrigued. After experimenting in the past months with various make-ups I could not help to pounce on the opportunity to help him realize his truly unique vision even if briefly on a weeknight in this yet to be unexplored year-2012.

Minus the camera, the effects below I am about to show you were literally procured for under 10$. In total. From beginning to end $10- no lie - no shenanigans. I will not bore you with a tutorial, there are so many people that can do it better, namely FILM RIOT- shout out to you Ryan.

It starts with an idea. Google is an amazing tool for reference photos. In this case I was looking for the mouth of a snake. I found several reference photos. I made this mould while watching Ancient Aliens on Netflix - things like this are fun and imagination fodder- guilty pleasures. Here is the mould:

What follows is what came out of the evening. All rights reserved- Regional Unity Productions. I'm just happy I finally had an excuse to do some FX makeup - whew ...finally. I'm sure there are more of you guys that do film in the Shenandoah Valley. I will did dig you up if its the last thing I do.


 

Verdict: I was blessed with the fact that the subject had a face that I could work with. It was easy to mount the prosthesis to his facial bone structure. Remember: Silicon may turn out to be heavier than you expect. Go thin. Also rule of thumb: make sure your make-up can last the shoot- and make sure that your subject can do the job with it fastened tightly to his/her jaw or body - or whatever body part. And also above all make sure that you do not use materials that react unfavorably with the actor (allergens).This was not a bad test at all.. as a matter of fact I'm quite surprised - but there is always room for improvement. By the time "Curse of the Rattlesnake People" comes into full swing I will have many new tricks up my sleeve. A big thank you to Tom Haun and Regional Unity Productions for giving me a chance to fling some make-up around for a change. A short video may follow and we are entertaining the thought of trying some composite animation with motion tracking. Perhaps we will compare practical effects with digital. Time will tell. Hope you enjoyed the eye-candy.

Love and Cheers,

TJPARSONS

Twitter = @tjparsonsfilms

Tom Parsons

The founder of Uddershiet Films and film enthusiast, maintains a fun collection of movies that he regularly references for technical examples, discussions with colleagues, friends, students, and production staff. Although there are particular films, shorts, and videos that he prefers over others, seldom is there a movie that he doesn't like.