Ever wondered how pretty boy ralph fiennes transforms into the grotesque lord voldemort? here's a peek into the special effects trade, courtesy two international make-up artistes
Ever wondered how pretty boy ralph fiennes transforms into the grotesque lord voldemort? here's a peek into the special effects trade, courtesy two international make-up artistes
By no means taking away from Rajinikanth's "superstar value", the success of Robot -- the film deemed "critic-proof" by the critics themselves -- is likely to have had at least something to do with mind-boggling special effects, at least three crores of which was invested on the southern star's face. And yes, we're referring to just Rajini's make-up budget.
For anyone who's been curious about the art of special effects make-up, and specifically 3-D make-up, international make-up artistes Attie Tabak and Annechien Braams offer insights into the business.
Between them, thee two Dutch maestros have more than 50 years of experience, out of which a substantial portion was dedicated to prosthetics and special effects make-up. "It has been 35 years since I started doing this. I don't even remember the films or plays I have contributed to," says Attie, briefly recalling Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of Opera.u00a0
u00a0How do they put these dreams into practice, how does the director's vision become fantastical characters with eccentric noses, elephantine ears and large beady eyes? "It's a lengthy process. First, a life cast of the actor's body is made, followed by detailed sculpting of the new features, moulding of the sculpture, and finally pouring in the final pieces," explains Attie.
"The final product is a prosthetic made of foam latex, gelatine or silicon, which is fixed on the skin and then painted. The entire process involves head casting, sculpting, mould-making, hair-punching, painting and lots of detailing," says Annechien.
Lure of the elephant god
The artistes speak of finding inspiration for their work in day-to-day living. "We observe a person's physical features and mannerisms closely, which we translate into our art works," says Annechien.
But creativity doesn't thrive on studying people in the streets alone, it sometimes means digging up the dead. Attie is also an anthropologist, who studies history and past civilisations in order to create the character, and finds India's cultural heritage to be a source of great inspiration.
"The features of gods like Ganesha, Rama and Buddha are very appealing, I would love to work on something revolving around them," she says.
The four-hour transformation
For the character of Lord Voldemort, actor Ralph Fiennes has his eyebrows taken off, and has specially moulded prosthetic pieces for his forehead glued on. All visible skin is then covered with a network of veins, which are done on a temporary tattoo system that would otherwise take an extra two hours to airbrush on to the actor's face. The entire transformation takes a total of four hours.
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