Age
Age- special effects and filmmaking
How can I convincingly age an actor/actress? I have a script that spans 60 years. This time span of 60 years is an essential plot element. I need to show the characters at 20, 40, 60 and 80 years of age.
well, i guess different people are out of the question.
if you can get your hands on any info from bicentenial man, they did it in there on a few different people. (BTW, that movie was good 
)
anyway, i'd go with gelatin or silicone appliances combined with the stage tricks to show gradual aging. Over time like you're talking exaggeration of features, addition of wrinkles, liver spots, drooping graying of the hair and that kind of thing come into play.
i've got some pics of a 5 piece old age/sex change appliance around here, put em up when i scan one. my mom was a bit creeped out, since she says it looks just like how she thinks she'll look when she gets old...which creeps me out even more
I'm not sure where newark is, but i'm outside Cleveland email and perhaps we can talk/brainstorm
later
TOm
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What everyone seems to forget is that once we look past race, religion, gender, and all that, everyone on this planet is first and foremost...
...a PERSON
Lee Baygan's book Techniques of Three Dimensional Make Up tackles this very subject in detail. It covers aging a person over a great age span, and teaches all the basic skills needed for sculpting, molding, and casting prosthetics in the process.
Highly recommended.
What age is the actor to be aged? In my opinion it is actually easier to take a few years off a middle aged person with lifts, wrinkle concealment, hairstyle, etc and add later years than to do middle aged as successfully on a young person. Relative youth and great age can stand a bit of exaggeration without it being too obvious, but middle ages are more difficult looks to achieve realistically. The face fills out, and the sags and wrinkles are subtle.
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Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses
well, i cant find a good picture, so heres a funny one
the paint/application isnt very good IMHO, as it was a rush and just a test anyway. its foam latex, 5 pieces as mentioned.
a learning experience if nothing else
later
Tom
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What everyone seems to forget is that once we look past race, religion, gender, and all that, everyone on this planet is first and foremost...
...a PERSON
quote:
OOOO!!! TOM!!! This is one severe looking chick. Kind of looks like a throw-back to some 30's or 40's over-the-hill German, Brunhild-ish dominatrix. Is THAT the look you were going for?Anyway, this is funny looking. The work is good though. You ARE a crazy person!!
FXMan
Moderator
[This message has been edited by FXMan (edited 12-15-2000).]
quote:
What age is the actor to be aged?
It's not just one actor, it's most of the cast. The heroine in particular must be shown at each age. To make things more difficult the heroine must appear nude or nearly nude at each age, so I can't just age her face.
I don't think I can use different actors. I might be able to find four different actresses to play the heroine at the four different ages, but I don't think I'd ever be able to find four different casts with each member of each cast passing as the same person from the previous and succeeding cast.
I can't pull this off if I can't solve this problem. This post is part of a feasibility study to see if it can be done. I'm sure it would be no problem for a big Hollywood company with a lot of money but I'm on a budget.
Well Actor, realistically to age EVERYONE in the show is a MAJOR job. HOWEVER it is NOT impossible. But if you're on a budget the thing you need to concentrate on are the major characters and those who have the MOST exposure on film. You could get away with aging a LOT of people, with simple suggested aging makeups - regular, good old, paint jobs you know? As well, you could gray the hair or lose some hair (to haircuts and such or bald caps or whatever). Then since you're on a budget, use those resources to age those who need it the most, even concentrating on who of them has the most on screen exposure. But to effectively age any person THROUGH 40 - 50 years of life, if you want to avoid the extreme expense of full body prosthetics (since you indicate they would appear nude throughout this aging process) would be to FIND (literally) actresses who can look the closest alike in those particular age ranges you need. Then find those who would agree to appearing nude as well. Older people have a phobia you know about that and may not want to do that sort of thing. Bear in mind that through a few phases of this you could use the same actress, effectively aging her with MINOR age makeup, minor prosthetic applications and then decide when she would most look unlike herself at a given age. It varies so widely when people BEGIN to look old and unlike what you're used to seeing. But just as a general thing, it most likely might not occur until middle age - 50's or 60's. It would certainly be best to find actresses who look a LOT alike that are older that could easily PASS for the character with some minor makeup to keep them looking similar. This is a tough one and something that could be done if the resources and people were available. If you found your oldest actress that looked like what the young actress would look like in old age, it would take a good makeup artist who could effectively morph the young to the old through several makeup "stages" and come up with what the person would look like as they grew older. This is where good computer design would work to your advantage - similar to the programs that police departments now use that can take a photo of a younger person and through computer processing and manipulation, take the person's facial features and "age" them on screen to see what the effects of aging would make them look like at any age. But finding a program like that would be FAR too expensive. Maybe you could find out from your local policia if they had knowledge of a program like that which you could feed your photo into and get some printed results, aging your actress through several stages, so you'd have something to go by. I know that's an outside possibility, but just a thought.
It's not going to be easy but it could be done. It WILL take a good makeup artist no matter what you do. Even if you have 4 or 5 actresses who you could use that all look very much alike, you'd still want to maximize their looks to make them the MOST similar you get them.
Good luck.
FXMan
[This message has been edited by FXMan (edited 12-15-2000).]
I've aged an actor before. What I did was I used liquid latex. I had the actors face stretched a little while we (some of my friends, or "crew") put the latex on. He held his face in position until it dried and repeated the process until his whole face was covered.
We then put some purple, blue, and flesh colored powdery stuff on him to give the look of visible veins. It took us a while to get his skin-tone perfect, but it was worth it in the end.
If I still have a still photo of him in the make-up, I'll scan it and post it here so you can see the results.
P.S.
The guy was in the make-up chair for an hour and a half. Just so you know what to expect, unless your fast at these things.
I hope that I have helped you out somewhat.
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Never doubt the Red Stranger
Hey Red Stranger,
You're right the latex is a good idea for this Stretch Latex aging technique. However, if you do this be certain that you use the right kind of latex and to check first for any allergic reaction to it in general. Some people are highly allergic to latex. And if you use the water based lattices rather than the ammonia based lattices it's not as hard on the skin. I know from personal experience. I did this on myself once before I really knew how. And boy it DID burn and left my face good and red for days. But there is the old age stipple latex or other old age plastic solutions (not that good) that will work. With the stipple latex routine you use FOAM LATEX base. And while I know that has ammonia in it, you let it sit for a while to allow a lot of the ammonia evaporate out of it. Plus you do add some water that helps. It's a lighter formula that uses acrylic matte medium which aids in the adhesion plus some other additives too. But it's much lighter and easier on the skin which CAN be lightly moisturized a little bit before application. As well, doing a little Aloe lotion after removal helps "maintain" the skin somewhat. Though no matter what you do it's still harsh to some degree. Depends upon the person's sensitivity in things like this. But the idea is good to be sure.
Good luck.
FXMan
I never knew anybody could be alergic to these things. I think I'll research my resposes a little better.
Thanks for the info FXman
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Never doubt the Red Stranger
Actor:
Buddy - you've got the "Gimme It All on A Shoestring Director" syndrome here! We've all dealt with it, whether for film, stage, or Haunted Houses. This is a tall order to fill without several hands and some cash to spend. You can get away with doing all the lab work yourself if you have sufficient pre-production time or are willing to get no sleep.
On set is going to be another problem if there are to be many characters in extensive make up for each day's shooting. I have trained people to do basic apllication tasks and saved the "tough stuff" for myself or a key assistant to make it possible to get a lot of make ups done in a reasonable amount of time. I some scenes can be shot in the AM with some characters and shots with more characters are held for after unch you could ake up actors while the AM shooting is going on. The Director is simply going to have to be made to understand that this stuff doesn't put itself on, and unless he is willing to drop a dime on a squad of good make up artists or ask some actors to get into make up tremendously early and wait around for hours (and have to undergo repairs & touch up before they even hit the set for the first time) he's going to have to work closely with you and be as creative as possible.
You may have to hire some good people and make nothing or less on this if it is a serious chance to break through into much better paying gigs. Many shops have actually lost money on a show if it is the right vehicle to springboard them into demand, but this is a risk one shouldn't take lightly.
Old Age Stipple is limited in what it can do - for fine wrinkles it is great - sagging facial structure, no. If the nudity is to occur when the characters are very aged, you're talking about some fairly extensive prosthetics here. If the shot(s) are/is to be brief, you could get away with Stipple and a lot of careful chiaroscuro painting, but painted hignlights and shadow take time too.
Tough call to make - not impossible, but it may be a serious headache depending on your preproduction time, experience, and Director.
Good Luck, let us know if you take the gig and if we can help.
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Jeff F - Moderator
Magic and FX
Amazing the Masses
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