Grad Adventures: In Which Shannon Plays with Blood & Cabbage

Sometimes it dawns on me that I have the coolest major in the world.

I mean, I get to play around in all kinds of things from makeup to clay to blood to cabbage. And in the end, I'm going to get a Master's Degree! Crazy, right?

Well, recently the shop has become really busy, because the show season finally started! Since I've last graced the world with a blog post, CCM Drama's production of Macbeth has opened and closed. Even though I wasn't on the running crew for the show (which means that I would have worked on makeup and wigs pre-show and backstage during the actual production every night to make sure all of the quick changes and regular changes that needed to happen during the show get accomplished. Which I didn't do for this show, but will be doing on Legally Blonde next week) I still got to work on projects for the show during class hours.

The main project that whole shop worked on and became our pride and joy was the severed head. SPOILER ALERT - Macbeth gets beheaded and Macduff brings it out onstage at the end of the show in triumph. SO we made a silicon head based off of the actress playing Macbeth's actual head. So, the first step in that is take a life mask/face cast of her from the head up.

There she is! The first layer (the pink goo) is soft, dental algenate and then she's all covered in plaster bandages. This takes about 25 minutes to dry enough to be removed (the red marks are keys so that we can fit the two pieces together later) and then she can go! The rest is up to us. 

The next step is to fill that mold withliquid clay. They then sculpt and mold that clay so that it has the right expession, fixes any blemishes, etc. Then they take a positive of that clay sculpture the same way they took a mold of the actress. Then, the fill that mold with silicon. It's a semi-delicate process that I wasn't really involved in, so I still don't quite understand it. But, when it's all done, it comes out like this:

Pretty cool huh? So then it has to be painted to look like flesh, which I also didn't do. The next step is to give it hair! The hair is added through a process called punching, which is basically exactly what it sounds. We take a little two pronged needle and hold the hair in the other hand and push it into the soft, fleshy silicon. This is the part where I came in! I did a giant chunk of hair on the side, and on the top. 

 I did more than was shown in the pictures, but you get the idea. Laura, the actress, shaved her head for the part (to look more like a man, and for some other method-y stuff) so we had to punch in the hair when it was long, and then shave it off. In the end we added eyes, eyebrows, blood and all those finishing touches until it looked like Laura! 

Here's our head! And here's Laura!

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

So, my other job on the show involved a bit of problem solving. You see, typically in Macbeth when Macduff comes out with the head, he's carrying by the hair, more or less, and then does....something with it until the end of the show. The way our show was abridged it stayed onstage until the end of the performance and so they decided to put it on a pike. Gruesome, huh? Well, during tech the director decided he wanted a blood effect to give the head a little more "umph" and realism when it was actually impaled. So, with a little collaboration from some other shop members (shoutout to you Nae!) we came up with these little cabbage filled blood bags that were attached over the openeing of the PVC that was Macbeth's neck so it would burst and slop/drip out soaked cabbage pieces that would then run down the stage for the duration of the show. Pretty nice, huh?  

It looks like they're filled with little pieces of bone/tissue, doesn't it? The most satisfying bit was when I went to see the performance, when MacDuff impaled the head and everything came out the audience gave an audible reaction. In that moment, I knew I'd succeeded.

So there you have it! My grad school adventures have been bloody lately, but that's the way I like it :) It'll probably be quite a while before I update again, since I am on the running crew for the musical “Legally Blonde” . So once that starts dress rehearsal I will be there every night until the beginning of November. It’s the longest running show of all the shows this year. I’m also an assistant designer on the fall opera, Hansel and Gretel. So I attend meetings for that (such as production meetings with other design departments and the director, rehearsals, and wig and makeup fittings) during the week in addition to everything else like classes and such. When I’m not in class I help out working on projects for the various shows that we are supporting, styling wigs, scheduling fitting, taking notes, and just general maintenance. I don't call it 'grad adventures' for nothing!

And I shall leave you with this quote:

"I've said this so many times, but there's magic when you have a really good actor in a really good makeup." Rick Baker, makeup artist

Grad Adventures: In Which Shannon Washes a Ton of Wigs

Well. I've officially survived each one of my classes. Really, I've just survived ready a bunch of syllbus's (syllibi? I don't know what the proper plural of that word is - or spell it apparently. Let's just go with 'class outlines') But judging by what is going to be in store over the next semester I'm pretty excited! It's going to be a pretty good ratio of material that I know and material that's new, and I think that's a good place to start and get my bearings.

Also, I got my show assignments for this year! So, this work a little differently here at CCM than they do at at BYU (obviously. I think theater runs a little bit differently everywhere you go.)  Here, you  have the wig and makeup designer for the show, and than 1-3 assistants (depending on how many other students there are in the program and the show's needs/how big of a show it is) Unlike at BYU, they're don't really assist in the design process, they're more like actual assistants. They do paperwork, take notes at meetings, attend fittings, and generally just make things easier and smoother for the designer, and get things done that need to be done. This year us new grad students are only assistants, which I think is really going to be smart because then we can learn and observe and help out and be nice and prepared for next year. It also worked out really nicely that each of us are working on one opera, one musical, and one drama! So getting to do a bit of everything is always a plus.

SO. Here's the big news! I'm working as an assistant on:

Hansel and Gretel (opera)
Peter Pan (musical)
aannnndddd
You're Welcome (drama)

So that's exciting!

You know what else has been exciting? This week in the shop! haha....well I'm not sure if exciting is exactly the right word for it but it's been a whirlwind for sure. This week Kelly (faculty mentor, shop manager, etc) had to go out of town for a job, and so we've all been left with a "to-do" list of sorts of things to get done in the shop while she's gone. Basically we are cleaning up and organizing the shop so that we can be ready for the school year. While it's been super helpful because I now know where a lot of things are, it's also been a bit tedious at times. Kind of like today, when collectively we washed probably about 50 wigs! It's all things that need to get done, but you know how busy work can be.

But, I learned that I find washing wigs to be pretty darn relaxing! Especially if I can just sit back and be in my zone by myself and get a routine and do it. I mean, despite the ridiculously pruny fingers I quite enjoy it. In the same way that I find filling out forms relaxing. Weird, right?

Well, that's all for now! Here's the quote I leave you with:

"The more he gave away, the more delighted he became" - Marcus Pfister, The Rainbow Fish

Grad Adventures: In Which Shannon Signs up for Classes

Well, I've officially enrolled at the University.

I'm pretty stoked about it.

First, I went to an orientation meeting with all of the new grad students here. It was all basic stuff like security, when the buildings lock, how to register for classes, ID cards, etc. But I did learn some interesting facts. For example: 1,000+ students applied to the Grad School here, roughly 400 were accepted, and around 250 decided to enroll here. It's crazy! I had no idea that this college was so popular. Also, my college is part of 12 different colleges that make up the University as a whole, and there are a little over 1,200  students total in my particular college, which includes Music, Dance, Theater and Voice. So basically, it's small and selective and I'm very excited.

I also learned that I am one of 3 new grad students to the Wig and Makeup design program. All three of us come from different places as far as our educational background is concerned, and so I think it'll make for a really interesting semester and set of classes. It'll be neat to see how all of our different strengths work together and diversify the shop environment. One of the girls has her undergrad in visual arts from this university and took some of the intro courses to the program last year when she was finishing up her first degree and the other finished her undergrad 2 years ago and has been working professionally as a stage director for the past 2 years, so that's really neat too. We're quite the bunch! Like I said, they both seem pretty nice and that's good because I'm pretty sure it's just the three of us in all of our classes this semester. Which is crazy to me (talk about small class size).

THEN I got to register for my classes. I AM SO EXCITED!! That's the sweet thing about being in grad school - all of my classes are makeup related!! WOOHOO!! I'm going to be living in the shop, and when I'm not in class I'm required to put in x amount of hours in a week working there. It's a pretty sweet deal. After taking time away from makeup this summer I didn't realize until today just how much I was looking forward to getting started back in the theater again. It's definitely in my blood. This semester I'm taking:

Hair History
Makeup I
Wig Making and Styling I
Makeup and Wig Design I
Prosthetics
Approaches to Production (it's like a seminar with all the new Theater Design and Production grad students from all the disciplines that slightly differs depending on which professor is teaching it)

and while that amounts to 18 grad credit hours (AHHHH!!!) my faculty advisor said that there isn't really any out of class homework for these, so while it's a lot of class time, it's not too bad outside of the classroom. But, we can't forget to include time spent working on actual productions ;)

Speaking of which, I should be getting my design assignments soon! I will definitely update as soon as I know what those are :)

Well, that's all for now folks! Here's an arts/makeup quote to close us out:

"I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people" Vincent Van Gogh

Film for Thought: First Blood

Over this holiday weekend, I decided to have some bonding time with the one and only Captain Cheesebeard (otherwise known as my brother). And what better way to bond with him than with some Sly Stallone. amiright?

Now, since having been converted to the faith of Rocky Balboa over this past Thanksgiving break (saying that I like Rocky is a gross understatement. I mean, the Rocky theme song is now my ringtone) I was informed by the prestigious Captain that the next step would be to meet Rambo. So, as we sat down to celebrate all things American (like freedom, and weapons) by watching First Blood. What I expected was a movie with big guns, lots of killing, little story and a lot of blood. While I was correct about the big guns part, what I got was something far more meaningful. 

Now, instead of a breakdown of highlights like the last film, I'm going to take more of an overall approach to this film. Buckle up.

Of course, being me, one of the first things I noticed in the film was Sly's wonderful head of hair, and gloriously period haircut. He was looking good.

After commenting as such, my brother said to me "Yes. This movie is a product of the times, in more ways than one". Boy was he right. 

Rambo's not a man of many words, and after learning that his last remaining war buddy died from cancer (To which Rambo later comments, "Poor Berry, he was killed in Vietnam and didn't even know it". Darn you Agent Orange!) He proceeds to just start walking. And my heart went out to him. Poor guy. He just wants to get something to eat.

Enter small town cop, who harasses him for no good reason, calls him a vagrant, and drives him to the edge of town where he tells him that "30 miles north" there's a place he can eat. 

We hate him.

Rambo is like "screw this, I'm hungry" and jerk cop arrests him for "resisting arrest" aka "for no good reason other than he's a Vietnam vet and I don't like him". 

Next we witness a deeply disturbing sequence of police brutality at its finest. They start out simple with verbal abuse and forcing Rambo to put his fingerprints down on paper (Captain Cheesebeard's favorite scene). However the real trouble begins when our friendly neighborhood bad cop decides it's time to"clean him [Rambo] up" 

 They hose him down with a fire hose.

They beat him into submission

And they choke him out in order to "give him a shave",  just to name a few.

After being terrible human beings, the police's brutal treatment of Rambo causes him to have PTSD flashbacks of being a POW in Vietnam (Poor Rambo!)

He then proceeds tear up all the cops in the whole police station and make a run for it. 

And so it begins. 

*Side Note*

First off, this should have been their first clue. Not only is the guy covered in scars that one can only assume he acquired during the war (by torture), the man's a beast. I MEAN LOOK AT HIM. 

Do crazy angry cop and skinny ginger cop really think they're going to have the upper hand when it comes down to it? They should've just listened to him. 

 The chase takes us into the woods, and we still don't know anything about Rambo except that he's scared, traumatized and probably able to kill all of these cops by looking at them sideways but he's shown massive restraint and chosen not to. Now at this point, I'm royally upset. I mean - talk about injustice! Rambo is a freakin' hero (or so I assume since he's the only surviving member of his company) and these cops just won't give him a chance. They won't stop and listen to him or talk to him. Once again, my brother reminds me, a sign of the times. People back then were anti-war and anti-war mean anti-government and anti-government meant anti-soldier. While today it's hard for us to follow such logic, that doesn't mean it wasn't real. Many of the protestors had no idea that a majority of those soldiers were drafted, and had no choice in what they were required to do once they got to Vietnam. They fought because they had to, and when they came back home not only were they treated like dirt by civilians, but by other veterans too. People didn't understand that they weren't government puppets in a war they didn't support, but human beings trying to do right by their country. 

See any similarities to today's world? Something to think about.

This brings us to the first, and might I add ONLY, death in the whole film. (In fact, Rambo states multiple times that he doesn't want to hurt anybody, and it's not his fault what's happening) Rambo has been forced onto a cliff, and crazy angry cop is pursuing him in a helicopter. The pilot says it's unsteady and that he should calm down, but crazy angry cop doesn't listen. 

 And he falls to his death in the ravine below. And once again, everyone blames Rambo (THE INJUSTICE!!)

They refuse to listen to him (again) and THEN we learn that not only is Rambo a soldier, but he's a former green beret who was recently awarded the congressional medal of honor for services to they country for what he did it Vietnam. Basically it means, to quote the Captain, "Rambo knows what he's doing in the jungle"

Rambo proceeds to seriously injury every single member of the police force that is sent after him. Until he comes face to face with jerk cop (remember him? Guy from the start of the film? Well he's the sheriff in charge of calling all of these terrible shots) Then we have my favorite line from the film:

Rambo: I could have killed 'em all, I could've killed you. In town you're the law, our here it's me. Don't push it! Don't push it or I'll give you a war you won't believe. Let it go. Let it go!

They don't let it go.

Now, there's a lot of chasing. And a lot of shooting. And a lot of rats. Rambo's former commanding officer from Vietnam, Col. Trautman, even shows up and attempts to talk to both Rambo and the cops ( who don't know what they're doing). SURPRISE nobody listens to him either and, eventually, Rambo makes it back into town and it's time for the final showdown between him and jerk cop. Remember the big guns I was talking about?

Yeah. 

So, Rambo obviously gets the upper hand and is about to kill jerk cop when the Colonel shows up and convinces him not to. And finally, for the first time in this WHOLE FILM, someone stops and actually TALKS to Rambo.

And this is what they get.

Colonel Trautman: It's over Johnny! It's over!

Rambo: Nothing is over! Nothing! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you and I did what I had to do to win, but somebody wouldn't let us win! Then I come back to the world, and I see all those maggots at the airport, protestin' me and spittin', callin' me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me?! Huh?! Who are they?! Unless they been me and been there and know what the hell they yellin' about! 

Colonel Trautman: It was a bad time for everyone, Rambo. It's all in the past now.

Rambo: For me civilian life is nothin'! In the field we had a code of honor. You watch my back, I watch yours. Back here there's nothin'! Back there I could fly a gunship, I could drive a tank, I was in charge of million dollar equipment. Back here, I can't even hold a job parking cars... I can't get it out of my head. I -- I dream of seven years. Everyday I have this. And sometimes I wake up and I don't know where I am. I don't talk to anybody. Sometimes a day--a week. I can't put it out of my mind...I can't...."

And with a freeze frame, it's over. 

So what do we take from all of this? First Blood raises all kinds of questions about the morality of war, the ethical treatment of others, and plain old humanity in general. I certainly did a lot more thinking about myself, my morals, the current state of the union, and how I treat others than I was planning to. I would encourage all of you, if you haven't already, to take to the hour and half out of you summer and watch First Blood. (For my more conservative readers, it is rated R for language so keep that in mind) If you do, I'd love to hear what the movie made you think about in the comment section below. Or if you have any thoughts in this same vein from other movies that you'd like to share leave those too! Active participation in movies is what this blog is all about!

Film for Thought: Step Up

Well hello there. It's been awhile :)

Our film for thought this week is the dance classic, Step Up which I recently watched for the very first time. I KNOW, I know - how could this be the first time I've ever seen this movie?? Honestly, it's because I was under the impression it was terrible (it isn't!) and I'm not generally one for dance movies (I might be now). However, I've been watching A LOT of So You Think You Can Dance lately (particularly season 10 in preparation for the revelation of this season's Top 20) so that, combined with the fact the Jenna Dewan Tatum was a guest judge at the Atlanta auditions led to me finally watching it. 

And here's what I feel compelled to talk about. Obviously there's spoilers. But, the movie came out in 2006 so I figure you've had sufficient time to see it for yourself. 

1. The Fashion

Exhibit A) Channing Tatum's Extra Long Black Wifebeater

For some reason, I just can't get over this shirt. I mean, come on. It makes his torso look abnormally long and lean. And while I'm all about lean torsos, this just...nope. 

Exhibit B) Channing Tatum's Extra Baggy Pants

You may think that those are sweatpants. They are not. They're jeans. And they're SO big and baggy, you think that they are sweatpants. Tatum proceeds to slip all over them the entire scene and look like an idiot. Albeit, and attractive and endearing idiot, but and idiot nonetheless. I was certainly grateful that later on during the several "learn to dance" montages he finds more suitable athletic wear. I mean, I understand that you don't choose the thug life (or in this case fashion), the thug life chooses you but come on Tatum! It's like bringing a knife to a gunfight. 

Exhibit C) The Extra Long Teal Scarf

I MEAN LOOK AT IT. Here it is in all its blue-green beauty. Just looking at it in this simple screenshot causes one to ask the following questions: Does she ever trip on it? How much warmth does it really provide? Do they sell them in different sizes depending on how tall you are?

And many more.

2. The Moments

Exhibit A) Destroying the Theater

As a college graduate with a degree in theater design, this scene hurt my soul. I found myself thinking/shouting various things such as "They're not wardrobe! How dare they touch those costumes!" and "The poor set designers! These hooligans have no idea how much that plaster bust they smashed actually cost" and "Real feather pillows? Wow. They must've had a nice budget" 

Needless to say I had little sympathy for the lot of them when the security cop came in and busted them. All's fair, right?

Exhibit B) The Sunset Kiss that Never Was

Nicholas Sparks couldn't be prouder. Except maybe if they actually kissed.

Exhibit C) Skinny (aka the little brother) Gets Shot

Then I was like "Well. That escalated quickly." I mean, I guess it was kind of foreshadowed at the start of the film that Skinny was gonna get himself into some kind of serious trouble, but SHOT TO DEATH BY A GANGSTA? Wow. Not to mention he wasn't just shot once, you hear like FIVE shots when you're inside the club. That's harsh.

Is it bad that as a makeup artist I was a little upset by the lack of blood? I mean, I know it's gonna keep the PG-13 rating (it may even be PG, I don't actually know) but you couldn't even tell that the kid was shot. The only blood is on Tatum's hand near the end of the scene from where he (presumable) tried to put some pressure on one of what I'm assuming to be multiple gun shot wounds. I mean, at least give me a bloody shirt people! 

3. The Dancing

Exhibit A) The Learning Montage

This is could also be called the "pre 'falling in love montage' montage". I loved every second of it. I mean, look at Tatum - he can barely hold it together and she's so patient and her best friend is all "pssht like you DON'T think he's hot" and he walks her home and they real-talk all while learning her jazzy choreography...

Exhibit B) The Impromptu Line Dance

The minute she asked him to dance I was like "Oh man - a scene where everyone miraculously can dance and they somehow know all the moves. I hate these." BUT they cleverly turned it into a HIP HOP LINE DANCE with Tatum struggling to pick it up just like a normal person. Bravo.

Exhibit C) A Very "Dirty Dancing" Ending

 The whole ending dance sequence was pretty great. I mean, I still felt really awkward watching white gangsta Tatum kind of dance hip-hip (a feeling I had from the get go that never really went away) but since they reconciled their love through dance, I could live with it. 

But I mean, she even pauses before running into his arms where he lifts her up to applause and everything.

Swayze would be proud. 

Honorable Mentions

1. The Sassy Ballerina

As Channing Tatum so beautifully put it "I thought she was going to kill me with her bare hands!" Not only did I love her that instant, but she THEN makes a brief reappearance during the "falling in love" montage! I approve. I mean, look at her. 

2. The Jerk Boyfriend

Here we have a high school student trying to get his big break as a music star who is also a spectacular jerk and ends up screwing over all his friends when he gets signed to a record label solo. Also, he starts out dating Jenna Dewan Tatum but she breaks up with him for being said jerk.

Funny story. This actor is in a movie called The Jerk Theory (which is on Netflix and was filmed in Utah. If you've lived there for any amount of time it's kinda cool cause you'll recognize a bunch of places) where he is high school student trying to get his big break as a music star who is PRETENDING to be a spectacular jerk because his girlfriend left him for a jerk and ends up screwing over all his friends on accident. Also, he dates Jenna Dewan Tatum but she softens his heart and forces him to be the kind, sweet guy he actually is.  

Talk about being typecast.

4. Channing Tatum's Muscles

Thank you.

If Step Up made you re-think social class boundaries or if the extra long teal scarf also raised some questions - I'd love to hear them! Just leave a comment below!