Sunset Boulevard (Markeup Artist)

The way actors and actresses appear on screen as their characters is instrumental in achieving the desired look in any film.  Of course casting the right person for the role is the first step followed by having a skilled wardrobe department, but the makeup chair is where the actors and actresses really transform into their characters.  In “Sunset Boulevard,”  released in 1950 and directed by Billy Wilder, Gloria Swanson was cast as Norma Desmond, a fragile washed up movie star who takes a young writer into her home in the hopes they can write a movie that will put her back on the screen.  

Gloria Swanson, seen below in 1950, needed to be made to look older and slightly frightening.  

This was achieved by the makeup artist Wally Westmore who transformed Swanson into Desmond as seen below.  

The changes made to Swanson’s face are subtle, as Westmore explains, “Aging is accomplished by subtle shading and highlighting of features.”  This shading creates depth, giving the impression of wrinkles on a face that may not yet have developed them naturally.  Shadows and highlights must be placed strategically around the face as Westmore describes, “We also shade the lines from exterior of nostrils to mouth, creating a deeper line that normally exists.  We also accentuate the lines between the brows.  In all cases we accentuate the face line by highlighting alongside of the line.  Following this principle we shade over the eyes and between the bridge of the nose and eye.  We shade a good deal darker in the corner close to the nose so that the eye appears more deeply set.”

All of this work was put into creating the distinct look that the character of Norma Desmond has throughout the film “Sunset Boulevard.”  Without the makeup department or Westmore in particular, “Sunset Boulevard” would have had the feeling that something was missing or that something was just not quite right.  However, the makeup done on Swanson, pulls the film together and makes the character of Norma Desmond believable.

Sources

https://books.google.com/books?id=iEpdlKas2d4C&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=Wally+Westmore+sunset+boulevard&source=bl&ots=ud3MPk7zIt&sig=EGc6tzWcIkEXfJDERGGKCd2qkBg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAmoVChMI6b6OvYCbyQIVyHQ-Ch3xJQLt#v=onepage&q=Wally%20Westmore%20sunset%20boulevard&f=false

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Executive Producer)

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” debuted in 1975 and became a cult classic while on the midnight movie circuit.  The film was directed by Jim Sharman and Lou Adler was the Executive Producer.  “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick.

The film follows a newlywed couple whose car breaks down and causing them to end up in the mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played by Curry.  Once inside the mansion, the couple experience a plethora of unusual experiences.  

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has been the “...longest-running film in history, so it's touched a lot of people," Adler says. "When you look at the grosses of “Star Wars” or “E.T.,”  and you see these enormous numbers, you have to remember “Rocky” went from a cult film to making $150 million when tickets were $3 and $4. So the amount of people that have seen “Rocky” is probably way above that have seen those other films."  With cult classic films, the fans are an instrumental part of the film, as Adler explains, the fans are thought about whenever decisions are made regarding the film, “Some of those people have been with it since the very beginning, so we've looked for their input on when to put out a piece of product, basically everything…”

There are currently plans for a television version “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to be made for Fox, however, according to Adler, the project will not progress unless they can cast it perfectly, “I don't want to do it if it's not going to live up to the way people embraced the movie over the past 40 years. We're not casting an original script; in a way, we're casting ‘Tim Curry.’”   

Adler’s role in the creation of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was instrumental, as Executive Producers oversee the entirety of a production.  This means the Adler was involved in the creation of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” every step of the way.  

Sources

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/rocky-horror-at-40-hear-soundtrack-outtake-read-producers-reflections-20150904

Blow Up (Cinematographer)

    

     “Blow Up” directed by Michaelangelo Antonioni, is the director’s first entirely film done entirely in English.  The movie, an art film released in 1966, was helped along artistically by cinematographer Carlo Di Palma.  Di Palma had been on film sets with his father in Italy for as long as he could remember, and consequently began his film career with focus pull and continuity and worked his way up to being a cinematographer.

    Being a film about art and photography, “Blow Up” extra attention had to paid to shooting the movie artistically.  As Di Palma explains, “Lighting was a very important part of the movie. We had to rig and hide so many different lights for the movie to be shot and look well.”  Along with the lighting, the cameras were given extra attention. “Blow Up” was filmed with four cameras, a first for Antonioni and according to Di Palma, “He was one of the first European film directors allowed to do this.”  However, filming was with four cameras was not exactly a walk in the park for Antonioni and Di Palma.  With four cameras, all with different types of lenses and assorted cranes and dollies, orchestrating the use of four cameras could become hectic quite quickly.  Although filming with four cameras may have had it’s frustrating moments, Di Palma explains that it was a smart move as, “He (Antonioni) had lots of footage to view after each day because many of the scenes in the film were all shot like that. Hours and hours of film.”  These “hours and hours of film” allowed for many options when it came time to cut the film together.

    What continues to make “Blow Up” intriguing to watch is that as Di Palma puts it, “ It was cinema that we wanted to see ourselves.”  This keeps the film interesting to say the least.  Di Palma’s work on the film in conjunction with Antonioni’s direction ensures that this art film, will continue to interest audiences for years to come.PUT IN A VIDEO AND TWO PICS

Sources

http://independentfilmquarterly.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D588%26Itemid%3D119

Eraserhead (Director)

  

     “Eraserhead” directed by David Lynch and released in 1977, was made popular as a midnight movie.  The film has a very specific look to it and took several years to film.  The film stars Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, and Allen Joseph. 

     Lynch had to put much thought and effort into how he could achieve the look he had in mind for “Eraserhead.”  As the director explains, “The look comes about from what’s in front of the camera and how it’s lit. I designed it and built a lot of the things. You just work until you get it to feel correct. I knew what I wanted because of the ideas I got.”  By building much of the sets and props for the film himself, Lynch had an extraordinary amount of control over how the would look once it was completed.  

     The world of “Eraserhead” that Lynch created was one that, while he enjoyed it, not everyone else felt the same.  So how does Lynch feel about the public’s reactions to “Eraserhead?”  According to Lynch, “I would love to live in that world. I loved being in there during those years. Each viewer gets a different thing from every film. So there are some people where “Eraserhead” speaks to them, and others it doesn’t speak to them at all. It’s just the way it goes.”

    With all of the time and effort put into “Eraserhead” by Lynch, it is easy to see why the film has had such a strong impact on viewers, whether they loved the film or hated it.  Lynch's impact on the film is significant, and his contributions to the film create a world that is specific to him and his experiences, regardless of whether he will ever confirm exactly what the film is about or what inspired it.

Sources

http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/david-lynch-interview-eraserhead-midnight-movies.html

Living In Oblivion (Writer)

 

     “Living in Oblivion” was both written and directed by Tom Dicillo.  The film, released in 1995, chronicles the comedic hardships that the crew and cast of a low budget movie have to endure in order to complete filming the movie.  As Dicillo explains, “The film is really a love/hate letter about the mechanics of filmmaking.” “Living in Oblivion” stars Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, and Dermot Mulroney.

     Dicillo has explained that “Living in Oblivion” was not a process that was planned out right from the start and rather he got the idea for the movie while drunk at a wedding reception, proving that you can’t always think up ideas, sometimes they have to come to you.  An interesting part about the writing of this film, is that even though it is a comedic movie, it was written at a time when Dicillo was experiencing the opposite emotion, “It wasn't born out of, "Hey, let me make a funny movie." It really came out of one of the most intense periods of anger and frustration in my career. And, ironically, it turned out to be the funniest movie I've ever made.”

     Getting the film written was only half the battle, Dicillo had issues funding the previous film he wrote, so how was he going to get the money for “Living in Oblivion”?  Dicillo and his wife raised the funds by asking people they knew and by the actors making donations toward the making of the film.  According to Dicillo, “Any actor who put up money got a part. And that is the way the entire film was cast. No one auditioned.”

     Dicillo drew from some of his personal experiences for the film, stating, “Even if you're talking about a character, someone who's not you, you have to find something that is you that you really do believe and that you've really experienced and you have real feelings about, and put it in that character's mouth and in their hearts and minds.”  Nearly everyone who has worked on any sort of film or television set can tell you that sometimes there are days when it feels as if everything that can go wrong is going wrong, which is part of what makes the film so relatable to a class of Radio/Tv/Film majors.  “Living in Oblivion” just wouldn’t be “Living in Oblivion” if it had not been written by Dicillo or if he had not put his experience into the film.

Sources

http://www.tomdicillo.com/blog/trivia/living-in-oblivion-2/

http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/tom-dicillo-on-living-in-oblivion.html