Showghouls
Kate Barker investigates how the ghastly ghouls in The Haunting of Amphipolis are brought to life.
Official Xena Magazine: Issue 13
The supporting cast of The Haunting of Amphipolis includes a number of zombie-like ghouls, complete with ragged clothing, yellow and orange eyes and bits of flesh that look as if they're about to drop off.
In charge of creating this charming look is Melanie Tooker of Los Angeles-based KNB Effects Group, which has a workshop in New Zealand. Characters like the ghouls may only have a short time on screen, but from what Tooker says of the creative process, it takes considerably more time to get the creatures in question to the stage of being able to be filmed.
“The whole process starts with a human life-cast,” explains Tooker, speaking in this case about two ghoul extras who only have prosthetic ghoul make-up on their faces and hands. There are also stunt men who are fully dressed in rubber ghoul suits for the underwater pit scene with Renee O’Connor.
“Getting the life-cast is a process involving the actor having a cast done from his or her face, or whatever body part is needed,” Tooker points out. “From that life-cast, you get a negative mould, then a positive one, which is in stone or whatever other cement we use. It sounds rather complicated, but it’s not if you know what you’re doing. With the stone positive mould, you just take some clay and make a sculpture. You might have a design that someone had made earlier of how the finished mask will look, so you go from that. From there, you’ll take a positive of the person from the negative of the make-up, and use foam latex to put in the middle, then bake it.
“Basically, we start out with a sculpture that’s moulded, and we end up with a foam latex piece that the actor wears. You could do something quicker if you needed to,” Tooker adds, “but all together the process usually takes about a week.”
It can be a little more simple if the effects team use part of the existing stock of monster-make-up pieces. “For a lot of these types of characters,” says Tooker, “we’ll end up using generic pieces. We keep a few of the sets of contact lenses on hand. For instance, for this episode, the director wanted bright colours like yellows and oranges, and we needed more so I had some shipped over from LA. It's a collaboration of what we use here and what is sent over from the States.”
Tooker also reveals that the ghouls’ contact lenses, which are a little oversized, tend to dry out frequently. Two of the extras, Lutz and Sarah, are sitting in chairs off-set, having eye drops carefully applied as they wait patiently for their turn on set.
It’s hard work for the actors and extras too. In The Haunting of Amphipolis, Lutz and Sarah went through a two-hour process as they slowly underwent their ghoulish transformation. In their case, some of the make-up was simply painted on while separate pieces like faces and hands were moulded out of latex and custom-fitted. Therefore, as Tooker explains, on any one day, the extras could be in their ghoul outfits for up to 12 hours.
This also causes slight problems for the effects team; the longer the latex and paint is worn, the more it needs to be touched up. “After 12 hours the make-up needs some major work,” Tooker reveals. “If someone perspires, it wears out the make-up from the inside. Often our staff will take two or three hours to make someone up and it’s only on camera for a few seconds. But potentially, they could still be in their costumes for the whole day.”
Water can have disastrous effect on the make-ups, too. In the scene where Gabrielle is getting mauled by ghouls in a water-filled pit, a great deal of the costumes and make-up is going to get wet. “Basically, no kind of make-up is wholly waterproof,” Tooker notes. “There are some that are water-resistant, but they will eventually come off. Another main concern is that the foam latex is essentially a sponge, so if it gets soaked enough it will eventually break down. Later on in the day, we’ll be needing to do some major touch-ups.”
With the make-up process outlined, you have to wonder just what it actually feels like to be on the other side of the make-up. Lutz is wearing a fetching ensemble of latex facemask, painted, and latex hands, and very eyecatching yellow contact lenses. “Have you ever been scuba-diving?” he asks, by way of explanation. “It's very much the same, as if you’re wearing a head mask. You can move your skin inside it, but not as much as you could otherwise. It’s also not as warm as you’d expect, but then it is winter here…”
“You know it’s there,” Sarah adds, “but it doesn’t feel that bad.”
What about those contact lenses? They look very impressive from the outside, but it's a little different when you’re trying to see out of them. “It’s funny,” Lutz says, “they blur your vision slightly. Whatever colour your contact lens has, you see in that overlaying colour.”
Sarah agrees. “I see a little less,” she admits. “It’s darker, because my eyes aren't used to contacts.”
“It does impair your speech slightly,” adds Lutz, the ghoul mask making him sound like he has a lisp, “because your muscles don't move as much as they usually do. Meals can be a little difficult in these get-ups too; the facemasks basically require that everything must be drunk through a straw!”
Sarah laughs at this comment. “You’re likely to dribble over the latex though...”
With all that work, the finished product may only be seen on screen for a few seconds. But at least Lutz and Sarah don’t have to go through as much as the stunt men. In the watery pit scene, Gabrielle is dragged under the water and attacked by ghouls, and these attackers must wear more than rags and paint. “There are two characters with creature suits,” Tooker reveals. “That’s feet, hands and full latex suits. They’ll be handling Renee, and because they're stunt men, they’re a little more used to the conditions.”
Not that not being stunt people lets Sarah and Lutz off the hook. “These two will definitely be in the water,” says Tooker with a grin. “Today, everyone gets wet!”