Character 5: Sarah

Influence: Dracula, 'editorial girl' zombie shoot, 'renaissance shoot'.

I wanted this character to be more glamorous than gruesome, as they are in old black and white horror movies, so I can show a contrast amongst my designs. I followed the dark shading under the eyes to represent bruising from a black eye, as in one of the make up stages in the 'editorial girl' zombie shoot. This is a dark edgy look and is more editorial as there is no blood. I decided to give her the other contact lense, and by creating a deep shadow under the eyes, the one contact lense will stand out more because of the contrast of black and white. I experimented beforehand using aqua color, grease and powder. I found the grease blended with powder was most intense and effective; it was also easy to blend without causing a mess. I darkened the eyebrows giving them more structure and shape as I did in the 'renaissance shoot' only more subtly as I didn't want to create too much attention to the top of the eyes, only the bottom. I wanted her to look paler than the other zombies in contrast, and give her dark gothic features. I based her black lips, dark shading onto the contours of her cheek bones, and big eyes on the 'renaissance shoot' . I wanted to use big black eyelashes for the trailer as they would stand out more on film, and from a distance.

How I applied the make up:

I began by mixing a third of her normal skin shade with two thirds of white Mac coverage which gave a natural yet extremely pale tone on her face. I blended this right down her neck and chest, and round her ears so it was even and set it with powder. I began on the eyes, blending a line of greasepaint on the top eye with black powder to create a smokey look and the same on the bottom however much more exaggerated. I blended a purple powder shading into her cheekbones, highlighting the top with a light pearl colour to give a sense of depth. I very carefully painted her lips dark purple making sure that it was extremely precise and even. I then darkened the eyebrows with a dark brown shadow so that it was very dark but not as harsh as black. I wanted the eyes to be bigger balancing out the dark shading on the bottom so I placed big thick black eyelashes on with duo adhesive as it stays on the best. I chose Sarah as the other person to share the white contact lense with because she also, had a extremely symmetrical look and the one lense gave her a strangeness that stood out on the 'simple' make up. I finished off by back combing her hair and giving it plenty of volume - wild but more editorial.

Were there any problems?:

Yes! I had finished Sarah's make up and was finishing my sixth character, when I turned round to find that she had poured red food colouring (that Anthony had brought to create a pool of blood on set if needed) all over her neck which looked terrible as it was pink. I was absolutely furious because all the designs had been meticulously created beforehand and this particular design was to be more editorial with no gore and wounds, consequently no blood!

As this was food colouring it stained the skin pink, and there was no point in spending the time trying to remove it as we were on a tight schedule. Therefore I had no choice but to correct it slightly by using a deeper blood and adding splatters to her jumper, to make it look like she'd had physical contact with another zombie, but her face remained clear. I had to remain professional and bite my tongue, although on a professional shoot I'm sure the actor would not have done this.

What would I do differently:

I would have extended the make up on her eye lids further and maybe taken it into the eyebrows as although I wanted her make up to be less zombie-character based and more subtle, it could have been exaggerated slightly more for film. I would have explained in advance that all the make up had been specially designed, and no-one should touch, or add anything! Especially food colouring!!!!