Special feature of 1905 film network After many key extensions, the final box office dust of the 2023 Spring Festival movie was settled.
On May 15th, it closed, with a total box office of 4.029 billion yuan and a total audience of 79.323 million, ranking 10th in the box office list of China film history. At present, the total box office of the two works in the series is as high as 8.716 billion yuan.
In Wandering Earth 2, the roles played by Liu Peiqiang and Tu Hengyu span several decades, and their appearance features have changed obviously. Special makeup has become an important means to help actors improve the realism of their performances. It can make actors age 80 years in one hour. At the end of the film, rapid aging is achieved through special effects makeup.
Here, China Film Report interviewed Four Seasons, the artistic director, Li Zhenni, the supervisor and Zhang Yang, the specialist group of Mona Studio, who is in charge of special effects makeup for Li Xuejian, Andy Lau and Wang Zhi in Wandering Earth 2. Let them take the audience closer to the special effects makeup, a subdivision of the film and television industry.
Another Face of Li Xuejian and Andy Lau
"From the director to the creative team and various departments, it is a perfect detail control. Although the film is only a shot in a few seconds, the director and the teachers of special effects makeup don’t even let go of the hair on their bald heads … …”
On the first working day after the Spring Festival in 2023, Wang Zhi, the actor who plays Han Duoduo in Wandering Earth 2, shared his shooting experience on social platforms. In the film, Han Duoduo’s hair lost due to anti-cancer chemotherapy, not only should he have a bald head shape, but also the makeup of his head, face, hands, legs and feet should have spots and a sense of serious illness.
Among these special effects makeup, Mona Studio is mainly responsible for Wang Zhi’s bald head modeling. Previously, they participated in the bald special effects makeup and so on, and accumulated some experience.
This time, the bald head shape is also made of all-silicone bald head cover, because this material is suitable for one root and one root, which enhances the visual realism. In real life, the bald head caused by chemotherapy will leave some soft and tiny broken hair on the skin surface, unlike the neat one when haircut. Director Frant Gwo didn’t recognize Wang Zhi for the first time after the first bald special effects makeup modeling.
Zhou Zhezhi, the role played by Li Xuejian, is an important figure leading the development of the whole film. In order to present the old feeling of the characters, the special effects makeup artists have not paid less attention to it.
"One of the things we are responsible for is part of the makeup of the head, and part of it is the more aging special effects makeup on the hands of Teacher Li Xuejian." According to the introduction of the four seasons, Li Xuejian’s special makeup in Wandering Earth 2 mainly focuses on the head and hands. In order to highlight the sense of aging of the characters in the film, the technologist made a silicone fake leather for Li Xuejian’s hand. This way is also the most laborious and the most realistic visual effect among all the aging methods. Especially when the actor plays a role older than the actual age, the special effect makeup based on silicone fake skin is the most realistic.
After sticking the fake skin on the actor’s arm with glue, the special effect makeup artist also needs to use the form of half-body painting to highlight wrinkles, blood vessels, age spots and other details that can obviously reflect the age. Among them, the method of highlighting blood vessels is the same as the treatment of facial aging makeup, and it is done by strengthening the shadow part. In real life, Li Xuejian is very thin, and her blood vessels are more prominent after special makeup.
Andy Lau plays the role of special effects makeup, which is more complicated. When the official shooting started, the two sides had communicated three or four months in advance.
In Wandering Earth 2, Andy Lau’s role was scarred by a car accident. The audience needs to perceive the passage of time from the changes in the color depth and shape of eye scars. Compared with legs, back and other large parts of the human body, it is more difficult to make up the special effects of tiny scars on the eyes.
"In fact, we used a backward method at that time. According to the makeup effect of the scar, then push back the degree when he was injured. " Four Seasons said that the tragic degree of Andy Lau’s character’s car accident in the film was inferred according to the results of eye special effects after injury. In order to achieve the best effect, the special effects team conducted repeated experiments and used body double to test the visual effect. After the director is satisfied, let Andy Lau try on makeup.
Because Andy Lau also has underwater scenes in the film, the scar material selection is also waterproof. In addition, in the real world, the color of scars will become lighter with the passage of time. In these details, the special effects makeup artist must do his homework in advance and reflect it.
According to Li Zhenni’s introduction, in Wandering Earth 2, the average time for special effect makeup of Andy Lau’s eye scar is about 40 minutes, and the time for makeup removal is around 20 minutes. Because the eye skin is sensitive, the shorter the makeup removal time, the less influence it has on the actors. In practical work, the key to removing makeup is to protect the actor’s real skin, which has little to do with the time.
Whole process of special effect makeup
The history of China’s film and television special effects makeup appeared as early as the booming period of Hong Kong films. The 86th edition of The Journey to the West is the first masterpiece of large-scale use of special effects makeup in the Mainland.
Up to now, domestic films with high industrial level, such as Wandering Earth 2, have applied special effects makeup technology to perfection. What do you need to pay special attention to when applying special effects makeup?
Actors should try to keep their skin clean and dry when making special makeup on their hands or face. Hand decorations such as nail art also need to be removed.
When applying skin-sticking special makeup to the face, it is necessary to carry out anti-allergic tests in advance in sensitive skin areas such as ears and neck. In the choice of facial fake skin material, platinum silicone is generally used, which is softer in texture and richer in details. When an actor makes an expression, it is more real and natural.
When making fake skin, the makeup artist should first make a 1: 1 plaster model of the parts that the actors need to specialize. Only in this way can we know the real structural proportion of the actor’s makeup parts and the physical parameters such as joint size and width. The special effects artist needs the modeling drawing provided by the director to choose the scope of taking the model. For example, the actor’s sleeves need to be completely rolled up in the split mirror, so the hand mold should be taken near the elbow before it can be used.
After gypsum modeling and sculpture, it is necessary to carve wrinkles, pores and other details. This is the turnover stage. After the mold is finished, the staff will squeeze the filling materials such as silica gel to form fake skin. It is worth mentioning that special effects makeup artists need to choose similar silicone colors according to the actor’s skin color in advance.
Next, the place where the actor sticks the fake skin needs to be brushed with glue. When the glue is semi-dry, stick the skin. The position of the patch needs to be accurate, otherwise it will contrast with people’s normal visual experience and weaken the sense of reality.
After sticking the skin, the staff also needs to melt the edge of the fake skin, and the edge is followed by the edge. The main purpose of this operation is to ensure that the skin texture at the junction of fake skin and actor’s real skin is true and natural. This is also the most important link in the whole special effect makeup. After the edge melting, the makeup artist needs to paint the fake skin more finely.
In practical work, it is easier to achieve special effects makeup that is older than the actor’s real age, and vice versa.
"Before a crew filmed The Journey to the West, they wanted to invite the actor who played Guanyin Bodhisattva back and asked me if I could paint it as 86. After reading the photo of the actor, I said it was impossible because her facial structure had changed. " Li Zhenni bluntly said that this situation can’t be accomplished by special effects makeup. At present, the most common solution at home and abroad is digital face changing, which meets the demand of facial modeling that the character’s age is much younger than the actual age.
From the 86th edition of The Journey to the West to Wandering Earth 2, behind the continuous improvement of China’s film and television special effects makeup technology is the overall improvement of the domestic film and television industry. In the future, the audience will see more domestic blockbusters showing China’s special makeup technology on the big screen.