MMA&A NEWS: JULY 06
Written by Rachael Thompson
Sydney Workshops with Acclaimed SFX Artist
Just returned from a two-week intensive workshop, a group of our Advanced Diploma students have many news skills to add to their repertoires.
Working under the guidance of Creative Director and Oscar nominee, Dave Elsey, at Image Creative Partnership in Sydney, the team were put through nine hours a day of demanding training in prosthetic application and colouring techniques.
Using foam appliances cast from the original movie moulds, the team created their own 'Grinch' makeups as well as scar-worn faces from Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
We may be seeing some great careers on the horizon because over the course of their training, each student was skills-tested for possible future employment with the studio.
Image Creative Partnership is a company of designers, artists and technicians who specialise in creature character design, animatronics, prosthetic makeup and costumes for film and television. Their credits include Farscape, Alien 3, The Ring, Casualty and the long list goes on and on.
Media Makeup trainer Bec Cochrane went over to checkout the students' work in Sydney and, while she was there, squeezed in some specialised training herself, in hair and wig knotting. These skills will be brought back into classroom for Certificate IV level students to take advantage of in 2007.
The first round of Image Creative Partnership workshops were an overall success, forging a great link between Adelaide Media Makeup students and possible future employment in the greater film industry.
For more information on Image Creative Partnership go to www.imagecreative.net
Keep reading after this gallery of character designs!
Big Budget Movie with Big Budget Makeup in SA
The South Australian film industry is growing, and with it, so too are opportunities for employment.
Ten Canoes, The Caterpillar Wish and December Boys provided many of us with work, but now here comes a movie with a high demand for special effects.
AntiGravity is a film by Ian "James" Colmer, who last year won the FILM PRODUCERS GUILD AWARD for Best Special Effects in Film, plus quite a few other notable awards, will be taking his US-funded $20m film into pre-production in October, based out at the South Australian Film Corporation.
Colmer's recent Feature Film work includes SUPERMAN RETURNS, HOUSE OF WAX, SEE NO EVIL, AQUAMARINE, THE PHANTOM, STREETFIGHTER, SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND, TALES OF THE SOUTH SEAS, JOEY plus many more.
He has also just released a book about the making of the alien he created for the Bollywood film that won five awards.
Best of all though, his specialised talents are here in Adelaide right now and we are working towards exploiting them for Media Makeup students soon! This would be in the form of workshops - from advanced lifecasting, mouldmaking, sculpting techniques, airbrushing, to animatronic design. Keep posted for more news...
Meanwhile, murmurs say Colmer is looking to open up a studio over here in the next year or two. This could be very good news for Media Makeup students and Alumni indeed.
For more information on AntiGravity, go to www.antigravitymovie.com
Careers Expo
What a great turnout at our Media Makeup stand at the Careers Expo on 26th and 27th May, at Adelaide show grounds!
The response was fantastic, with busloads of school kids turning up (most of who left with tattoos little dragons and Japanese symbols tattooed all over them) and lots of people looking for a career change.
We'll look forward to seeing some of those in attendance in the future, either through our SACE Certificate II in Makeup Services course or other certificate courses.
On the Catwalk
The Media Makeup boardroom has been well utilised as a photographic studio and now it's about to be fitted out with catwalk lighting as well. This means that for all future in-house fashion parades, students will get the chance to work with professional lighting.
Mediamakeup are now on 