Top 5 examples of make-up in films I love...

Below is a list of five films which stand out to me as having great make-up...

5. The Pirates of the Caribbean series

Every time I watch these films I can never see Johnny Depp in Jack Sparrow... not only is his acting flawless and he totally takes on the character, his make-up almost completely disguises any trace of Depp. He is given a tanned complexion and heavy eyeliner, simple yet extremely effective. His facial hair adds to the pirate-y look and the wig department did great in making his hair look unique!

All of the make-up is very plain and simple, suitable to the time of when the film is based. A lot of the characters who are portrayed as being quite poor have make-up on them to create an effect of having dirt on them, they wouldn't have looked too clean and pristine due to the lack of bathing in these days. You can see the difference in wealth between Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley's characters not just through their costumes but also their makeup.

4. rec.

rec. is a horror movie about zombies. I love the make-up in this film. It's all really gory. The woman above has just been caught eating another person, all the blood on her face is there to emphasise this... if you look closely you can also see her veins are all red in her head down onto her shoulders... This looks great to me as it shows the blood from her victim rushing through her veins and as she's a zombie she is so pale that her skin is now almost see-through.

3. The Conjuring

The Conjuring is still in the cinema so it's hard to find any really good photos to show what I'm talking about on the internet but the make-up in the film is awesome. It's the first film I saw since starting to study make-up and I couldn't help but stare at the bruises in between hiding behind my hands at the scary parts. You see the change in the mother through the film, more towards the end, when **SPOILER ALERT** she begins to become possessed. Throughout the film you see her body to begin to bruise and they have to be the most realistic movie bruises I've saw to date. Once I can get decent photos of the bruises I will be adding them into my folder of research!

2. Jumanji

At first in this section I was going to focus on Peter turning into a monkey...

And then I found this meme while researching...

Mind blown. I had no idea! This just highlights how great the makeup really is in this film. For the dad/poacher - different tones of makeup, added facial hair and wigs can really make a difference and completely change how someone looks. The make-up looks so subtle however so much has changed. And going back to Peter, it's great how prosthetics and some facial hair can alter a human face to look ape-like, I always thought it was amazing when I was younger how they managed to turn him into a monkey and the effects still look great to this day.

Alec Gillis is the special makeup designer and creator for Jumanji. He has also worked on films like Alien and Scary Movie 3.

1. Saw

And now my favourite. I love the Saw films! Especially the first one.

I love how the make-up adds to the shock horror of the film. The above photo is after Glover saws off his leg, he has lost a lot of blood therefore a lot of colour in his face. I love how pale he looks as he is close to death... and he looks it! The Saw films are no strangers to blood, they use a lot of it but the right amounts depending on the wound, they never go overboard it's all seems very real.

Scott Eddo was the make-up artist for Glover. He also worked on the Die Hard and Predator films as a makeup supervisor, designer and creator.

College so far...

I signed up to the course quite late. After returning from working in Ibiza for 11 weeks I applied on the college website for the course and attended the open day soon after. After meeting Morven - the head of department - I was really excited about starting the course and was happy I finished my summer season abroad when I did so I could start getting on track with my future career! I was looking forward mostly to the SFX part of the course as it always amazes me how the sight of fake blood and wounds during a horror film can make a whole cinema squirm as if it's real and we're watching a documentary.

My first impressions of the college and course are that it's great. The college is easy to find your way around and is so easy to get to from where I live. Everyone in the class are really friendly and we all get on well. Our lecturers are really awesome at what they do, I just can't wait to get more stuck into the course! 

So far my favourite thing that we have done is creating cuts and bruises. I always wondered how it was done so I'm glad I now know and can hopefully keep getting better at it. The only thing I'm not a fan of is that our timetable so far has us in one full day and three half days. It doesn't sound much but when you're working as well it can be very tiring and the extra costs for transport are pretty unnecessary considering we could be in fewer days. It's early days yet so hopefully this will all be sorted soon!

If I was to pinpoint the funniest moment in college so far... it'd be quite difficult. I'd say every Tuesday in Donald's class is the funniest as while we blog etc you never know what we'll end up talking about from debating whether lettuce has a taste to how much we dislike Bieber.

I want to be a MUA as I have always been interested in make-up from a young age. I was one of THOSE girls who raided her mum's make-up bag then pretended to be a Spice Girl.... 

Now that I'm older, when I watch things from Gossip Girl to horror movies I find myself looking at the make-up and being amazed at either how pretty or hideous it can make people look. I'd love for someone to look at something I've worked on and think that about my work!