Week 1: Create Alien Bounty Hunters inspired by pictures of space ships.
Walter and Kaleb created a lizard inspired alien. Pretty good sculpt, color, and texture. Top Look.
Njoroge and Rob created a bird inspired alien. Good use of feathers. The judges thought the transition to the beak was abrupt. Safe.
Melissa and Anna had creative shapes to the sculpt and good paint. Top Look.
Johnny and Ant made a creature, they tried for creative shapes but ended up disproportionately odd. Not very good. Bottom Look.
Robert and Katie had an orange lumpy thing. Safe.
Yvonne and Greg came up with a cyborg that didn’t work out. The head is smooth and unflattering shape. Judges didn’t like execution. Bottom look.
Jennifer and Mel’s is okay. Safe.
Winner: Melissa for her sculpt.
Eliminated: Greg. What he did didn’t really work, so what of his got used wasn’t much.
Week 2: Make a whimsical character inspired by an oversized toy.
Walter and Ant made a Racecar. Simplistic in design, nothing inspired. Worst for me, one of the guys claims he has a lot of experience with beauty makeup and that’s stated to Mr. Westmore as their justification for not doing appliances to the face. Then all he did was plain silver. WTF? The judges didn’t like that choice, either, but gave them Safe.
Njoroge and Jennifer made a living crayon. The judges nailed it, it was uninspired in concept, and poorly executed. Monotone in color, all bright yellow. The sculpt should have covered the throat as well and made that more cylindrical if going with that look. And then the fingertips write in different colors. Bottom look.
Anna and Mel took a watch and made a cop who keeps the time for the toys to determine when they can be alive and when they have to play normal. Decent concept for a character from the watch. The execution of the face looks plain, but they actually went more skinlike and put a lot of color variation to give it depth and life. Top look.
Robert and Yvonne take dice and make Board Game Man. They tried to make him an amalgam of board game pieces. The clown face came off creepy instead of fun, the die head made it boxy from the front, and the round game pieces looked rather like giant nipples - which they compounded by putting one on the chest. Bottom look.
Katie and Kaleb had a key, they decided to make a ballerina and use the key look to decorate. The concept was a creative way to not just make a key, however, the execution used poor paint job that was muddy and the key element on her dress was too subtle. Safe.
Johhny, Rob, and Melissa took candy and made a candy store owner’s kid’s imaginary friend of candy. Bright, colorful, whimsical, overall fun. Nice look of lollipops for the hair. One comment was the face wasn’t quite happy, a little depressed. Top look.
Winner: Mel for the watch character’s face paint job.
Eliminated: Jennifer, for her cowl on the crayon not covering the throat.
One should know not to open the thread until after one has seen the episodes. That’s how it’s worked for the past 10 seasons but I see you’ve only been here for one, two at the most.
So glad to see this thread again! (which, btw, we do every season for Face Off and only talk about episodes already aired, so we’re not really in danger of any spoilers).
Does anyone know what’s up with Glenn having a different studio?
Thoughts on Episode 1:
I think I agreed with all the judges for the most part. It is always jarring when one watches the first episode of the new season, because it’s so easy to get used to the really high quality of work from the final episodes of the last season.
The one contestant who stood out for me in a bad way, personality-wise, was Johnny, he seemed really complainy and whiny.
Thoughts on Episode 2: (this one I remember more clearly, obviously I need to get to this thread right away before my memory goes!)
The Racecar: the beauty make up face that ended up being plain silver? WTF?
The Crayon: it should have been obvious right away that a crayon is not “inspired by” a crayon, it is LITERALLY A CRAYON. Too simplistic.
The Watchman: I loved this. To me, it seemed like it could have been from a later-in-the-season episode because it was so good. I think Mel is one of the conceptually smartest contestants we’ve seen.
Board Game Man: This just wasn’t coming together, and neither of the contestants seemed to realize it. The lack of awareness seemed worse than the poor design.
The Key Ballerina: I really liked this one, more than the judges did. I think if it had been just a little less muddy in the paint, it would have been excellent. I liked how subtle it was. It is probably true that while it was based on a toy, it didn’t have a Pee Wee’s Playhouse toy aesthetic, so maybe that should count against it as well.
The Candy Store Lollipop Man: I didn’t like this one as much as the judges … I thought it was more creepy than playful, and the challenge specifically said NOT creepy.
For episodes that aired more than a week ago? Dude if you had them sitting unwatched on your DVR and you open up a thread about them two weeks after they air, what the hell do you think the thread will be talking about?
Because every season, the rest of us flounder around and beg Irishman to do a recap for each episode so we can pin our thoughts to a framework. I know I am not the only one who was thinking this week “oh no, what if Irishman is dead or something, how will we do the Face Off thread?”
Depends on the subject matter. Doctor Who threads have spoilers immediately after being run on BBC America.
Face Off threads have spoilers immediately after the most recent episode, or as soon as Irishman can post them. You’ve been here since Season 7. You should know this.
We don’t discuss anything from unaired episodes. I, personally, try to avoid even the previews they show. If you are going to a thread about a TV show, what do you expect to discuss if not the events that have already aired?
Delphica, I saw that, too. He used to be owner of Optic Nerve Studios, now they list him as owner of Alchemy Studios. I looked it up. He has partnered with Neville Page, and they have expanded the studio offerings.
Is it just me, or does that sound a lot like the model they are using on Face Off, where the contestants are expected to be skilled in all aspects from concept development to sculpting, to application and painting?
Also, I wanted to comment on contestant Richard. He looks and sounds like Adam Savage from the Mythbusters doing his german impression. It’s surreal.
Okay, this week’s challenge: Take an artifact and a spoken sample of a language and develop the long lost alien race that they come from. Somewhat different challenge to use the vocal aspects of the language to see how it influences the design. The guest judge is David Peterson, a guy who makes up fake languages for science fiction shows, including “Defiance” and “Game of Thrones”.
Note for this episode, the models actually speak the language sample that the linguist provided, so this is a first - the models talk.
Walter & Rob: They had some sort of wolf skull artifact. It’s difficult to describe the vocal sample. They opted for a catlike race at war with a wolflike race, so the cats kill and skin the wolves and wear the skins. The face on this one turned out pretty good, looking vaguely catlike but not extreme. The face is also hairless, which is an interesting choice for a cat race. But the headdress is less skilled. The wolf is rough with some odd lines on the neck, but what kills it is that it should be done in fur, or painted as if it’s fur, but it’s not. It’s flat smooth brown texture. Tanned skin with the fur removed? Glenn notes the disparity in the quality of the work. David notes that the language has a lot in the back of the mouth and this character could make those sounds. Safe.
Yvonne & Anna: Their language is very fast spoken sounds, and their artifact is a face mask. They decide their character is a guy who pretends to be a God to control his people, but he’s evil. They make a fancy headdress and face sculpt. Yvonne wanted to cover the clay in beads and jewels, then remove them for the molding, but Anna pointed out it would be a disaster if the bead imprints were messed up or they couldn’t remove them cleanly. So instead Yvonne makes a template with a popsicle stick and textures the headdress, with the jewels just around the edges and as accents. It turned out beautifully done after painting. The face also turns out good, enough to not be human but still basically so, and the paint job is well done. They also made fake teeth, but they didn’t fit right, and so they opt to leave out the teeth. That’s the correct choice, because the lines are quickly spoken and the teeth would have prevented it. David even comments that they did well to not put in anything that would prevent the speaking. Top Look.
Melissa & Katie: Their artifact is a winged statue. They opt for a woman, a mother priestess figure. The good part of their design is how they tie in the wing theme from the headdress and then with body scarrification on the character’s back. Glenn likes that. What isn’t as good is the paint job choice - the white around the eyes doesn’t work. Safe.
Mel & Kaleb: They get a helmet with snakes on it, and the language sample has some shh sounds as well as what sounds to them like sounds on inhales as well as exhales. They take the snake motif and mold a character that has a snakeish face, no nostrils and a smoothed nose, no hair and scales on the head with snake patterns. The ears are different. Mel doesn’t like the ears, but Kaleb does and Mr. Westmore approves of them, so they keep them. Because of the inhalation sounds, Mel crafts an air bladder they put under the neck to inflate and deflate. The only cheesy thing is the scar across the eye that everyone ignores. I expected Glenn to comment on that. The mouth also has two small fangs and the upper lip is pulled back. David says that would interfere with ability to make some of the sounds, but he overlooked it because everything else in the design is good. Top look.
Njoroge & Ant: They go last and get a space gun, and their language has a limited sound palate, which they infer means their species has more developed other senses of sight and sound. They opt to go reptilian like a tree frog. But their design is a mess. Their first sculpts get negative response from Mr. Westmore, cartoony and bad. So they rework the sculpts. Even looking then, it looks bizarre to me, but I want to see what it looks like painted. Nope, didn’t help. They use bright green and yellow, the face looks more like the stereotype of an alien grey with the oversized bulbous eyes, and the ear cowl behind flares out independently from the eyes. Neville comments that the wrinkles in the cowl have no form or purpose. While tree frogs are brightly colored, there should be something to break up the color and give depth. And Ve doesn’t even think it’s reptilian, thinking it’s kinda like a preying mantiss. Worst one by far. Bottom Look.
Robert & Johnny: They get a jug with an octopus painted on it, so they go for a sea creature motif. They opt to make a squidlike being with a big squid head. The note some click noises and Robert suggests that could be from the beak. Watching the sculpt early, I did not like it at all, but once painted it came out better than I thought. They also wanted big tentacles but have trouble fabricating them, so have to drop them. The biggest issue with the paint job is that Robert uses a brighter red on the face than the pinks and purples Johnny uses on the rest of the head, and the beak in black is hard to make out. They were rushing at last minute, so it isn’t as complete a work in paint job as they would like. The judges think they are too obvious with the direct squid head, they face doesn’t fit with the cowl and is too red, and most of all, David says that some of the sounds require two lips, and couldn’t be made with the beak. Bottom look. At least they know it’s a mess.
Winner: Yvonne. The judges love the character overall, and especially the headdress. I have to agree.
Eliminated: Ant. He did the cowl, and that they deem the worst part of this overall disaster.
Also, there’s a 1 time save they haven’t used yet. Still too early in the season to use it, IMO. There are plenty of contestants to eliminate and not enough of a history to see how they really stack up. Save it for a good contestant having a bad week late in the season.
Oh, it’s nice that Glenn and Neville are working together.
I thought last night’s challenge was interesting, combining the artifact with the voice.
On the very first make-up, the language guy started talking about how the mouth of the character could make those sounds … and I don’t think I heard ANY of the contestants really talking about the anatomy of how their mouths worked (as always, maybe they did and it wasn’t shown), except for maybe Mel and Kaleb talking about inhaling and exhaling. So I don’t know if the contestants weren’t expecting to be judged on that, or if they just didn’t get it or what.
It was also driving me a little crazy that Ant and Njoroge kept talking about how their character’s “other senses” would need to be sharper … because “talking” isn’t a sense in the first place. That said, I kind of get what they were going for, that because the language was more limited, the creature might have to compensate for that in some way, maybe with other, non-verbal communications, but they didn’t go in that direction. I guess none of that matters because the make up was not good.
I thought both of the top looks were excellent, I felt like they were very, very close in terms of quality. Personally, I thought the snake guy looked like more of a complete character, and was spooky, too. Yvonne definitely had a solid win, though.
Oh gosh, yes, this! We are mesmerized, in a kind of good, kind of bad, way, whenever this guy speaks. Plus he should feel free to stop with the “Board Game Man!” “Squid Man!” (or whatever he was calling it) – maybe with two bottom looks, he will think it is a jinx.
I always somewhat dislike the “here’s what the character’s language sounds like/what their galaxy looks like/what disaster formed their environment, now imagine the character” competitions, if only because it showcases how little the contestants know about science and biology, but also because they tend to be very subjective in the judging.
So the winner this week was essentially the bad guy from the Star Gate movie. Not bad, but I thought the Egyptian motif was a bit overdone and the winning headdress was more wardrobe than makeup.
The judges seemed unusually harsh when judging the bottom looks. I didn’t think the raygun alien was worse than mediocre, but apparently it had deficiencies that the TV doesn’t really capture. Not surprised that Ant left – he failed to impress in the first three episodes and stood out from the crowd in not a good way. I guess we’re starting to get a reasonable idea of where the talent is in the latest crop of contestants, and some of them are really going to have to step up their game. But so far, no favorites, or any characters that are particularly annoying.
They seem to have dialed back the desire to make Face Off more extreme! and outrageous this season. So far it’s been very paint by numbers. Which isn’t necessarily good, as we’re getting into repetitious territory – team sculpts a design, Westmore trashes design, team despairs, team either overcomes design flaw (last week) or doesn’t (this week).
Didn’t notice the resemblance, but I was struck by how much Greg, the Week One go-home, looked like a grown-up Atticus Shaffer (Brick, from The Middle).
Overall, I’ve been dissatisfied with the results in those kinds of challenges, mostly because the contestants are bad at that kind of extrapolation. In this week’s episode, we had one team that thought about the sounds and made an air bladder but also put teeth that would interfere with the ability to make sounds. We had another team that thought the sounds were clicky and that a beak would be helpful, but totally missed the lip aspect necessary for some of the sounds. You had a third team that was going to put in teeth, but had fabrication issues and omitted them, and that turned out to be the best call because of the model’s need to speak quickly. So the results were kinda all over the place.
However, I think in general this is a good skill that creature designers should have, the skill to think about the environment and how it would affect the results.
I suppose it is fair to think that the headdress was more costume, and could probably have been done with fabric and whatnot more cost effectively for a long production. However, this isn’t the first time the judges have selected a costume element as the winning feature. Season 2 had a crown that “made the character” and won that week’s challenge.
You thought that frog-man lived up to mediocre? I think it is one of the worst design ideas they’ve had on the show. I’ve seen worse messes, but this is bottom 10 for sure.
Eh, that’s the editors for how they craft the “drama”. At least that’s different than the usual “Oh no, I’m behind, how will I ever get done in time?” Or the obvious, “If I don’t do well, I could go home over this.”
I finally watched the 3 episodes I had on the DVR. I’m surprised that it’s been all spotlight team challenges so far. Haven’t they usually had at least one foundation and one individual spotlight by now?
And Johnny looks like Bill from True Blood. In between waiting for fangs to pop out at some point, I’m intermittently flogging myself for being oddly attracted to him. He’s SO WHINY, yet SO ALLURING.
Yeah, they haven’t done any Foundation challenges, which is odd. No individual challenges yet I don’t think is that off. With 12 contestants, individual challenges take a lot of time on the Reveal stage.
I agree that Glenn seemed to create what he’s expecting on Face Off. I wonder what influenced what? Thanks for looking him up as well. Interesting that he and Neville teamed up!
(Now for them to do another Judge’s version!)
Unfortunately, going by memory, I don’t have tons to say.
Robert has been memorable for his accent and attitude but I agree he is going to have to step up his game to get far.
Johnny came off as the most likely to cause drama and throw someone under the bus.
I don’t remember who did it but my wife really liked when, in describing what they did, the person started with what their teammate did, used their teammate’s name, and then described what they did. She thought it was more polite and professional in that order and using the person’s name.
I did think the wolf pelt on the cat looked horrible. I also thought the space lizard was bad. I didn’t have a problem with the headdress winning. I also agree on the person who said they did beauty makeup and then the person was just silver?
So, pretty much in agreement here. I hope to have more specific comments for this week’s!
