If there’s one lesson I’ve picked up from FaceOff about creating makeups, it’s this: Don’t chintz on the paint job! That does seem to be the most important element in the judges’ eyes. Erik-with-the-hair-would have been wise to listen to the advice he was given and leave off the animatronics.
I do get Anthony’s win in this episode - I love that he realized that a Hindu demon is not necessarily the same thing as a western demon, and not necessarily monstrous. And I really like the way the makeup firmly placed the character in an Indian cultural context.
That’s cool! If she has any back-stage stories, that talk about the chaos as seen from the model’s point of view, I’d love to hear them.
Really, if you look at the posts from last season, the models behind the makeup can really, really help sell a bad design. Season 1, it seemed that whomever got the Asian-Tallish-dude got a boost from him, as he loved doing what he was doing. The same thing was true for Tallish-White-Guy, who did the chest-of-drawers-in-his-chest-bellhop. His acting ability put the makeup over the top.
Why, oh why, are people watching spoilers if you don’t want to be spoiled?? You know every commercial is going to show what’s coming up, so why aren’t you fast-forwarding if you’re time-shifting or changing the channel for 30 seconds if you’re not?
Yes, they definitely give too much away and ruin fun surprises with these teasers…which is why I haven’t watched a moment of them all season.
I’ve long-said that they should add a day to the competition. As it is, saying they have “three days” is a joke – their in-shop time is five or six hours on Day 1, 10 or 12 on Day 2, and four hours (plus one) on Day 3. All told, between 20 and 23 hours for everything. Imagine how much better the work would be – and how much more representative of the type of output you can expect from a professional studio – if they had another 10-hour day to work with?
And imagine what an amazing meal an Iron Chef could make in two hours, or how polished a dancing with the stars dancer could be with a routine they’d rehearsed for 2 weeks. But these are competition shows, not exhibitions of raw talent. The time crunch is part of the competition, IMHO. If I want to see perfect FX makeups, I can watch a big budget movie. Face Off is as much about the disasters as the successes, I think.
I have been positively enchanted with this series, because it gives such insight as to the actual construction of the sfx that I’ve enjoyed in movies over the years. The contestants’ choices of foam vs latex vs silicone for the prostheses, the sculpting involved, and the techniques of painting completely captivate me.
Well, I didn’t expect the preview at the end of last season to give away that they were going to be doing a big stunt show in water this season.
But yes, I do fastforward as soon as the segment ends. But there is a moment when I reach for the remote (because I don’t sit there with my remote in my hand and my thumb on the button), and then there are flashes in FFW. Those are still reveals.
I just think that the whole pacing of the show would be better without those.
You’re certainly correct they don’t have three full days to work. It’s closer to two days for creating, and then the presentation. Though if they time their casting correctly they can let things cure overnight.
Yes, the timeframe really puts a challenge on the contestants. They are trying to make whole creatures and full-body makeups with insufficient time. One more day would make a lot of the projects far superior results. But the thing is, the contest is to find out who really has all the skills, one of those being time management and another being able to work quickly but high quality.
That gummy-bear travesty was the WORST THING I’ve ever seen! The costume was falling off! It was HORRID! She needed to go for that.
I guess in-person that the other costume must have been truly crap-tastic.
Personally, I (again) liked Anthony’s design. The Anime character that won was just creepy, but it did fulfill the task requirements better.
I really don’t see the need for the Mustache challenge, although it was very interesting to see.
I liked the Gingerbread House character, but he could have done something like make a gumdrop path to it, and it would have been more interesting.
And I really, really hope wrist-girl goes next week. I’m tired of the whining. I feel bad for her, but good gods, woman! You’re in a field of work that requires consistent, demanding use of your hands! And one of yours does not work! Perhaps you should consider other fields of expertise.
I was very surprised at who they sent home, I though either of the two others in the bottom deserved it more. As for the winner, I thought his design was beautiful and was technically spot-on, the mouth-in-the-belly was more creative and definitely creepy.
I thought the exact same of the bottom three - the one that was sent home was the least bad of three bad designs.
I liked the mouth-in-the-belly concept, but I didn’t think it was technically that great. The design that won, I loved that! It had candy – I was surprised, overall, at how little candy was in the designs – and it looked very complete, both in terms of concept and technical execution.
I was also surprised that so many of the characters were some sort of demon. I guess the show attracts people who have more expertise in horror-type make-up, but I would think with a candy challenge you could really take advantage of having the opportunity to do more playful characters. Weird, because they are made of candy, but not evil.
I also liked the design that one. His makeup color made him look like gingerbread. As to the rest of this season, except for Anthony and the occasional bright spot, most of these people suck. Each week, I yell at the TV that half of them and their crappy makeup should go home. It’s like they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel here. And I’m shocked at how awful that gummy bear thing was. My cat could do a better job. I love this show, but I’m highly disappointed so far. I’d be happier if they’d just spend the entire time showcasing Anthony.
Yeah, I am just shocked at how BAD most of these people are. Their skills are just…abysmal. I mean, when I’M saying your edges are crap, then there’s something wrong because I don’t even know how the hell edges work. Every week has just been one big disappointment after another. As was very accurately said earlier in the thread, there’s a couple of good people, lots of crappy ones and Anthony above and beyond them all.
And I just have to complain…HOW did gummy bear lady make it through? Pieces were falling off, there was no smoothness between the gloves/boots and the rest of the body. Yeah, the lady that left may not have made the best use of time but at least her piece looked somewhat passable.
In case anyone isn’t aware, starting this week they’re running a secondary competition in which one of the losers gets to earn a spot on next season’s show.
That was our feeling as well, and we actually thought Anthony should have won again (but that would start to get boring, so we understand the need for change.) There’s a certain sameness when every freakin’ weak, it’s always demons and zombies and ghoulies. One of the most memorable challenges from a prior season was the identical twins being aged, just to look old. Great make-up isn’t just gore.
Those bottom the were three of the worst makeup jobs I’ve every seen on the show. I agree with the judges decision only in that the losers design was nothing, a couple of poorly applied prosthetics, that’s it? The gummy bear also could have gone easily, but at least she molded a head, some ferry and some hands with candy in then. Still awful, though.
I just can’t believe Gummy Bear lady is still in. That design was atrocious. Just atrocious. If she had been cast in any of the first three seasons, I don’t think she would have made it through the first episode or two.
Remember the challenge in Season 2 (I think) when they had to body paint models into a background? I’d like to see more challenges like that. To see of Anthony and funny hair dude really have range, or are just good scultors.
I can’t decide about Redemption. I wouldn’t expect it to reveal those who haven’t been eliminated yet, but this show doesn’t seem particularly cognizant about protecting reveals. And I’m not sure I want to see any of these eliminated people get another shot. They’re all getting booted for a reason. At least last season when the girl came back, she was the one I wanted to have a second chance, because I didn’t think her rejection was fair.
I liked the beard challenge. Some weird face painting occurring in there.
Overall I agreed with the judges. I thought Anthony’s was better than just “safe”, but oh well.
I absolutely agree that Autumn and her gummy bear was horrid. She can’t sculpt a friggin gummy bear? Hey look, you’ve got a friggin gummy bear right there in front of you. Sculpt that! And the edges were not blended at all, and wrinkly, and the torso part started coming off. Her skill set is dreadful. She should be gone.
I can only justify the actual dismissal on the basis that of the three, she did a pittance of work and it was dreadful. Vs doing more work, but being dreadful.
I expect the next two off to be Autumn and the woman with the bad hand. Not sure which sequence.
I wouldn’t worry about reveals (and no one is more anti-reveal than me – I’m a DVR FF’ing mofo who never watches anything that isn’t “this is what is happening on the show at this very moment”). They’re running one Redemption webisode after every four eliminations, so there’s nothing about those who have not yet been eliminated.
That said, the Redemption is kind of silly at the moment, since the first two webisodes are going to be dealing with the very worst of the bunch. I’m guessing the winner of the spot on Season 5 will be one of the last players eliminated – that only makes sense.
