Mike Peel – SFX Make Up Demo

The Make Up stand

My last official blog topic of the day was the SFX make up demonstration with Mike Peel.

Mike Peel’s Demo

Mike says recently he has often been working on zombie make up (when you do something well once, everybody wants that from you) but he also does other gore, creatures, elves, etc.

He says that he has a number of core items in stock, ready for when film makers approach him, including severed heads, severed limbs and plastic penises (bizarrely enough he gave 3 examples of when he has been approached for such items recently, including a nice anecdote about a possessed scarecrow that doesn’t take kindly to a drunk boy weeing up him, and even a film in which an aspiring actor has a penis ‘surgically attached’ to his head to get more work and recognition).

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The demo included putting a prosthesis onto a volunteer’s face, and using a substance 99% alcoholic (no, it’s not a good idea to drink it, it will kill you…) to melt the edges of the silicone to the face to blend it. He then blended it with flesh coloured powered paint mixed with water, before bringing in the blood.

Tammy’s final look

Volunteer make up model Tammi Nowell says “I’ve got a school photo on Monday, I hope it comes off!”

Mike’s first big goal of seeing his name up in the credits at the cinema was realised with the release of the film The Decent. He says his next big ambition is to work on Star Wars.