When we think of our all - clip favoritemovies , we often marvel at the way that the star seem so utterly credible in their role — and how they handle to transform themselves at times intomonsters , robots , supernatural being , talk apes or other fantastic puppet .
But moving-picture show is a visual metier , and even the most nice playacting is not enough by itself to sustain the conjuration . That ’s why Hollywood has long swear upon an elect cell of makeup and special - effects artists , who practice powder , paint , latex , siliconeand in recent age , computer to convert us to debar our disbelief .
As Jack Pierce , the makeup creative person who turned Boris Karloff into Frankenstein ’s monster , once explain , " The sole understanding for any make-up , and particularly a part makeup , is not to predicate the acquirement of the artist or the histrion , but to aid assure the story " [ source : TCM ] .
The role of makeup artist is so of the essence that since 1981 , the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded an Oscar statuette for serious make-up ( hairstyling was added in 2012 ) . Before that , awards were given occasionally for achievement in that category .
So without further ado , here are 10 of the most groundbreaking use of goods and services of particular effects physical composition to produce memorable movies , give in chronological order .
10: ‘Phantom of the Opera’ (1925)
Lon Chaney , one of the smashing actors of the silent era , was famed for doing his own detailed make-up , which he examine as the ultimate way to reveal the inner life of his type . " As a man ’s face reveals much that is in his thinker and heart , I attempt to show this by the makeup I use , " he onceexplained .
so as to portray a tormented , disfigure wraith who becomes obsessed with a beautiful youngoperasinger , Chaney altered his cheeks with a compounding of cotton andcollodion , a viscous liquidity that creates the appearance of scarred cutis . He also attached a strip of fish peel ( a fragile , translucent material ) to his nose with tone gum to create an upturned effect , and apply dark eyeliner to give himself a hollow - eyed appearance . The upturned nose was further enhanced by a wire tend from the tip of his nozzle to under his bald cap , which often devote himnosebleeds[sources : TCM , Ebert , IMDB ] .
9: ‘Frankenstein’ (1931)
Bela Lugosi , who had star in the stage version of " Frankenstein , " twist down a role in director James Whale ’s big - projection screen version , in part because he image the makeup would be too Byzantine . alternatively , it was Boris Karloff who had the honor– and irritation – of being transformed by make-up director Jack Pierce , who used technique that had never before been employed . Pierce gave the behemoth his trademark flattened head with a rubber skullcap , cotton wool and spirit gum [ source : TCM ] .
One of his most elusive but ingenious tricks was to give Karloff ’s skin color a greenish tone , which the lightlessness - and - white film translated into a deathly gray on the screenland [ sources : Hechinger , Chase ] .
8: ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’ (1954)
TheGill - Man , a sort of nautical version ofBigfoot , is one of the most striking monster in Hollywood account , in part because the forcible feature film of lizards , batrachian and eels are engraft bizarrely onto a human - like form . The costume endure by actor Ben Chapman in the teetotal - land scenes was created by makeup artists Bud Westmore and Chris Mueller and designer Milicent Patrick [ informant : IFC ] .
As Chapman recalled in a 2000 audience , becoming Gill - Man require putting on a rubber-base paint , one - piece dead body stocking , to which the artists laboriously affix musical composition of foam natural rubber , a procedure that took two to three minute . The causa did not allow his hide to catch one’s breath – not a trouble when they were take him on the back lot since he could spend the day in a pool . On soundstage shot sidereal day , a human would hose him off until his dead body temperature returned to normal [ source : Gourley ] .
7: ‘Planet of the Apes’ (1968)
John Chambers worked in a military hospital as a creator ofprosthetic noses , chins and other consistency part for disfigured patients , but finally determine that he ’d had enough disaster and go to Hollywood to become a highly sought - after physical composition artist . His genius was on showing in " Planet of the Apes " for which he pull ahead the first Oscar ever given for makeup .
In creating the simian inhabitants of a future dystopia , Chambers made individual mold of each of the actor and then used them to make foam masks that were carefully glued to their face with spirit gumwood . That became a theme for him to hold make-up and onslaught apelike foreheads noses , ear and other feature make of latex , phoney teeth and pelt wigging . The sly part reportedly was modifying the back talk so that the actors could talk naturally , without sounding like voices arrive from deep down of a cavern [ author : Hollywood.com , Russo et al . ] .
6: ‘The Exorcist’ (1973)
In his 45 - year career , makeup wizard Dick Smith created a imitation blood recipe for " Midnight Cowboy " that is still in habit , aged Dustin Hoffman nearly 100 year for the film " petty Big Man , " and invented particular dentures to give Marlon Brando his jowly appearance in " The Godfather " [ source : Grow ] .
But perhaps the ultimate example of Smith ’s virtuosity was " The Exorcist , " in which he transform cute lilliputian Linda Blair into a fiendish , puke - spew wraith . For the celebrated scene in which her character ’s promontory spun wholly around , Smith meticulously crafted a fiberglass version of her noggin , capable of rotate 360 degree [ source : Yardley ] .
One of Smith ’s technique was to make his actors ' mask out of several layer molded on their face rather than out of a single piece . This scheme is now the norm in Hollywood [ rootage : Yardley ] .
5: ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1978)
Pittsburgh - base Tom Savini , who build up his noesis of anatomy and wounds partially through his work as a combat photographer in Vietnam , create the iconic decaying , disheveled zombies for George Romero ’s low - budget classics , as well as the grim ways in which they were dispatched .
renowned for working on the cheap , Savini create all the gory especial effects for " Dawn of the Dead " for just $ 15,000 ( include materials and his help ' wages ) . For one of the film ’s most hideous here and now , he painted a pop straw silver gray to make it wait like a screwdriver being driven into azombie’sear . Savini perish on to work his magic on another horror classic " Friday the 13th " ( parts 1 and IV ) [ source : Konow ] .
4: ‘American Werewolf in London’ (1981)
" American Werewolf"fascinated audiences in part because of the extensive close - ups that showed the protagonist ’s agonizing transmutation , as his physical structure sprouted fur , his hand changed into paws , and his torso shifted excruciatingly from biped human to four - legged wolf . It ’s even more awing to gain that this illusion was created in the movie without today ’s information processing system - generated special personal effects .
Instead , makeup virtuoso Rick Baker– who once worked as an assistant to Dick Smith – plan a series of transitional make-up jobs for whizz David Naughton . Thanks to a little film editing , they made it appear that the better-looking thespian was morphing into a hirsute gentleman - beast . Baker ultimately advance an Oscar for his work on the horror hit that inaugurated the yearly Academy Award for accomplishment in composition and hairstyling [ sources : Steiger , Hollywood.com ] .
3: ‘The Fly’ (1986)
Fordirector David Cronenberg’sremake of the fifties sci - fi repugnance pic , physical composition artists Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis bit by bit transform Jeff Goldblum ’s character , Dr. Seth Brundle , into a grotesque human - insect loanblend .
Goldblum reportedly had to spend up to five hours in the chair , havinglatexapplied to his fount and body to simulate the creature ’s rough epidermis , boil and misshapen muscle system . The particular effects used to create the human fly sheet ’s gross - out mannerism were often reach with cheap average cloth – the goop that the wight regurgitates , for illustration , was a bare mix of love , bare-ass eggs and Milk River [ informant : Hollywood.com , Burnette ] .
2: ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ (1991)
More than two ten after " Terminator 2 " was made , the shape - shifting villainous android assassinator and the fearsome slaughter that he play in " Terminator 2 " reckon so state - of - the - artwork that it ’s comfortable to assume they were fashioned entirely on a computer CRT screen . But while computers were used on the moving picture , the most startling effect were actually created through the clever function of makeup , example and prosthetics created by the legendaryStan Winston .
One of the most dramatic succession – in which the T-1000 repeatedly reform after have its head and organic structure muff aside by shotgun blasts – was accomplished by building a fibreglass replica of actor Robert Patrick ’s head word , which jump open with the pulling of a personal identification number [ sources : Welch , Stan Winston School of Character Arts ] .
1: ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (2007)
Over the past couple of decades , increasingly advanced computer - generated particular effect have become a staple of multiplex blockbuster . One of the most extensive uses of the technology was in 2007 ’s " Benjamin Button , " a magic Platonism story of a man whoages in reverse . Special effect supervisory program Eric Barba and his squad spend several old age creating an elaborate move - capture system of rules that used 28 cameras and mark of sensors to track the insidious bowel movement of actorBrad Pitt’sface in 3 - D space , so that they would be replicated in several animated elderly version of him .
The event was so convincing that for the first 52 proceedings of the picture show , the Benjamin Button character ’s chief that spectator see is exclusively computer - generated , with " zero real Brad , " as writer , filmmaker and visual - impression expert Lee Stranahan noted in aHuffington Post clause . This CG head was used along with various " eubstance actors " to portray Button in his elderly years [ source : Seymour ] .
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When I was a young reporter in Pittsburgh in the early 1980s , I once had the chance to question makeup and especial - outcome virtuoso Tom Savini . It was surprising to bring out that the person who ’d created the fantastic zombies from George Romero ’s " all in " moving-picture show and Jason from " Friday the 13th " actually lived within walking distance of my flat , in a simple row house in a working - social class Italian neighborhood that he shared with his elderly sire . For someone who dreamed up such grisly mayhem on the screen , Savini turned out to be a pleasant , soft - spoken guy who speak reverently of other makeup and especial - effects master copy ' work – I call back that he was impressed , for example , with the animatronic apes in the 1984 film " Greystoke . "
