i have also been doing fx makeup for nearly 20 years (mostly for fun). i was making lifecasts and baking foam latex in my mother's oven in middle school.
Not to be a shmuck, but it also states how amateur an FX artist you are, baking Foam Latex in an oven you cook food in. Thats is a big widely known no-no.Unless your Mom like ammonia as a flavor enhancer in baked foods.
and i completely disagree with you.
No Kidding
first of all jack's makeup almost looked more like makeup than ledger's and it was supposed to be permanant. on that basis alone i would say ledger's looks better because it actually looks like what its supposed to be.
[ But that make-up fit the character, as he was presented in the comics for 60 years. Ledgers design is a major departure from that cosmetic wise.
and the silicone prosthetics they are using for ledger's scars are 1000 more flexible and advanced than jack's which were made using the same basic technology they used on boris karloff 70 years ago. and im certain they also required ledger to be lifecasted (if only his jaw). im sure you could fairly well replicate the look with mere wax and latex but that is clearly not what they did here. not to mention silicone appliances are used only once so they would have to cast them countless times.
It's not like they used a type of special silicone appliance. It's silicone in place of foam latex, gelatin, or some other build up. It is soley economic (as you clearly pointed out), not anything to do with increased technology. It's not like they did anything too wild here. It's badly designed scars that look like they sculpted it in 5 minutes. It looks cheap, and Joker (in the comics and other media) NEVER HAD SCARS THERE.
to say more work and thought went into jack's look is hyperbole and has no basis whatsoever. although they look completely different the amount of time and work is certainly comparable. just because it looks like tdk's joker just applies white grease paint doesnt mean that's what the fx artists did. as a makeup artist im sure you know this.
and if you are a make-up artist, how long would it take you time wise to do ledgers design from design to application, to then do Jacks. It's not hyperbole, I'm asking flat out, as a make-up guy, which would be cheaper, simpler, and faster.
im not sure if you saw the prologue or not but its alot harder to make someone's face look like that than just applying some white makeup and letting it sweat off a little. his face looked crazy in that shot! ledger's makeup made jack's look like a hack job! i mean aside from the big purple smudge on jack's neck there were countless scenes were you could see white makeup on his collar and sleeves. and those smile prostetics looked about as flexible as wood. dont try and make people believe that nolan's joker didnt require heath ledger to sit in a makeup chair for hours. they only reason it would have been easier to apply ledger's makeup is the fact that fx makeup has come leaps and bounds since 1989 and silicone appliances are much easier and faster to use than foam latex.
Once again, Ledger has only two scars and some other spots to bring out those odd wrinkles in his face. Jacks make-up was a state of the art multi-piece foam applience in 1988, done by award winning FX artist Nick Dudman. You really seem to be straining to make it sound like Ledgers make-up was harder to make than it is. And using Silicone as some catch word isn't helping this debate, it is just starting to be used widely, but it has all if not more pratfalls as Foam latex.
and im sure marketing was the last thing on the nolans' minds when they came up with their joker concept.
"hey you know what would sell alot of toys? a joker with horrible scars on his face who dresses like a homeless clown!"
"Hey, if we make this look work, we can have face painters do this at conventions to hype the film". Oh wait, did that marketing experiment already happen?
i can completely understand if you prefer the way jack looked but enough hyperbole please.
Hyperbole? My point is it is stupid to say Jacks design looks worse than Ledger design. You can say silicone, silicone, silicone all you want, but when your talking to someone who works with and distributes silicones, foam latex, gels, foams, and other film quality SPFX supplies, your not impressing me much.
This design, however, has stirred up a LOT of controversy (see the makeup thread for reference). They definitely took a risk here, but I think it'll pay off in the end.
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That is an odd comparison but, I get it. Joker must've been wearing that makeup for a long time in order for it to mesh to his face.
