Behind the Scenes

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Jason Collins ~ Almost Human Shop Supervisor

While Allan sat patiently wishing he had shaven that morning, Jason was glad to take his mind off the buckteeth that wouldn't set straight by telling us his 'beginnings' saga. "I was doing this since I was like 13 or 14 and this is what 'I want to do when I grow up' kind of thing and boy, where do you go from there? He begins, the true storyteller. "I had a little workshop in the basement when I was a kid and a real supportive mother. She'd go and buy me a bunch of stuff from all the magic shops at Halloween time. I lived in southern California so I had the rare opportunity of actually going to some of these professional places and getting professional supplies." With all sincerity Jason adds, "More than anything it was my mom carting me around when I was a kid just being supportive and letting me demonstrate on her."

His mother was not his only willing subject. It's good to have friends that are willing to see you get carted off to jail, or almost, as Jason recalls a very inspiring moment from his misspent youth. "Yeah, there was this one time [at Demon Camp?], I did my friend like he was all beaten up with gashes on his face and we threw him in the middle of the street, threw a bicycle on top of him and spun the wheel, and just screamed out, 'Somebody hit our friend and took off!' We had a couple of good bites," he says laughing, "this guy came up and he goes, "What? I'm going to go call the cops, you guys stay right there there's a phone on the corner." We were like, 'Oh shit!' we picked up the bike and dragged him off and ran. We went and hid under my bed in my house because we were terrified." But the experience proved Jason has a natural and believable talent. "If they would have looked close enough they would have seen this "Total Recall" face coming out of his stomach, I was a jackass. Anyway, it was good times."

But those 'good times' lead to film school for Jason who attended the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. "I wanted to get on to sets and learn more to start figuring out how production runs. I didn't feel I was learning enough in film school so I went ahead and thought, 'Well let's go on down to Hollywood and start working and what's the only thing that I know?' The only think that I knew was special effects makeup and so I started applying to different shops." He admits laughing, "I didn't have much of a portfolio so I got on doing some real low end work for $6 an hour." But that's when he met Rob. "I did some shows with Rob and worked closely with him off and on for like the last 7 years, and so it worked out pretty well for me." Through it all Jason still loves what he does. "Absolutely!" he tells us. "I'm still writing and directing my short films but more than anything at least I'm working at a job that I enjoy while I learn even more. I wouldn't bash film school for people at all but I definitely think it's more valuable to learn in Hollywood." Jason's working on an original shot film entitled, "The Schematics of Wreckage" and fans will be able to find it on the Internet when he launches his Website sometime in May.

Chris Baer ~ Almost Human Tech Staff (The First's Uber Vamp)

When Rob first presented the test makeup for the Uber Vamp he used Chris as his model. "The actual one for the show was silicon but we did the test in gelatin," explains Chris as Rob began applying the prosthetics. "The contacts we used for the test were all white lenses, which we didn't use for the show because you can't see out of them but it looked pretty cool." The actual make-ups were done in the shop and then the pictures were sent over to Joss, "They liked it so that's what we did." Chris's beginnings are like many of Rob's crew, "When I was a kid I made masks, then I came to Hollywood about four years ago, went to a makeup school for a couple months then started interning at different shops. Probably after about three months of being out here I got my first job. Started from there, just kept meeting people and getting more jobs and eventually I ended up here, working with these guys." Chris does the lab and technical work around the shop, "I make the [appliances] and the makeup artists actually put it on. I've done some application before," he states, "It's good to know what people go through when you're making it, so you know different things you could do to make it more comfortable or easier for them to wear."

Now having been on the receiving end, Chris can attest to the experience that some of the actors have to go through on a regular basis. "I actually like it," he admits, "It's pretty cool. I wore a suit for an Angel episode (we call it the Bad-ass demon); it was kind of like a lizard man suit. What I did was basically some pickup shots with Angel's stunt double where I get decapitated and the head goes back." The episode was "Supersymmetry" and Chris played the Portal Demon. "That was me," he offers proudly. A bit later Chris looked in the mirror for the first time as the Uber Vamp and he had a strange reaction, "Yes, very, very strange indeed. Very weird feeling as well--silicone that is--since it's glued to my face I can't really tell where my real skin actually is and where the appliance is. After I get the contacts then I'm sure it'll be much more of a drastic change but as it looks right now I look like a balding old man," he laughs.

Scott Breeden ~ (Skip, Gatekeeper of Hell)

Sometimes you just have to call upon your friends, and if they happen to be fans of the show you work for, well getting them to subject themselves to hours of makeup application can be one of the perks of friendship. Scott is a production manager for Century Media & Nuclear Blast Records, "I order all the CDs that we make and I also do some graphic layouts for ads and posters. I actually befriended Rob, I'd send him some music promos and it just kind of blossomed from there. Now I'm in the chair," he says with a worried look. Scott explain how Rob actually got him in the chair. "He called me on Monday and asked me if I was interested in going to a party and I said, 'Maybe.' And he told me it was a Buffy party and I said, 'Oh Definetly.' And then he asked me if I wanted to go as Skip and this is something I've never done before so I hesitated at first but as a fan of the show I would do it." Scott knew exactly who Skip was so, no shock there, but as for becoming Skip, "It was quite a shock because it was something I didn't expect so I'm looking forward to it."

Scott's one of the rare breed of fan who has watched Buffy since its conception. "I've been a long time fan," he confesses. As to what he thinks about Joss and these worlds that he has created Scott says, "He's just one of a kind. I particularly like the darker aspects of it; like the last season of Buffy was so dark and I just loved it. And of course I'm a big fight fan, so a lot of the fight sequences are really well done especially on the past couple seasons of Angel. And I just love the worlds that they create, all the characters; you can get really involved with them." And Scott is really getting involved with them. "Yes, yes I am! And it's a pleasure, anything I can do to help out." A couple hours later Scott has had just a touch of what the experience is like - how do you feel now? "It's fine, it's a little comfortable so I can't complain. It's really light, only thing is it kind of stretches the skin a lot, the glue. I am ready to go though, let's get this thing started!" he laughs.

Robert Hall ~ Almost Human Creator/Designer

We conclude the feature with Robert Hall who is the genius behind this horror and was battling a wicked cold the entire day, just to show you his dedication to his craft and a worthy event. The experience of wearing the makeup can effect how he designs pieces later by knowing what the wearer goes through; the breath-ability, the comfort, vision; placement of the eyes, ears, how much of the skin is completely covered up. All these elements Rob takes into affect and benefits from the understanding. "If you wear it you obviously know a little bit more about where it should fall," he agrees, "where the edges should fall, like it can't be too low on your eyes or that causes discomfort. You want to make some kind of nostrils in it if you can, depending on the design. Just very basic, common knowledge stuff like, eyes, nose, mouth, those areas you work around. I think it helps, certainly over someone who's never had anything on.

Although days and weeks are often spent creating, the actually application time can eventually be cut down over time with skill and practice. "Absolutely, because you find shortcuts and you find what the camera sees and what the camera doesn't see. Certain little nuances that you might put in, in the beginning you'll go, 'Oh you're never seeing that', so you can do away with it or if there are certain things you need to punch up. Once you see it on film a few times and obviously anytime you do it more than once you usually get faster and faster." Although The Beast process was multi-tasked it wasn't the longest singular makeup application Rob has done, that achievement fell to Dinza, the Demigod from Angel's Season 4 episode "Ground State" which took 5-hours. "It's the longest it's ever taken me," Rob confesses. "Usually I can do something in about two hours or under, most things like this [Uber Vamp]. Dinza took 5-hours (and we actually had help with her too) because there was no body suit, it was all appliances and it was all glued on to her body. Her hands and her fingernails and her finger extensions were all glued on to preserve that skeletal quality and also because we knew she was going to be crouched, so it wouldn't look weird, it wouldn't wrinkle up." Sometimes a few techniques can come from the set crew also, as in lighting different characters to obtain a certain look. "Sometimes we'll tell them, 'This guy has translucent ears, a little back lighting will be cool, would help' or 'This guy's iridescent or metallic looking, if we had a couple lights to pop do you have any suggestions?' and they're usually real receptive to that."

Partying the night away ~ The Beast, Skip and the Uber Vamp and not a Hellmouth in sight!

With the way Horror films have come into a whole new aspect of filmmaking, the makeup industry has changed as well over the last 10 years. "I think that there's been a concerted effort to actually try to do something original," Rob observes, "which for a long time we were lacking that. Everything seemed to be a cookie-cutter, carbon copy of the next thing, which to an extent it still is; if something works they work it to death. But I think with things like "Blair Witch" or "The Sixth Sense" (which I consider a horror film), there's been a concerted effort to actually do something different and with the advent of CGI [computer generated imagery], a combination of CGI and what we do, I think it's certainly raised the bar at what can be done. Almost any shot you envision now, if you have enough money and time, you can do it."

Those efforts of what can be done also effect who will be doing them, as 'Effects' shops have changed just as greatly. "Everyone is sort of finding their niche; they're finding what works for them," explains Rob. "There's the medium sized shops [Almost Human] and then there's the mega guys who we've all worked for and when I moved out here 10 years ago, there were all those [small shops] in north Hollywood and they're pretty much all gone now. I think it's definitely a different time, 10 years ago if you were one of these guys you'd have a lot better chance of knocking on the door and getting a job. Now I'd say it's a lot more selective because there's a lot less projects and a lot less shops." Rob admits the quality of the work is just as good if not better because of the technology. "Again with the CGI, that has really enhanced what we can do as makeup artists and creature designers, I think that helps us more than anything. A lot of people fear it; I think it's a great thing. In my own opinion when people see things that all completely CG like a creature, most people think it looks like a video game. It doesn't look organic and real, I think you still need guys like us to bring that stuff to life. I think the best is when it interacts and works together."

Bringing the demons to life was certainly the theme of the PBP2003 and the event could not have been a huger success, for both fans and Make-A-Wish (with $30,000 raised). Although hyped up on TheraFlu, Robert Hall was able to orchestrate an amazing evening along with Dayne Johnson and their entire crews. The culmination of all these extraordinary makeup artists and their talents created monsters galore but memories and unique photo opportunities for fans who have been inspired, not only by lead characters but by the creature creations of these two series which will go down in the classic chronicles of television history for ages to come. And who knows, maybe one young fan out there will be inspired to venture down to his or her basement and create ghouls for the next Whedon project to manifest itself in the shadows of their imaginations.

Written by CoA Head Writer, Kristy Bratton

CityofAngel.com would like to Overwhelmingly Thank Robert Hall and Dayne Johnson and ALL their crews for their time, talent, and materials and for their imagination! An Awesome group of people!

Special Thanks to Debbie Bocarde at Almost Human for all her help and assistance.

To learn more about Almost Human and Rob's work, visit his newly revamped Official Website at: AlmostHuman.net

If you have any comments for CityofAngel.com regarding this 'Behind the Scenes' feature, we would love to hear from you. Just email us at: comments@CityofAngel.com