Genius Hour 1.7

Horror Movie Special Effects Makeup:

Earlier in the year, I was a bit worried about where I would take my Genius Hour after Haunted House was complete. However, I found another opportunity to practice special effects makeup in my "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" video. Our chapter topic is blindness, so we had Hannah playing Oedipus in part of the video. In the story of Oedipus, he blinds himself so I had to replicate this with makeup. My challenge was that Hannah is allergic to liquid latex, the only molding material I have ever used. I decided to try tissues covered in liquid Elmer's glue as an alternative.

1. The special effects makeup needed to cover Hannah's eye, so I used a cotton pad to shield her eye from getting any glue or tissue stuck in it. I covered the thin layers of tissue with glue using my fingers. Any sort of applicator would get stuck in the delicate tissue otherwise. The glue and tissue did not end up being transparent, so I had to add a step that I did not expect in the beginning. The tissue was also impossible to maneuver or smooth, making the wound appear really raised, bumpy, and unnatural.

2. I then used foundation with a hint of red face paint to cover the tissue. By this time it was relatively dry, so I felt confident enough to apply the foundation and paint mixture with a paint brush.

3. I then painted the gash through the tissue and over the eye using cream paints and a paintbrI ush. I based the wound in brown, blending out towards red. At this stage, the tissue hardened and it was incredibly difficult to blend, but I made my best attempt.

4. Finally, I did my trademark dripping of fake blood. The blood did dissolve the tissue, so I had to be sparing in my application.

The effect turned out decently at the end, but it's nothing that I'm super proud of. Working with the tissue and glue was generally not a very good time and I will not be using it again unless it's absolutely necessary for me to do so.