Cineunderground IV: All the SFX you can’t miss!

9 Ott, 2022 - Immortal Section,Interviste

Cineunderground is an indipendent trash/horror/sci-fi film festival that takes place in Busto Arsizio near Milan every year. Now at its fourt year of activity, Cineunderground is not only a great festival made by fans of the genre for fans of the genre but also a great opportunity for all the indipendent filmmakers to show their work!

The friendly context of this festival allows to open interesting debates and exchanges of ideas between directors from all around the world. And for this year’s edition, Lorenzo and Sara asked me to be the new “judge” of the BEST SFX CATEGORY. As a professional sfx makeup artist who worked with them I tried to give my point of view and to decide which project had the best effects and prosthetics.

The idea was to give the participants a more technical and objective point of view. A judgment based on several factors and not just on personal taste. The important thing is not to win but to show your work to as many people as possible! Here you can find some of the projects that had some of the SFX you can’t really miss!

SAGE by Stefan Stoev

In “Sage” you will find good costumes, good settings and good makeup. Even if the sfx aren’t complicate they still do their work…It is evident how much money and energy have been invested in this project which, aesthetically speaking, reminded me of games such as “Fall Out” or movies such as “MAD MAX”. I loved the post apocalyptic theme and I found it very interesting due to the original use of pop colors (not so commons in movies like this). Special effects are focused on character makeup so you will see a lot of bald caps, sick faces and dirt here!

SCIENCE TEAM by Drew Bolduc

“Science team” is a weird/sci-fi movie with good old fashioned 80s sfx makeup. I appreciate the general effort to create not only effects that you could really see 30 or 40 years ago but also themed costumes, accessories and settings. When I saw the “Villain” I really thought about the effectiveness of good character design that doesn’t necessarily have to be intricate to work in that specific context. A good example of “Work smarter, not harder”, a concept often familiar to 1980s special effects makeup artist who often had to make an effect work without having a big budget or expensive materials!

ZMIENA by Pierre Renverseau

“Zmiena” is a french short movie that I personally fell in love with. I watched it a few times not only because I loved the effects but also because I think there are “multiple interpretation plans” to address. I tried to google the name and to understand the meaning behind the title but at the very end I didn’t find the language source used (maybe polish?). I think the best meaning is Evolution/Change.

At the very beginning we listen to a feminine voice that I recognized as the voice of “Nature” but also as the voice of his reason. We see the main character struggling during a sort of war setting but we don’t really know in how many/which years the story develops. The base concept of this short movie is taken from the “Metamorphosis” by Kafka and as we can see here the insects are really important not only as phisical elements but also on a more conceptual plan. During the movie we hear two voices: One of the real mother of the main character and another voice of the “New” mother, the nature he will have to come back because now he belongs to it.

Zmiena’s SFX and character design

His person gradually transforms in front of the camera. The character curls up like in a cocoon until it is no longer possible to understand what is real and what is fictional. A mental and physical transformation that translates in several phases of a technically flawless prosthetic make-up application. A great plause goes to all the team behind not only the pre-production and application but also to the character designer!

All the prosthetics are so realistic and well done and are all focused on the main character that is the focal point of the story. The almost absence of scenography forces you to look at it and admire its transformation. I believe that one of the multiple interpretations of this short involved the post traumatic disorder of a soldier whose story is halfway between delirium and reality. Last but not least great use of macro shots and colors!

The Curse of Aurore by Mehran C. Torgoley

“The curse of Aurore” is an american horror movie similar to titles such as “The Blair Witch project” or “ESP” which are part of the found footage horror subgroup. The sfx are minimal but effective and are concentrated on the very end of the movie during the sacrifice scene. Here you see a good body replica but the scene is so fast that it’s impossible to see the effects on detail. In this case it isn’t really a necessity but I would have loved to see a close up. The acting is good and overall the movie is good quality!

Demon Juice by Shannon Brown

“Demon Juice” is an horror comedy short movie that I really enjoyed due to the funny story coupled with basic special effects and makeup that aren’t realistic but really functional to this sort of movie!

In fact there is not always the need to create high-budget sfx, sometimes the make-up is just an aspect used to make us laugh more and fits perfectly with the comedy of the character ( Do you remember “Scary Movie”?). In this project you will also find a young actor: John Berchtold! Maybe you have already seen him in “The Look-see” by CryptTV or in one of his horror sketches on instagram…great add to the crew!

Last shoutout goes to the short horror movie “The Stall” and its feature movie “The Brilliant terror” where the role of the SFX makeup artist is closely framed through works made with low or very low budget. It’s interesting to see all the points of view provided by professionals of the Horror field about How can you shoot an horror scene or What type of reactions an horror movie should “pull out” from the audience.

Tag:
cineunderground fantasy filmfestival horrormovies makeupartist prostheticmakeup SFX specialeffectsmakeup