Profile: SFX / Makeup

Imagos’s forthcoming film, Motivational Growth, is an unlikely creature feature, hosting a menagerie of unusual characters and creatures, the centerpiece being a memorable animatronic creation that inhabits the lead character’s apartment.  To bring this vision to life, Imagos brought aboard several tech wizards from Tolin FX, consisting of Steve Tolin, Jeff Waltrowski, and Midian Crosby.  2^nd Assistant Director Rj Buckler had an e-mail exchange with the three of them to learn a little more about them.

Q.  Tell me about your backgrounds – how did you get interested in doing FX and makeup?

Steve: My background was primarily as a painter and sculptor, but I wanted to be a biologist most of my life. When deciding on a career though, I realized that my passion was for creating and that what drew me to biology was my interest in how organic machines function. My interest in movies began as an interest in monsters and creatures, which in a lot of ways is the reverse engineering of biology. I’ve grown to love many different things about making movies, but in my heart I am a creature man and that is what drew me to this medium.

Midian:  From a very early age I knew I wanted to work in film and always had an interest in FX and monster makeups.  It wasn’t until I saw an ad in Fangoria magazine for some schools that a light bulb went off… “I can go to school for THAT?!” Beauty makeup, hair styling and wardrobe I have learned independently.  My first choice is special effects makeup, but for the most part, I will work anywhere in the creative departments.  I find my talents translate well and I love to be challenged & learn new things.

Jeff:  A Pittsburgh native, I began working as a writer/director and editor in the late 90’s and directed my first feature: “Project: Valyrkie” in 2001 where I met Steve Tolin, who handled the creature FX in that film.  I then went on to DP several features before forming Clear Conscience Pictures in 2007 with Tolin and directing my second feature, “It Came From Yesterday” in 2008/2009, which enabled us to grow as digital animation artists as well as filmmakers.  All this led me to teaming up with Tolin in his well-established Tolin FX to offer practical and digital effects.

Q. How did you meet?

Steve: Jeff and I met on one of the first movies I ever worked on, which he produced and directed, called “Project Valkyrie”. Midian and I met when I was the chief designer for a Halloween company and she came on as an artist working there.

Q. How did you get involved with Imagos Films?

Steve: Don just emailed me out of what appeared to be the blue one day, but I believe that I have learned since that he saw a theatrical production here in Chicago that I created the FX for, called “The Lt. of Inishmore”.

Midian: Steve recommended me for the makeup and hair for Motivational Growth, and hired me through the FX department knowing I could also puppeteer and lend a hand as needed.  I only spoke to Don and Alexis a few times prior to arriving in Chicago.

Q.  What are some of the cool projects that you worked on before this film?

Jeff:  My coolest project previously was It Came From Yesterday.  My second film as writer/director I co-produced with Tolin.  Midian was on board handling makeup and character design. That film was so cool because it was shot entirely on green screen which gave us the ability to create a totally fictional world. It also introduced us to the possibility of creating digital effects along with practical effects.

Steve:   We are nearly finished with that project and it will be available soon.

The coolest theater production that I have worked on is without a doubt, “The Lt. of Inishmore”. It is a terrorist comedy that calls for some pretty complicated  blood FX to be executed live on stage consistently night after night. These include several cast members being shot as well as the dismemberment of bodies and a sea of blood on stage. I have done the show many times and it has taken me all over the place even as far as Lima Peru. I did the show here in Chicago last year and won a Jeff award for my work on it.

Midian: I have been lucky to work on many cool projects from horror to comedies, like Trippin and dark fables like Ink to the Action Sci Fi “It Came From Yesterday” set in the 1940’s – it’s all fun.  Working with Blair Underwood on Bridge was great – I have also made a point to offer my SFX skills to student filmmakers.  It keeps me up on finding creative cost cutting methods of FX and offers them huge production value to their early work.  And it gets them used to shooting with FX.  I can also offer lighting, angle, and editing advice to make the FX look better.  I love working with enthusiastic and creative youth; helps keep me from being jaded by the industry.

Q.  What was your reaction to the material when you first read the screenplay?

Jeff:  Wow.

Steve: Totally bizarre and certainly very unique. Definitely a lot to get excited about. More importantly, I saw lots of creatures and a ton of other FX that I was really psyched to create. These kinds of FX are the type I really love to work on.

Midian:  First reaction?  “Oh, yeah, this is super strange… Sounds like fun!”  I figured I would get along well with the creators and that it was coherent enough to appeal to a larger audience.

Q. How do you feel about your work on Motivational Growth?

Steve: Awesome!

Jeff: I’m quite proud of my work on this film and it gives me a chance to have certain effects that I get to execute personally which is RAD!!

Midian:  I have spent more time making people ugly than pretty in this film, which I dig.  Pretty is so boring and I love deviating from the norm and accentuating unique aspects of faces.

Q. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve made on this film?

Steve:  I think that the most interesting thing is clearly the main character puppet. I love creating characters that require fabrication and performance. Jeff, Midian, and I all are required to puppeteer the [REDACTED]. Second to that is certainly the alien characters Declination Jane and the Purturbitoids.

Jeff: The coolest thing is the [REDACTED], which is made primarily from a fleece blanket, latex, and cotton.  It’s cool because it’s totally a character creature and it’s just made from a blanky.

Q.  What is the most challenging part of the film?

Jeff:  The stairs.  [The set is up three flights of stairs on the third level of a Chicago warehouse.]

Midian: Trying not to laugh during takes.  And working nights as it gets colder.

Steve:  I’d say the most challenging part of the project has been the timeline. There are a lot of FX that needed completed in a very short amount of time. On set the biggest challenge is live-action puppeteering. Coordinating the movement of a puppet between three operators live, while interacting with an actor is pretty tough. When you get it right though, it is awesome.

Q.  Any interesting stories from the field?

Steve:  Erica Highberg, who plays Declination Jane in the movie, is my wife and she and I have a four month old baby, Violet. Because Mom and Dadda are working on the movie, she came to set with us while I applied Erica’s alien prosthetics. I have never applied a creature make-up while taking breaks to change diapers and feed a baby. I have never seen an alien feed a baby before until now. It is quite a sight.

Q.  Tell me about Declination Jane.

Steve: Declination Jane is a character that appears on Kent, the television “character”, on a show called, “Officer Zygor: Alien Cop”. She is the antagonist of the show, in the form of an alien space pirate. She was played by my wife, Erica Highberg and is the best creature make-up that I’ve done in my career.

Jeff:  My biggest contribution to Jane was her death.  One thing that I’ve become proficient at is blowing dudes heads off.  So it was my job to time her head hits (entrance & exit) with the camera as well as Erica, so she knows when to react and I know when to trigger the effect by the movement of the camera.

Q. How do you feel about digital vs practical effects?

Steve: I am a painter who will not limit the brushes he uses to paint. I am a firm believer that one must use the best tool for any given situation.

Midian: A lot of practical effects artists are worried that digital artists will replace them.  I feel the best effect utilizes the best of both.  Without a practical element, no matter how excellent a digital effect is, there is something in the brain that says “This is not real.”

Jeff: I don’t see it as a battle between which is better or which is more realistic.  I see it as which is better on a case by case basis. There can be a million factors contributing to that decision: financial, aesthetic, time, camera.  Having produced and directed myself, I take great care deciding what I want to use for what effect.  It really all boils down to the fact that practical effects and digital effects can both be great tools.  And they can both be misused, and both be executed poorly or brilliantly.