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Author: Brian Foreman

Do You Have Everything You Need In Your Make-Up Room?

I have to give credit to Steve Siegelbaum of GutRot Effects for this content. He responded quickly to my facebook question and so I reward him with a 3 part series explaining his make-up skills, being efficient in the make-up room, and the tools you need to be a quality special effects artist and actor. He has demonstrated his awesome skills in movies like Abracadaver, Prayer To A Vengeful God, The Lost Triangle, and Josh and Lucas. He has worked with haunted attractions as an actor and special effects artist and has been a guest on a few television morning shows. If you’re just starting out practicing your make-up techniques; you will still learn a lot from Steve. This is part 1 of my interview. Stay tuned for more or Subscribe to my FREE NEWSLETTER to get instant updates.

What is Gut Rot Effects and what is the vision behind your company?

GUTROT EFFECTS is a special effects company started in 2007  after many years of providing independent film and haunted attractions with the bloodiest and most realistic trauma fx I could come up within the most budget conscious ways ( basically with 0 budget). I just wanted to sling blood and freak people out. But I soon realized the possibilities as more people wanted my services. So I came up with GUTROT EFFECTS – Special FX design and application for Film, Television , and Haunted Attractions in a move to go from a hobbyist to a full time fx artist. Now I’m not some big time Hollywood FX artist but I get to do what I love and get paid for it . I get to work with the most wonderfully terrifying people in the industry today as well as up and coming directors for independent film. Creating everything from evisceration’s and severed limbs to fresh kill zombies lurking behind hidden walls waiting to jump out and take a bite of ya!
And I’m just at the beginning of my career. I have a lot of work to do in order to get my vision of GUTROT EFFECTS out there to the masses.
What is that vision? What comes to me foremost is the creation of GUTROT products and applications. To grow, stay current, and to give the highest detail and quality that everyone can afford. Challenging myself to do bigger and more frightening projects. Getting a great crew together and building the GUTROT family in the hopes of spreading the joy of terror to all those that love horror as much as i do. I want to be accessible to everyone from the the million dollar production to the horror enthusiast that just needs a cool zombie bite. I want to show that with persistence, passion, and pure determination- that GUTROT EFFECTS is here to stay and will only continue to grow to provide fun bloody entertainment for all to enjoy.

 

What are the essential tools to have as a special effects professional or in any make-up room? The gotta have tools!

To start with, most special effects artists have their own kit. This is a must when entering this industry! You need to be prepared for anything…as an fx artist you will find your self delving into your own kit that contains the tools that an artist uses on a regular basis and is comfortable with…I always do . You may have that color that’s just right for a gnarly bruise you’re doing that isn’t supplied or the place just ran out of . But if your just starting out- here is a good list to start with.

  • Many brushes in different sizes and shapes.
  • As many different colors of paint possible. The larger the collection of colors, the more shades, tones and color variances you can do. RMGs ( rubber mask grease) and AA paints ( alcohol activated / only 99 % works). 99% alcohol is a must, especially working with AA paints and RMG’s, it thins and activates the paints I use, as well as disinfected and helps prevent cross contamination. Cleanliness and safety are key when working on many different people in one night.
  • Morticians wax (or nose and scar wax) in flesh and bone tones.
  • A good set of metal and wood sculpting tools for contouring and shaping wax and other applications.
  • Cotton balls , makeup wedges and applicators , Pros-aid ( a medical adhesive used to apply any type of application u can think of)
  • Adhesive removers, like isaptopyl myristrate which removes pros-aid adhesive. I get comments on how good peoples skin feels and looks no matter how much makeup they wear in a season because I take care of their skin. Good skin care products like Vitamin E or lotion will help with skin irritations. It’s gonna happen, when you put a lot of stuff on your skin and you do not take care of your skin- you’re gonna get irritation.
  • Scissors, a sharp knife, lots of tubing for running blood gags, baby powder ( for setting layers of applied makeup), and a hair dryer.
  • Always have some pre-made wounds and applications just in case. Prosthetic masks and wounds as well as pros-aid  to apply them.
  • Baby wipes or latex gloves to keep your hands clean.  However, they can get stuck to your work so I prefer to use hand disinfectant between applications.
  • Large quantities of blood – which can be bought but gets expensive, or you can make your own. As a makeup fx business I can make and supply attractions with my own brand of blood.
  • Liquid latex and latex pigments to dye the latex for various shades and thicknesses of blood. Liquid latex is, and will be, one of the most used materials in a haunted attraction for a long time to come , because it is so easy to work with and it’s extremely versatile. (just remember 1% of people are allergic and you always need to test prior to application).
  • All sorts of latex paints to  mix with the liquid latex and create different colors and base tones for realism and versatility.  AA ( alcohol activated paints) which work with foam latex and silicone’s.

That’s just a fraction of what my kit has. As an fx artist you will find your kit just grows and grows. The more projects you work on- the more tricks and tools you will acquire as well. Now that’s just what the artist him/herself will bring with them. When meeting with attraction owners I go over the storyline of the attraction, types of costumes and makeups they want; as well as exactly how many actors will be requiring the makeup.

Finally,  I create a list of materials needed based on the ideas we come up with for the various costumes and makeups.  It’s up to the owners to supply all necessary materials pertaining to the haunts special effects makeup needs. Like large amounts of blood and liquid latex. You need to work closely with the owners and designers to come up with a clear plan of attack . Getting into an efficient nightly routine will not only help revenue and timing , but it will help artists fall into their groove in regards to their creativity and quality of the final makeups- which will only get better with every passing night…

…On another note: there are many things involved when getting the makeup area or room ready for show time. You need chairs , lighting , electric , and most of all- control of the environment- making sure the right applications are going on the right actor. All of this while applying makeup on one person while three others are drying and waiting for finishing….but we’ll answer that next time….

Find Steve:

Internet Movie Database

Facebook

Linked In

Twitter

 

Stay tuned for part 2 and part 3 from Gut Rot Effects where we’ll cover How To Be Efficient In The Make-Up Room and more special effects techniques and advice. Subscribe to the Newsletter so you don’t miss it!

How To Keep Your Haunting Passion Alive!

I remember my first real Haunted Attraction when I was 16. Scared out of my mind! The old Liberty Theater. An abandoned theater built in the early 1900’s. Solid red brick construction with weathered white Jester faces staring down at me. They seemed to be laughing at my foolishness of being scared. The windows were all broken and the J.C’s had left the old candy trapped in the dusty display cases. The odor of mildew and coldness crept from beneath the heavy crimson drapes that divided the theater. I could feel history all around me as I was pushed deeper into the belly of the beast. I could feel my pulse in my throat- I knew I was going to die…

…after many Haunted Attractions later and growing wiser through the years, I decided that this was who I wanted to be when I grew up. I feel excited when I talk about scaring people. I turn on tunnel vision when I am acting, building, or writing. I am always teaching myself new ways of discovering the world around me. If the topic has anything to do with haunting, scary, or different…my ears usually perk up.

My first experience with scaring the crap out of people was unique. My cousin and I would deck out my upstairs bedroom of my parents 100-year-old house and force my brother and his brother to go through. I know…a bit mean but what else are you supposed to do with little brothers? They always liked dares anyway. We would make dummies out of stuffed t-shirts and wigs. Create our animatronics with a rocking chair and a shoe string. And projected shadows on the wall with a flashlight and action figures. After watching our little victims scream I knew that scaring people was in my blood.

Everyone got smart and stopped going through our haunted bedroom. No matter how much we pleaded. I lost that battle and began to fantasize about being a successful special effects wizard or a top mask maker. I rushed to the grocery school to purchase the next issue of Fangoria Magazine on release day just to be the first one to smell the pages. I dreamed about anything related to horror and the family around it.

Fast forward about 20 years and here I am. I graduated high school, served 5 years in the United States Navy Seabees, and now I am a letter carrier in Missouri. I was reaquainted with my childhood passion when I received the opportunity to act at my first real haunted attraction 6 years ago. It has been a raging fire since. I acted for 3 years at 13 Houses of Horror in Hatton,Missouri. Then my brother and I built and operated BackWoods Terror in Centralia, Missouri for 2 years. Last year I decided that I would not have the time to operate a pro-haunt so I took my creativity and decided to pimp out my garage. That was fun too! I have always liked creating my own props and sets because it gives me a way to support my ‘picking shit up out of the trash’ habit, as my wife calls it. Sometimes I feel like a borderline hoarder…

I will continue to keep posting all my new ideas, thoughts, and useful information on my blog. If anyone is interested in guest posting on my blog or would like for me to contribute to their site- contact me. I am that overly passionate type (or some call it OCD) that is always trying to improve or teach myself something new. As long as I am excited about Haunting then all my posts will be the same way. I do not want to feel like this is a job because I always want to keep this stuff fun.

I want my mission to be about educating you about my view on topics in this small but enormous tribe called the Haunt Community. I want to provide entertainment for the first time home haunters to the veteran mentors like Ben Armstrong. I will include interviews with top leaders, real-time action tips, and creative ideas to keep you on your game. Feel free to offer to guest post, offer ideas, and share current news that other haunters need to know. We are all united because we share a dark passion that a lot of others do not understand. So we tend to feel comfortable around other weird people who like to make scared people wet themselves. This is who we are. This is who I am…

Let me know who you are? Who are you that is reading my blog? If you made it this far then you must find something here that is interesting. If you want to support this post click that Share box. Comment on this post. Sign up to my RSS Feed. Or if you really enjoy my content take a few minutes to subscribe to my blog. I promise NO Spam and NO soliciting. Just my new weekly posts in your inbox.

This is how I feed my passion. How do you keep your haunting passion alive?

Lesley Pratt Bannatyne: My Interview With The Halloween Goddess

“I still think that Halloween is exciting NOT because there is a group of people sitting in a corporate board room trying to decide what we’ll buy, but because there are people sitting in garages, basements, and kitchens trying to come up with something really different and amazing. I believe that Halloween is still driven by we who celebrate it.”-Lesley Bannatyne

 

If you are not sure who Lesley Pratt Bannatyne is-shame on you. Not only is she the leading author on Halloween history and culture. Lesley has shared plenty of her wisdom about Halloween on Nickelodeon, The History Channel, Time Magazine, National Geographic, and even The World Book Encyclopedia! Her new book Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night hits home for many of us haunters because she dives deep into the new age of Halloween and why it matters to us now. She  interviews leading experts in the Haunt Industry such as mask makers, haunted house designers, home haunters, tattoo artists, web designers, zombie walkers, and all the other scary people who make up this evolving holiday. If you enjoy Halloween you’ll love this book and all of her other books. Halloween Nation infests the book stores on April 15th, 2011 but you can get her other books now while you wait. Click Here to order Halloween Nation: Behind the Scenes of America’s Fright Night and check out my affiliate banner at the bottom to see her other books. And then don’t forget to come back and read this awesome interview that we put together for you and check out the links at the end of this article for more information related to Lesley.

 

Over your career as an author it seems you favor the topic of Halloween quite a bit and you are known as ‘The Halloween Authority’ writer. What event in your life inspired you to write about this misunderstood holiday?

In the mid-1980s, a publishing house called Facts on File launched a book on the history of Thanksgiving which surprised everyone by being a runaway success. F on F put the word out that they’d look pretty favorably on any book pitch that involved holidays and an agent friend of mine left this message on my answering machine: “They’re going fast, Les. All that’s left is Election Day and Halloween.” I never looked back.

Is your Guinness Record of the largest gathering of witches still current and how did you acquire such a loyal following?

Alas, we held the title for just two years. I’m not sure who has it now, but we were brought down by a charitable event in Pennsylvania. I’m lucky to live in Somerville, MA, where crowds come together for the oddest of reasons (our three maple trees start to give sap, a call for activist street bands, massive snow ball fights, beard contests), and a Guinness World Record attempt was enough of a challenge to bring them out. I was happy to hand over the title to PA.

Not only are you an author in many magazines and online directories your description of Halloween is in the World Book Encyclopedia! What is the most monumental stepping stone(s) in your career that led you to the authority you are today?

I wish there was one big answer for this, like I was born with a caul or abducted by trolls, but the truth is, there was no one big step. There were hundreds of steps, and a few decades of research that took me in lots of different tangents. In preparing my first book on the history of Halloween, for example, I bumped into colonial religion, modern paganism, pop culture, Irish mythology, the Masons, Hollywood special effects, Pentecostal Christians, Jaycees, gay culture, folklorists, you name it. I still have files of Halloween material I haven’t put into written form. And I continue to meet the most extraordinary Halloween people, who often lead me in unusual directions.

What is your most memorable Halloween event in your life as a child/adult that replays over and over in your mind?

I have a few. First of all, Dennis M. kissed me on Halloween when I was ten. He just ran up behind me and gave me a big kiss on the back of my neck. It was my first. But frankly, it didn’t compare with getting the chance to walk in costume up 6th Avenue in New York City with 60,000 others, or to crawl through the Monroeville Mall with 2000 zombies or even to celebrate Samhain with a group of pagans in a Unitarian church in Cambridge.

Do you enjoy Haunted Attractions? Real Haunted Houses? Horror Movies? Scary books? Do you have any favorites of each?

I love haunted attractions most of all. Movies – some yes, some no. Scariest movie ever for me? The Exorcist. I think it’s because it was the first serious horror movie I’d even seen, and because my car’s engine burst into flames while I was driving home from the movie. I’ve been ghost hunting and I must say I haven’t been spooked by that. Frankly, I’d be delighted to run into any of the family and friends I’ve lost, but so far, none have showed up. I don’t have a favorite horror writer, but I tend to like the spookier material more than the violent. I’m a Poe and Lovecraft kind of girl.

Tell us Haunters more about your new book “Halloween Nation” and why we would enjoy it?

I wanted to try and find out what makes Halloween so important right now, for whom, and why, so I spent a few years talking with as many people in the Halloween community as I could: mask makers, musicians, prop builders, haunters, ghost hunters, spiritualists, witches, pumpkin growers, pumpkin beer brewers, writers, horror burlesque performers, tattoo artists, vintage collectors—you get the picture. For anyone that’s curious about what makes Halloween relevant now, or how they themselves fit in to the whole Halloween picture, or what attracts us to Halloween’s big icons (ghosts, witches, pranks, pumpkins, monsters), the book might be worth a read.

As a successful author on Halloween, can you share some insight on keeping your passion alive and tips for new aspiring authors, bloggers, and writers?

I’ve never (that I can remember) written about something that doesn’t really, really interest me. (Even dendrochronology – that’s right – the science of tree rings – is pretty fascinating.) I think if you’re a writer/blogger/author, you can tell right away when something doesn’t grab you. A book, especially, takes a huge amount of time, and if you’re not writing about something you love you may not be able to stay with it. I’m not saying that every single day and sentence is a boatload of fun, or that it’s easy to write about disemboweled corpses when the sun is shining and the lilacs in bloom. For the days that aren’t so great, writing-wise, there’s 25+ years of experience behind me—I just make myself start, and sooner or later, something fun will kick in.

What are your outlooks for the growth of Halloween and how do see the future of the monetary value of the season?

There’s a great new google tool that can take every mention of a word in all of the books that google has digitized (millions) and chart the usage on a graph. When you type in “Halloween,” the mentions begin around 1860 and climb modestly until about 1970-80. Then there’s a gigantic leap of about 1000% between then and 2005. Halloween has captured our interest in a big way, and as long as so many of us are intrigued by it, I think the season will continue to feed the market. I don’t see saturation yet. And to be clear, since we’re talking money, I still think that Halloween is exciting NOT because there is a group of people sitting in a corporate board room trying to decide what we’ll buy, but because there are people sitting in garages, basements, and kitchens trying to come up with something really different and amazing. I believe that Halloween is still driven by we who celebrate it.

How about some lasting words of inspiration from the ‘Halloween Authority’ on Halloween and the Haunt industry.

I can’t promise they’ll last, or even inspire, but I do have a few thoughts about haunts and horror. Interviewers (non-Halloween industry) often ask me why Halloween entertainment is so graphic and bloody now. First of all, it’s not just Halloween. Our whole culture is graphic and bloody now; Halloween is just an expression of that. But here’s the thing: people who study film theorize that horror is popular because it’s able to present the real terrors of our world with some honesty, and that horror films can be seen as a way to cope with the way we live now. And in some ways, haunted houses can do this too; they follow the same cultural drifts and ride on the same anxieties that horror films do. But there is a real difference between a horror film and a haunted house experience. At a haunt, you’re fighting for mastery of the situation with other people in the real world. Haunts, in a way, build communities of warriors. Rather than using Halloween’s horror-filled imagery to indict the holiday, we could honor this one night when we can be the powerful, bloody creatures we are. When we can let the monsters out….

More Links About Lesley:

Halloween: A History

Imagining Halloween

The World According To Gourds

Outline Of Appearances

Biography

Extreme Halloween

Boston Phoenix Interview

 

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bannatyne

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lesley-bannatyne/9/498/672

Website: http://www.iskullhalloween.com/

10 Things To Do In St.Louis When You’re Not At TransWorld

So you’ve got your registration in order. Your passes are sitting safely in your multi-coded security safe. You’ve booked your plane tickets and/or hotel rooms. You are eagerly awaiting TransWorld like a kid before Halloween. Ready to pounce and react. But have you thought about what you’re going to do when visions of zombies and bloody corpses aren’t dancing in your head? St.Louis is a wonderful city with soul and spirit and this would be a wonderful opportunity to explore all those things. Here are some ideas to help get you started.

  1. Go to InSane sHane’s Party: Thursday night. It starts at 7:30 pm. And it’s at the Renaissance Grand Hotel Crystal Ball Room. $95 a person. With many extra benefits.
  2. Go watch the Shock Illusionist Dan Sperry. Friday night. A 7:00 pm show and a 11:00 pm show.
  3. Go up inside the Arch. Daily Tours. 9-5 pm. Not sure of the price. But who doesn’t want to go to the top of the Arch?
  4. Go to a casino. Lumiere Place or Harrah’s. The two closest one’s. Make sure you save some money for buying props.
  5. Get your party on at The Landing. A historical area on the riverfront with pure charm and entertainment. Food, drinks, music, and people like you.
  6. TransWorld’s Opening Night Industry Party. Thursday night. 5:3o-7:30. Free with your registration.
  7. Haunted House Behind the Scene Tour: The Darkness, Terror Visions 3D and Lemp Brewery. Thursday 7:30-10:30 pm.
  8. Haunted Attraction Association Auction & Party: Friday night. 5:30-7:30pm. Free to attend and bid on all types of haunt stuff.
  9. The City Museum. Anyone with an imagination has to see this place. They are even open until 1 am on Friday and Saturday night.
  10. Go eat at Pappy’s Smokehouse or Bogart’s Smokehouse! You can’t leave St.Louis without eating real St.Louis BBQ. Or an order of toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake.

I want to give thanks to Lauren Lobosky for her input on this post. A St.Louis resident, Rotting Flesh Radio Casket Crew Member, and fellow Haunter. See you at the party sister!

The Bloodshed Brothers: A Double Dose Of Halloween Passion

I found these guys on YouTube…but how can you miss them? With over 80,000 channel views, almost 500 haunt subcribers, and close to 300 videos…one would think that their Halloween passion cup would be overflowing and creating an awful mess on the computer desk of life. Jeromy and Zachary Ball live and breathe Halloween! They drink from a bottomless cup of passion and keep refilling it everyday! Granted sometimes their topics are not specifically targeted on Special Effects, Halloween, or Home Haunting…however, as a Haunter you can always find something in their videos that you can relate to.

Read my interview, check out their YouTube channel, and get inspired by the energy these guys radiate to the souls and minds of Haunters like you.

What was your very first memory of Halloween?

Our first memory of Halloween was 1992. We were ghosts that year and we went to our first “yard haunt” and got the heck scared out of us- by a light up ghost and a leaf blower. Little did we know this fateful night would plant the Haunting seed within us.

How old are you guys and what keeps you passionate about Haunting?

We are 22 and will be 23 in March. Passion: The thrill of scaring people and the ability to create something from nothing. It’s just that bug. The haunting bug we all have! We can’t really describe it but it’s just a simple love of the holiday. Whether it’s watching our old home movies, learning about the history of Halloween, or collecting old Collegeville costumes; we are completely intrigued with this one day. It’s a fun and extreme hobby.

Have you ever produced a video and gone back to delete it after you put it on youtube because of its content?

Yes and no. Yes because we accidentaly forgot to edit out. It could be something we said that we needed to edit out. Or something we felt in retrospect we didn’t want to share. Or someone saying they didn’t want to be on camera and us forgetting to edit out the 3 seconds they were on camera. Out of all of our videos, less than 5 we had to take down and re-upload.

How did you meet Mat and Wes and how did you get involved in the Zombie Apocalypse?

Jeromy: I work with Matt and him and his friends came to the haunt in 2009. They all pretty much loved it! Coincidently there was this web comic: Matt drew about Zombies (which eventually became episode 1) that the same friends that came to the haunt were looking to turn in to a short film. We were asked if we’d like to do the special effects and makeup solely based off of the work in our haunt, which acted like a portfolio for us.

Tell us more about your Haunt and what your goals are for its growth?

The haunt itself is called “The Hyde Street Massacre.” It includes a full back story that takes place in the 1950’s which can be viewed on our website. We are an actor based haunt using over 20 actors each year. We are very detail oriented. Growing up at Disneyland has pretty much instilled that mentality in our heads. With us living so close to Knotts Scary Farm, Halloween Horror Nights, and Universal we have to keep it cranked up a notch for just being a home haunt.

Ideally a pro haunt, where we could own a warehouse and we have a few haunts that all tie in to the Hyde Street theme. But for now- get our own place with a large backyard. Right now we are at our folks place and have exhausted all the room they will allow us. We have plans on adding a kitchen, dining room, and bathroom. If we are in the same location this year we have to get rid of a room to add a room.

What are your other passions in life?

We are your average nerds. We LOVE movies! We are the biggest “fanboys” for Harry Potter though. Obsessed would put it lightly. Star Wars, Back to the Future, and Lord of the Rings- all of the nerd niche movies. Obviously horror is something we will never stop loving as well. Music is another big part of our lives. We grew up on the classic american musicals with the likes of Garland and Kelly. So we have a deep love for theater and show tunes; as well as oldies and The Beatles. Also we are obsessed with country music- having our parents to thank for growing us up on it. All of which has made us both hopeless romantics. We both played instruments growing up: Zach played the Trombone while Jeromy played the Alto Sax.

Name a few things that make the Ball brothers different from each other?

Zach: Jeromy has 2 moles on the upper right of his lip….That’s it! We are exactly the same in every other aspect. Ha Ha. Seriously though, there’s not too much. We always liked the same things, we even share all of our friends. We haven’t shared girlfriends though, so our taste in woman is completely different. Zach has been known to be the more laid back type and Jeromy has been known to be the more anxious in your face type. During the haunt Zach will have an idea and Jeromy will have a completely opposite idea. We always meet in the middle though so our haunt turns out to be an explosion of two separate ideas coming together. When this happens to the outsider it would look like we are fighting but really it’s just an intense debate on how to make it work and keep us both happy.

Who is someone famous you would like to meet?

Tom Savini would be fun to meet, but we live in Southern California. We meet celebrities everyday… we golfed with Snoop Dogg yesterday and had coffee with our good buddy Harry Ford this morning… Seriously though it would be fun to meet anyone. We’ve met a few celebrities in our life so no one in particular.

Give your fans 3 haunting tips they can apply today.

1)      Stay organized.

2)      It’s dark no one will know what you didn’t get done.

3)      Get involved in the community! We are all involved in our community which has some amazing people in it. It’s                 fun helping and gets your name out there.

How about some BloodShed Brother words of inspiration?

Just have fun. None of this is worth it if you are not enjoying yourself on Halloween.

Do you have a Haunt Mentor you want me to interview? How about scary information you have but don’t want to write about it? How about a topic you want me to talk about on Rotting Flesh Radio? Feel free to email me at [email protected] and I will put your name on it. Keep It Scary Scarelings….

 

Find the Bloodshed Brothers here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/thebloodshedbrothers

https://twitter.com/zachball

http://mattandweszombie.blogspot.com/