When I walked into the Museum of Moving Image, there
was an immediate feeling of nostalgia and old Hollywood glamour. The first
thing I saw during the tour was a wall covered in framed black and white
headshots, which the tour guide referred to as portraits, of some of the
earliest big time actors and actresses, such as Judy Garland, Eva Gardner,
Shirley Temple, and Audrey Hepburn among others.
As we moved through the museum it was fascinating to
see actual original costumes and masks used in classic film and TV shows. There
was Chewbacca’s mask, Mrs. Doubtfire’s face mask, the mask from The Mask, and
wardrobe from Chicago and The Cosby Show. We also saw replicas of the terribly
damaged prosthetic legs from Black Swan and learned about make-up artists’ use of
silicone latex masks for certain films in which the characters need to
transform into a very different looking people or creatures. It is extremely
important that the transformation looks believable so that the audience can
allow themselves to really experience the film’s theatrical reality. If they don’t believe what they see on
camera, they’re simply unable to buy into it. The transformations that are
accomplished properly are truly amazing. The talented makeup artists, who
accomplish much more than just throwing wigs on actors, work with very high
attention paid to detail.
As someone who has always been mesmerized by “movie
magic”, I can really appreciate the hard work, time and dedication of all the
people involved in the process of creating an alternate reality on film.
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