How Movie MakeUp Differs from Life: Everything You Need to Know to Make the Career Change

Working in the television and movie industry as a makeup artist is a big dream for many. Every character, extra, and background figure needs to go through hair, makeup, and costume, which means a lot of potential work doing many fun and exciting things. Sure, most looks will be relatively simple, but there’s a lot that makes doing makeup for characters different than doing it for people.

This guide will help you understand just what those differences are, so you can then start to make the transition into that field.

Products Will Be Different

There is a subtle but important difference between everyday makeup and theatrical makeup supplies. Theatrical makeup typically gives you greater control over color, not to mention includes things like prosthetics and other special effects makeup. Though theatrical makeup is, of course, most commonly used on stage, it’s also used in television all the time. Getting used to using the tools of the trade is essential, especially if you ever need to poke through another MUA kit for any reason.

Color Grading Will Impact Your End Result

Makeup artists need to work with the director and editor to create proofs. These proofs should have post-edit color grading done so that the MUAs and production team can strategize their looks. If the movie in question is going to have a heavy blue filter, for example, then the makeup will need to be decided with that in mind. Some films are teal and orange, which, again, will impact what colors you use in the look.

Consistency is Essential

One scene can be filmed over days. One movie could take place all in the same day but filmed over the course of weeks. It is up to you as the makeup artist to be consistent. This means taking regular photos of the actors throughout the day and saving that photo with scene information, so you can adjust their look if reshoots need to happen.

Not only do you need to be on top of it to get the information you need to recreate the look, but you also need to be able to color match and be precise enough to get the same details every time. A great way to do this is to learn color theory. If you can mix a color and match the shade perfectly every time, then you’ll have a far easier time being consistent.

Speed Will Come in Handy

Some makeup looks take hours to do, but those are often full-body characters that include body makeup and prosthetics. Even then, that same look needs to be done far faster than most. If someone at home can do a look in 12 hours, it’ll need to be done in a fraction of that time on set. You can’t take the whole day to do a single look because filming actually needs to happen at some point. Working fast, and producing reliable results, will get you far in this career.