agency shoot for photo model

model with a white leather bag

The pictures for talent scouting agencies (models, dancers, actors and extras) should mostly respect the natural look of the person, not only to avoid to create a mask that follows this person on his career, but mostly because usually the ‘small defects’ make an actor look like a real person, far away from the beauty concept introduced by fashion where every model should look like a perfect doll.
From the other side, taking part to a casting as you woke up in the morning, could not be the most appropriate.
This is the reason why for this makeups I only use concealers, foundations and colors in natural shades, respecting the natural beauty of each subject.

model nude look makeup for casting agency portfolio

Marina, half body phot shooting. Black dress and black wig, with green contact lenses.

To give Marina this new look, I just did not use makeup, but also a black bob wig in human hair that I found here: CinemaWigs.com, and some green contact lenses, to make her eye ‘pop’.

Marina before the make up

Marina after makeup and hair

The makeup was studied pretty heavy, smooth and in natural colors, because I was already planning to shoot outside, in a very sunny day, where the sun light could vanish all the work of the makeup artist.
I started preparing a smooth foundation with contouring and highlights, then I applied some deep tones of purple red for lips and cheeks. This has been Marina’s first time with colored contact lenses, and after trying with some cosmetic scleral shells that really did not fit her well, we found a compromise with these soft green lenses.
The look of the eyes has also been enriched with some human hair fake eyelashes, really natural, that added some nice shadows over the eyes.
Thanks to her native and pleasant style in posing, we were able to get these interesting pictures.

vintage italian style shooting

I am often asked to produce easy and lifelike practical effects, like bruises, cuts and wounds, both for movies and classical tv filming.
So I developed a set of silicone prosthetics that can be easily adopted to get quick and good results in less time.

wound on a lower arm

Playing cards with a vampire

Differently from the Tinsely transfer method, these prosthetics do not have any additiona layer of tattoo paper over, and the edges of the cut can be also very sharp.
Moreover they can be pre-painted (both with silicone or alcohol colors), retouched and some objects (for instance some small parts of glass resin) can be integrated even before the application of the prosthetic.

Silicone pre-painting allows to leave some details opaque (i.e. the surrounding skin) and some more bright and shining (i.e. the wound inside), leaving a wet impression without applicating fake blood or other liquids.

Furthermore the whole prosthetic is transparent, glued with silicone itself that leaves a good transparency to the details of the skin underneath and makes it simpler to smooth the prosthetic outside edges.

girl suicides in the bathtub

cut and wound set of prosthetics for cinema practical effects

Bear costume – fur head mask

Working as makeup artist (maskér here in Prague)  is not always making up beautiful girls and bodypainting..  For the shooting of  some short films to be later published in the media, this time I was asked to create a mascot mask and transform the look of an actor in a tender teddy bear (.. a small teddybear taller than me.. ).
Since the character was an anthropomorphic bear, dressed in suit and pants, I had to focus my work just on the mask and gloves.

Despite the simplicity of the basic idea, the work was quite challenging and required some attention. Once done the model in plasteline over the casted face, I proceeded creating the bivalve mold, replicating in two different pieces with soft polyurethane foam, to keep the mobility of the mouth.

Soft polyurethane foam used to create the bear mask.

Then I proceeded covering the mask with the synthetic hair, shape it and sew it on the head size, cut and color, and finally apply a closing ‘pull’ that allow the necessary adjustments to the mask to fit any face.

Once finished, everything was glued and sewn correctly, demonstrating that sometimes makeup artists do not use only brushes.

To make it more credible I finished the job by painting with an airbrush, acrylics, and I covered my nose, already colored black, with a thin layer of silicone, which determined a natural shine ..

Close up of the bear mask

Actor dressed with bear costume, performing on a train.

Interested in renting a mask? Click here for more details!

Photograpy: Gabriele Bertolini

Czech Republic, Prague in particular, is experiencing in these recent years, a period of particular interest for international film industry.
How to justify this trend?
Why do many important international production agencies decide to invest in Prague?

Located in the heart of Europe, Prague has the charm of the ancient city, capital of culture and cradle of Gothic architecture, that makes it in a timeless space.

Penetrating in its villages in fact, you can come across, almost continuously, to movie sets, whose time universes may vary from the Middle Ages (The Last King – Charles II: The Power & the Passion, The Musketeers),to the ’20s (Maigret, Houdini),from the years of World War (Company X, Child 44) ​​to the present (The Coldest City, A man in the dark), passing through the indefinite periods of our imagination (Underworld: Blood Wars, Van Helsing, XXX, Chronicles of Narnia).

Beyond the romantic, there are still reasons from a more strictly economic: Czech Republic is a country rather young (Prague Spring: 1968, Velvet Revolution: 1989, separation from Slovakia: 1993), and has maintained its currency although it is part of the Schengen area, so the Euro crisis that manifested in many European countries since 2008, has not affected it, and it maintained an open market with competitive prices.

To this we must add that the government has promoted a series of tax breaks (tax credit) that return up to 20% of the investments made to shoot movies, documentaries and TV series (fondkinematografie.cz/english/) in this country.

The sum of all these factors has created a fertile ground for film and television, helping the economy in this direction, which we all hope will continue for several years.