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Private Notes
The legend of Stan Winston Studios is candidly discussed by his collaborators, friends and son in this Bonus Episode of Blood and Guts.
“One way or another, a face will be added to the hall…but we’re actually going to need way, way more than just one to make this scene look good, and we aren’t going to do it with computers, so….” When your television show calls for a giant, underground collection of real human visages for use by a band of nameless assassins, somebody has to make them (with prosthetics, we mean—not with a scalpel). In this bonus Bloodworks edition of Scott Ian‘s visit to Belfast to meet with Game of Thrones‘ makeup designer Barrie Gower to learn the tricks of the Westeros trade, we get to see just how many faces were physically created for the House of Black and White. Using about 50 life casts of various crew members (and at least one family member), Gower and his team made a whopping 570 faces for the hall, far more than the handful they expected to make as they had figured most of them would be CGI’ed. At the very least, he got a cool story out of it, as Gower’s own mom was used as a mold and ended up making it into a scene with Arya. In this video Gower also explains how he and his staff do about 90% of the painting necessary for the characters directly on the molds themselves, to cut down on the time in the makeup chair for the actor or stuntman. That is different than how most American designers do it, he said, because they do most of the painting only after the prosthetics are applied. That seems helpful when you are bringing to life a world that has such distinct and difficult to create characters, like ice zombies, and men with a disease that turns them into living rocks. Speaking of the stone men, Ian also got to learn what goes into a full-fledged Greyscale costume, and how it can help to base your fictional ailments on real life ones, but why you should avoid trying to copy them (real afflictions look fake, whereas fake ones have an authenticity to them because they aren’t trying to recreate something people already know and have seen).
Join host Scott Ian as he explores the practical effects world of gunshots, squibs and explosions with Ron Trost of Class A Special Effects Inc.
Join host Scott Ian as he explores the world of animatronics with Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and studioADI.
Join host Scott Ian as he explores the servo magic of animatronics and robotics with Mike Elizalde and Brian Walsh of Spectral Motion (Hellboy, Pacific Rim, Robot Combat League and more).
Join host Scott Ian as he gets the werewolf makeup treatment on the set of TEEN WOLF with Almost Human's Chris Gallaher & Erik Porn.
Scott Ian visits living legend Rick Baker to discuss his work and the monsters that inspired him.
Join host Scott Ian as he gets a Lovecraftian Fishman makeup treatment from Joel Harlow (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Dark Shadows, Star Trek, Adaptation, Lone Ranger and more).
Join host Scott Ian as he goes behind the scenes of Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights with John Murdy & Chris Williams and has a flesh ripping good time with Larry Bones of Boneyard Effects.
Join host Scott Ian as he cuts to the heart of the matter with Tony Gardner of Alterian, Inc and Chucky.
Join host Scott Ian as he has a face meltingly good time with Make-up and Effects artist Vincent Guastini of VGP Effects.
Join host Scott Ian as he explores the legacy of the late great Stan Winston, exploring the history of Stan Winston Studios and the Stan Winston School of Character Arts.
Scott Ian takes a trip into the grotesque with Gabe Bartalos and Atlantic West Effects.
Scott Ian takes a trip into the world of stop motion animation with modern masters of the art, and a very special stop-motion scene from Starburns Industries
Scott Ian takes a trip into the minds and process of the Chiodo Brothers - the guys behind such greats as Critters, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Elf, and Team America: World Police.
Scott hits the set of The Walking Dead and becomes a walker under the direction of Greg Nicotero.
Scott Ian makes a deal with the devil and Vincent Van Dyke Effects.
Winter is coming, but Scott Ian is already back with a new installment of our series Bloodworks, where he goes behind-the-scenes to see (and personally experience) the incredible makeup and effects that go into some of the best, most impressive, goriest looking shows and movies going today. And nothing fits that description quite like HBO‘s blood-filled, death party Game of Thrones, because what would the Seven Kingdoms be without some White Walkers, Children of the Forest, and giants? It would just be exploding heads that’s what it would be. This is the first of two episodes from Ian’s visit to the set in Belfast, where he got an up-close look at the prosthetics and work required to bring George R.R. Martin‘s world to life, from makeup designer Barrie Gower. Besides getting a chance to wear Wun Wun’s (literally) giant, oversized hands, and learning about how The Hound got his burns and Shireen got her greyscale, Ian also got to see just how much work goes into making the Children of the Forest. Considering the actors are in full-body prosthetics it also explains why the show went away from casting actual children in the roles like it initially did, to adults with a little more time to actually, you know, be on set after hours and hours getting made up. And in case you didn’t realize just how insane it is to create an army of the undead and their blue-eyed icemen leaders, we also got a look at the amount of time and energy that was required to have the White Walkers show up at the hiding place of the Three-Eyed Raven with their zombie soldiers. Of course, you can’t have blood without something to stab and cut things with, so Ian also got to explore the craftsmanship and detail that goes into making the massive cache of weapons for the show. Like he said, there’s no set better prepared for an actual White Walker invasion than Game of Thrones. We do have two warnings for you, though: there is some NSFW language, and if you still aren’t
If you plan on stepping into the skin of a White Walker you need to be ready to tap into your raw aggression, and you need to be willing to channel all your energy towards destroying the very fabric of civilization as we know it. Fortunately, almost 35 years as a member of Anthrax is some pretty good real world preparation for donning those icy blue eyes. This latest installment of Bloodworks, our (NSFW) behind-the-scenes series dedicated to all things gory and gruesome in film and television, is part 2 of Scott Ian‘s visit to the Game of Thrones set in Belfast to meet with makeup designer Barrie Gower. In part 1 we got a look at the massive collection of weapons the show has amassed, learned how the many facial ailments (or head explosions) of characters come to life, and saw the amazing work that goes into making the giants and the Children of the Forest as real as any human living in King’s Landing. But this time around it was all about learning what it takes to transform someone from being a denizen of the world of the living into an ice general in the army of the dead, as Ian got into the makeup chair to become the first American White Walker. Forget the incredibly detailed, samurai-like armor the Others wear (mud from north of the wall just has a different look than mud found in the Seven Kingdoms), or even the awesome ice weapons they wield, the amount of prosthetics, with their unique bone structure as well as their flexibility, required for the full transformation means that the stay in the makeup chair isn’t a short one. (Really, a piece of dragonglass to the heart, or a fingernail under the eye, is just so much easier and faster.) You might think that Ian’s goatee would pose a problem in the White Walker creation process, but when it works as your signature look in your heavy metal band, it translates perfectly into your role as a terrifying monster. Besides getting to admire how just a single Other comes into being, Gower also explain
