The Negative History Of Theatrical Makeup

Characters in musicals such as “Cats” and “The Lion King” need totally different styles of make up as performers are to look as animalistic as possible. They do this by adding extra colours over their body rather than just the face. “Elphaba” in “Wicked” has her body makeup touched up everytime she leaves the stage during the show, as her body needs to appear entirely green.

Burton uses makeup and costume to exaggerate the differences of the people in the neighbourhood and the people who are alienated because of how they act and look. The appearance of Edward and Esmerelda is quite different to that of the people who live in the neighbourhood. In the neighbourhood, the people wear light coloured clothes that give the whole scene a very light-hearted and happy feel, but then you see Esmerelda. In the scene where Peg is going around selling Avon products, she skips Esmerelda’s house. In the foreground you see Esmeralda dressed in a blood red playing an organ, the room being covered in candles with a cross on top of the organ. In the background Peg is standing there and the audience can see how different the two of

At last I had a place to use and practice my skills. Makeup was a crucial part of bringing the show to life. I learned to create and maintain the illusion for the audience, picking up simple skills like the right amount of contour, and how to work with the actors and the rest of the makeup crew. When I finally had my first show as crewhead, I was terrified. I had joined only a year beforehand, and I felt that I had no authority-- especially not with such a high stakes show. Our show was Shrek the Musical, meaning we had to completely craft this fantasy world, and makeup was the key to selling it. I spent weeks preparing: building the prosthetics, learning the designs, and organizing the makeup room over and over again. But that was only half the battle; I also had to stand up for my decisions, and represent the makeup

Have you ever thought about who created makeup? Or how it was created? When, where and how? Why was it created? How has it changed over time? Has it affected anyone? Well I’m going to tell you some of it. Make up wasn’t just created by powder or anything small and simple like that, no. Makeup actually has a lot of its own differences. In 180 BCE was when makeup had first had started but it wasn’t commonly used as much as then. People would limit the use of makeup because it was so expensive and hard to get and or find. The women who actually had it or used it were the prostitutes and the wealthier women. The “Cheap Knockoff’s” were the ones who were sold to the poorer women. The people didn’t really care if the slaves used makeup but

The idea of cosmetology and beauty was commenced by ancient tribal hunters. It is believed that they would smear ash under their eyes and use animal urine to alter their smell. This is where the idea of eyeliner and perfume originated (Schurman). Around the world cosmetology is being introduced like Egypt is suggested to be one of the most ancient culture that associates with cosmetics. Make up to them was really significant especially to the royal egyptians. Their idea of eyeliner was made up of lead, ash and mercury. The use of this eyeliner helped reduce glare, prevent any type of infection, and mostly to make their eyes beautiful (Schurman). Now the Chinese ancient culture had mixtures of natural ingredients to produce stimulating nail polish. The nail polish to these people were sign of wealth (Murphy). In ancient Rome and Greece those who could afford it would receive baths in lotions. They wore perfume, face powder, blush, eyeliner, and lipstick. During this period it was discovered that oils, lotions, and animal fat have beautification properties (Schurman).

Accordingly Makeup can be used for many things. The ancient Egyptians used makeup made from oils and cream to help clean and

Historians believe makeup was invented by ancient Egyptians to enhance their outer beauty, however, the makeup used included lead that was known to be highly dangerous. Once the lead-based makeup was further investigated in the 20th century, it became a thing of the past. (“Color Them Extraordinary With a Makeup Career”) I believe that makeup artists have the ability to create anything out of anyone, and that they have a unique canvas to paint on; the human body. Applying and learning about makeup has been an interest of mine ever since I was little, and it only made sense to start looking into a career in the world of makeup artistry. Makeup artistry as a career interests me because I’d wake up knowing that my job for the day is exercising my creativity and help make others feel confident. If one is truly interested in makeup, this career never feels like a job. (Clark)

Masks were sometimes created for the purpose of being used in a ceremonies by a priest. The mask would be a certain deity and the priest would be dressed in costume to play out that character. By portraying the deity the priest would be

In the early years of film, make-up artists were not recognised for their artistic skills and ingenuity of making prosthetics or their imagination of bringing others creations to life. Many of the artists were also actors or stunt men who learnt the craft by applying their own make up for film and theatre. Compared to today’s materials used to make prosthetics, many of the materials they used were very basic as they used spirit gum, fish skin, cotton, gelatin, greasepaints, collodion, cheesecloth, clay, Fullers Earth, various putties, pastes and wax and latex. The first documented prosthetic was in the 1909 book “The Art of Theater Make up” by Cavendish Morton, who when transforming himself into the character Falstaff used silk attached to a wig, nose paste, spirit gum, crepe hair and greasepaints.

God gave us all unique faces, all beautiful in their own ways, so why not have a little fun with them? Why not show off what we love about ourselves, show how we like to display our features, and talk to our friends what we love about them? Wearing makeup gives us a chance to do just that. Society today, though it denies even the slightest notion of it, tells us that if we look and feel good, we should also feel some kind of insecurity. We have the ability to wear makeup in a way that fights against this idea. Makeup has the capability to transform us into confident people, which in turn molds us into braver and more courageous lights for Christ. In addition, makeup can show who and what we are as people, just like a passion

On the thirtieth of October, I went to watch the play Italian American Reconciliation. The time of era of this play was in the late 1980s in Little Italy, New York. In this play, the characters makeup was a little different from the actors of the first play I watched, Anna in the Tropics. Instead of their faces being plain and simple, these actors had more color to their face, especially for the females. The males had average natural makeup where the females had some fun playing with addition colors. The character Teresa had wore a thin liner with extremely dark brows and a nice red lip color. As for Aunt May, she had more of a dramatic look with thick liner with a load of eyeshadow and load of blush and contour to define her face along with

Throughout time the world’s perception of makeup has always been seen as a way for women to enhance their facial features, a way to feel more accepted into society, and as a way to gain the attention of another individual. Society has set specific standards that women and only women can wear makeup. Although in theater productions it was socially acceptable for men to paint their faces, it was not encouraged that men use their cosmetic abilities outside of performances. Many cultures have drilled the idea into their son’s heads that they cannot wear or play with makeup because they would lose their masculinity. Applying makeup was never seen as a way of self expression, but that a woman's natural beauty wasn’t good enough and that her

An example of acting with masks is Commedia dell’Arte. Commedia dell’Arte has been performed from the 16th century to the 18th century. Its translation is Comedy of Art or Comedy of the Profession. It is the act of improvisation based on different scenarios. It originated in Italy and they were usually performed in temporary stages, like on streets, or even court venues. Some very well-known Commedia dell’arte performers actually performed in palaces and became even more famous once they started travelling abroad. Most of the time, actors played as stereotypical people from evil maids to kidnapped children. Commedia dell’arte was not just any amateur acting, only professionals were allowed to perform on stage so you would need years of proper training before being allowed to perform.

Many people around us and in the world use make up, on a daily basis and the reason for this is that some people believe that it makes look more professional or more appealing than they are. And there are many different places where makeup is used and for different purposes, one of those purposes is in films. There are also many reasons why makeup is used in films and one of them is because people have to look representable on television, but there is a genre of films where people are supposed to look horrifying and those are horror films, which is what I will be focussing on.

“Makeup has been used to enhance the beauty of both men and women for over thousand years. It its through teaching others how to apply makeup, we can strive to help others feel comfortable and confident in their own skin. Wearing makeup help embrace our natural features and may also help express the ideas in a creative way like art.”