I, Frankenstein Makeup FX by Makeup Effects Group

Bringing Demons to Life With Makeup Effects on I, Frankenstein (2014)

by Make-up Effects Group: Paul Katte & Nick Nicolaou

I, Frankenstein was an amazing project to work on. We had a great opportunity to create a horde of prosthetic Demon characters, an opportunity that you do not often have in this CGI-heavy environment. We also created all the Frankenstein monster prosthetics for Aaron Eckhart’s character.

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• Designing a Protagonistic Frankenstein’s Monster
• Humanizing a Classic Horror Character
• Testing Makeup to Find the Best Balance
• Scarring in Stages
• Creating “Memorable” Demons
• Finding the Humanity Within
• Visions of Hell - Human Souls in Demon Form
• Working In Advance to Save Time
• Fabricating With Foam Latex and Silicone
• Delivering Memorable Characters

Designing a Protagonistic Frankenstein’s Monster

In previous incarnations of the Frankenstein creature, he is always the antagonist, a monster. In this film, the creature is the protagonist, the hero even, and we wanted a design for the creature that, while consistent with him being stitched together using various body parts from different corpses, while also maintaining Aaron Eckhart’s strong aesthetics, helps allow the audience to identify with him, and accept him as the hero.

WATCH Behind the Scenes of I, Frankenstein with Make-up Effects Group

Humanizing a Classic Horror Character

There is also a progression with his make-up. In the opening of the film, he is heavily scarred and monstrous, but over the course of the next 220 years, his scarring slowly becomes less disfiguring. This is not about making the Frankenstein character look frightening and using his physical appearance to scare people and drive the story (as in other stories) – his physical disfigurement in this story is there to identify him as the Frankenstein character – it is his branding. But the purpose of the Frankenstein creature goes deeper ‘than the face value” of the character in this retelling; it is his “humanity” that is important and the center of the film’s journey. The film studio and production were very hands-on in this development and wanted to make sure the look fit into the aesthetic of the story they wanted to tell.

(The subtle I, Frankenstein makeup accentuated focus on the humanity of the “monster.”)

Testing Makeup to Find the Best Balance

It did take a few iterations to get the Adam/Frankenstein scarring aesthetically pleasing. We did it all sculpturally on a life cast of Aaron Eckhart. Because it was such a fine line to work out the level of scarring, we all had to see it 3-dimensionally and do several camera makeup tests at varying degrees to make sure the director and studio were happy.

(Extensive makeup tests were conducted to find the right balance of scarring.)

Scarring in Stages

For the first stage of scarring, which was more intense, there were four major silicone appliances on the face. For the latter stage of the scarring (220 years later), all the scars were individual transfers that we patterned over his face. There were around nine on Aaron’s face. When we had to add scars to the body, it went up to about 30 transfers.

Creating “Memorable” Demons

We also designed and created all of the Demon characters. The focus was to try and evolve a large variety of memorable “Demon looks” but also to make sure they felt that they were all visually balanced in concept and design.

(A digital rendering of the demon leader “Naberious.”)

Finding the Humanity Within

Only a few illustrations were supplied to us by the production, so we had to develop the looks using Zbrush concept drawings and 3-dimensional sculpture maquettes. We had to develop a solid design grounding relatively quickly so director Stuart Beattie could give us his input on what he liked. We were sculpting madly to try and get as many ideas on the table as possible. There were over 30 different designs in the end.

Visions of Hell - Human Souls in Demon Form

Our designs try to maintain humanity behind all the Demons – they are not crazy illogical creations totally removed from the human form, but the human form guides how far we can take the Demon aesthetic. It gives the characters a stronger presence and allows the audience to relate to them. Stuart wanted that reality in the designs. Elaborate horn designs also helped us create a sense of hierarchy within the Demon realm, with the larger horns given to Demons of more authority and rank.

(Naberius' elaborate horns distinguish him as a leader of demons.)

Working In Advance to Save Time

The initial 3-dimensional sculpture roughs were a blessing and saved us a lot of time as the production build-up was slow, as we did not have any actors to work with. Once we finally got the actors, it was a matter of transferring the looks onto the new actor’s forms – the three-dimensional sculpture roughs gave our team a solid direction from which to move.

(Full-scale demon “design” busts provided a valuable design headstart when actors were finally cast.)

Fabricating With Foam Latex and Silicone

The prosthetics were fabricated with a combination of Foam Latex and Silicone appliances. When you start breaking down sculptures into various prosthetic pieces, your workload doubles: sculpture, mold-making, and fabrication techniques become more intricate and costly – but you end up with some seamless make-up applications. Also, contact lenses and Demon teeth were designed, and some frightening looks were developed.

(Design and prosthetic sculpt for the demon “Helek.”)

(Applying the Helek makeup on set and the final look, ready for a close-up.)

Delivering Memorable Characters

I’m sure the characters and make-up we created will be highly featured. Our Demons were key characters in the story and were integral to major scenes with the Frankenstein character. Having created the Frankenstein look for the main character is also very exciting and satisfying. Our company is really proud of what we created, and I think we delivered some very cool and memorable characters and effects.

-Paul Katte and Nick Nicolaou

Make-Up Effects Group

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