By Yvonne Villasenor
What a year 2021 was! It seemingly came and went (don’t they always?) and fortunately, a sense of normalcy was somewhat restored. Film and television productions that were brought to a halt due to the pandemic resumed…and we got to revel in watching these incredible new releases.
You all chose the films and shows that had the best practical and makeup effects in 2021, and the result is an impressive top 10 list. So, put on your coziest pair of socks and grab your beverage of choice — you’ll want to get nice and comfy for this countdown!
10. The Expanse (S5)
Since its inception in 2015, The Expanse has been praised by viewers for its realistic space combat and scientific accuracy. This widely loved space drama returned to wow fans once again with its captivating effects and out-of-this-world elements.
Director Jeremy Bennings has previously stated his intent to make the show “feel grounded and real” and wanting it to feel like a real place with working ships. The show’s sets, costumes and props are all made to do just that.
Acme FX’s Tim Barraball is the show’s special effects coordinator. He and his team do everything from plumbing to electronics to metalworking and pyrotechnics. Their creations include autonomous robots and character Bobbie Draper’s Goliath power armor.
When asked about the show’s then-upcoming fifth season, Barraball responded, “We’ve got a lot of really big physical gags coming up. The visual effects on the show — brilliant — they love physical effects in-camera that they can build upon. They do lots of rig removal for me, which is great because in the old days, there was no rig removal and we had to do it all. It was all hidden. They take what I’ve done and make it just so much better.”
Since the show closely follows the books, season six is bound to be even more action-packed. Meaning, even more special effects!
9. Halloween Kills
Michael Myers returns once again in this horror film filled with practical tricks for a horrific, yet oh-so-satisfying treat. Oscar-winning and Emmy-winning makeup effects designer Christopher Nelson, a fan of the 1978 original, aimed to pay homage to one of his favorite horror films.
Halloween Kills features several characters from the original — one of them being Michael Myers’ psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis. However, Donald Pleasence, who portrayed Loomis, passed away in 1995. This had fans wondering: ‘Was that CGI? Found footage?’
Neither.
“It’s actually about a 12-piece prosthetic makeup — that and a hairpiece,” Nelson told the Motion Picture Association. “That is a completely practical prosthetic look-alike makeup on a gentleman by the name of Tom Jones Jr., who was a construction coordinator. He looked close enough to Donald Pleasence, so we decided to take him the rest of the way.”
In addition to the Loomis makeup, Nelson helped put the “kills” in Halloween Kills with plentiful practical and makeup effects. He also collaborated with prosthetic designer Vincent Van Dyke and sculptor Daniele Tirinnanzi to recreate the original, blank-faced mask. (Our apologies, Captain James T. Kirk.)
8. Sweet Tooth
Cue the cuteness! This new series tells the tale of a boy half deer, half human who travels from home to the outside world in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Executive producers Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr. wanted to create a family-friendly version of the 2009 graphic novel by Jeff Lemire.
Sweet Tooth is big on using practical effects created by Justin Raleigh and his team at Fractured FX, especially puppetry. In the show, Gus, portrayed by Christian Convery, has deer ears that move. Puppeteer Grant Lehmann controlled the ears and had to track the actor’s every facial expression and movement to manipulate them. He also had to physically follow the actor to get around the 300-millisecond delay — talk about dedication to the craft!
All of the baby hybrids featured in the show were also puppets by Fractured FX. And the adorable human-groundhog hybrid Bobby is not CGI — believe it or not — but a real-life puppet controlled through multiple puppeteers and a harness system, once again created by Fractured FX.
Makeup effects fans will also appreciate makeup artist Stefan Knight and his team’s hair and prosthetic makeups for the human characters as well as the prosthetics for the hybrid children we meet towards the end of the season.
7. Mortal Kombat
Finish him!
Director Simon McQuoid brought characters to a whole new level with epic and mind-blowing effects in this highly anticipated video game-inspired film. “One thing I stressed to everyone very early on was, ‘I want this film to be in-camera,’” he said.
Whether it was the sets, costumes, props, or fatalities, the entire team came together to deliver an element of realism to an imaginary world.
“It can’t just be all the drama. It can’t just be the stunts. People really want to see heads go splat, and that’s the bottom line. Humans are weird creatures,” said prosthetics makeup supervisor Larry Van Duynhoven.
Actor and martial artist Lewis Tan, who portrays Cole Young in Mortal Kombat, says what makes the film “very interesting” is that they did a lot of practical effects — something special effects supervisor Peter Stubbs can certainly attest to, as Stubbs was in charge of making real-looking ice in-camera for the film. “I’ve done special effects for almost 40 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever built an ice gun,” he said.
Production designer Neyman Marshall said, “There’s sort of the chaos in reality that can’t be animated sometimes — that, I think an audience will believe that it is real because it is.”
6. The Suicide Squad
From head explosions and shot-off faces to lizard-like prosthetics and weasel-y practical replicas, the Legacy Effects team created an abundance of practical makeup effects for the action/comedy DC superhero film.
Director James Gunn wanted to create as much of the violence as possible in-camera with practical effects, co-producer Simon Hatt said.
“When we first got the call, it was sort of stated upfront that James would like to have as many in-camera moments that can be palpable and practically shot as possible,” Legacy Effects co-founder Shane Mahan told SWSCA. “Obviously, we always pitched the idea of doing hybrid effects but some things were going to be standalone … I took it as a great compliment and a great challenge that you're working with a director that wants to embrace all the tools in the toolbox. It just makes it look and feel more visceral.”
For some effects, like bringing the character Weasel to life, practical and digital effects had to work hand-in-hand to achieve the look they were going for.
“To try and build it practically, that would be next to impossible … if you did that digitally, you’re never going to get the interaction between the physical actor and the character to look real,” Hatt said. “So, it’s really this symbiotic relationship between the digital work and the practical effect that brings a character like Weasel, who ends up being one of the favorite characters of the movie, to life.”
The Suicide Squad is a glorious example of what can be accomplished when practical effects, digital effects and the costume department come together!
5. Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a lovable throwback film that heavily features practical and physical props, all with the intention of keeping the look and charm of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II.
“We were trying to echo the original film in every way possible,” director Jason Reitman, son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, says in an interview with Playstation. “We always wanted to get at the original recipe of what was a Ghostbusters movie. And that involved really doing the archaeology, understanding how they made the original, and finding ways to mix the bleeding edge of computer technology with the most old school Hollywood effects.”
The film uses magnets, wires, smoke and mirrors, animatronics and puppets — including a real Terror Dog on set Reitman says was “operated by the greatest puppeteers alive.” And of course, practical and makeup effects. Arjen Tuiten, special makeup and creature designer, has shared behind-the-scenes photos of the creatures made for the film and how they were made on his Instagram.
At this year’s New York Comic Con, Finn Wolfhard, who portrays Trevor, shared his love for the practical effects used in the film.
“...I think a lot of people will appreciate this about the movie. A lot of it is practical, like puppets and electronics. And that's hugely important,” Wolfhard said. “...For any fan, I'm sure if you walked onto a Ghostbusters set and there were no props and just a green screen, that would be such a bummer. And I think for us, that was like, hugely important too, and it made us also, it made the set really fun.”
4. Dune
When you think of Dune, you can’t help but imagine the film’s spectacular visuals. Director Denis Villeneuve was determined to immerse the audience in the science fiction film by making it feel as real as possible with practical effects and real sets.
“I wanted to shoot as much as possible in-camera,” Villeneuve said. “...Dune is a movie about nature, and it was very important for me to be as close as possible.”
The team built sets to the edges of the stages, used 18 tons of sand during the production and used real environments, set pieces and machines.
“It’s almost a luxury to have all of these environments and set pieces and machines built for real, and be outside, especially, but inside as well,” DNEG visual effects supervisor Brian Connor said in an interview. “I’m definitely not an actor by any stretch, but I don’t have to pretend I’m there on Arrakis or at the Space Port or just in one of the massive, almost cavernous sets. You’re definitely there, you’re immersed.”
In addition to the incredible sets, Dune features flawless practical makeups overseen by makeup department head, Donald Mowat, and equally memorable costume design by Robert Morgan and Jacqueline West.
3. The Walking Dead (S11)
It’s said that all good things must come to an end, and that includes the popular zombie show that sparked many viewers’ love for post-apocalyptic horror. The eleventh and final season kicked off in August and will continue to air into the new year.
In this season, Negan and Maggie take on new enemies introduced in season 10 known as the Reapers, as well as the Ferals. And boy, are they unsettling!
Greg Nicotero, executive producer, special effects supervisor and co-founder of KNB EFX Group, has helped create the show’s various styles of reanimated flesh eaters. He has previously shared some insight into the amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into the show…well, actually just the blood.
“[TWD] probably uses up the most amount of blood that we've ever had on any show,” he said in an interview with CBS. “I would say per episode, we're usually somewhere in the 20 to 30 gallons range.”
Nicotero has appeared as a walker several times over the course of the show. He makes an appearance as one yet again in season 11. We’ll just say he’s part of a character’s final scene to avoid spoilers.
It took nearly three hours to create the prosthetics used for the scene. The prosthetics had a bite in it and was painted to look like a real body part. To make it appear as real and fresh as possible, the makeup team threw blood on it before each take.
It’s hard to believe the show is coming to an end, but it’s had a killer run and we look forward to seeing what the final episodes bring.
2. Army of the Dead
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead is an exhilarating zombie heist film that really makes you hope what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Visual effects supervisor Marcus Taormina and his team strived to take a practical approach to the film and use in-camera techniques wherever possible.
Fractured FX CEO and special makeup effects designer Justin Raleigh and the makeup department created thousands of prosthetics for the film’s two types of zombies: the Shamblers and the Alphas. Raleigh and the Fractured FX team worked all day to maintain the look of the zombie makeups due to the New Mexico heat and humidity.
Depending on the day, there would be up to 150 extra zombies needing to be made up, Raleigh told SWSCA. “We would bring them out in groups … and make sure that what we did prosthetically and makeup application-wise matched the level of the costumes that [Stephanie Porter] had developed,” he shared.
Raleigh and the team sometimes had eight-hour pre-calls, starting work at midnight and cleaning everyone up after production shot their day at the end of the night.
“Honestly, everyone on the show, we were all putting our blood, sweat and tears into this thing, and we all really just loved working with each other and we would just sync up every single day to make sure we were all on point for Zach,” Raleigh said.
1. The Mandalorian (S2)
This marks not the first, not the second, but the third time The Mandalorian has ranked in our list's top three! (And the second year it's ranked number one.) You’ve voted, and it’s clear this is the way.
There wasn’t a season this year, but we can expect season three sometime in 2022, which — thankfully — isn’t far, far away.
Since the first episode of the first season, The Mandalorian has mesmerized viewers with its special visual effects, seamlessly blending in-camera effects, stop motion and CGI.
We’re introduced to new creatures and characters in season two. For this season, John Rosegrant's team at Legacy Effects made over 100 puppeteered creatures, droids and animatronic masks with makeup department head/makeup designer Brian Sipe overseeing the practical makeups. Phil Tippett, who worked on the original Star Wars trilogy, and his team also joined in to add to the show’s magic with practical miniatures, motion control photography and stop motion animation. (Specifically, for the scrapwalkers featured in the season’s second-to-last episode.)
While some of us are still recovering from the season two finale, we can’t wait to see what happens next and the practical and makeup effects they use in season three!
Farewell 2021, welcome 2022
On behalf of everyone at Stan Winston School of Character Arts, we wish you a safe and happy new year. Keep imagining, learning and creating!